A Summer In Love
by WinchesterGurl1967
Summary: Two lone souls running from their pasts. One wants to be free. Another wants to escape. They meet in the most unexpected way, and find solace in each other, but how long can that happiness last? Read to find out :) CLOIS!
1. Prologue

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Summary: Two lone souls running from their pasts. One wants to be free. Another wants to escape. They meet in the most unexpected way, and find solace in each other, but how long can that happiness last?**_

 _ **Rating: Mostly T, but M for later chapters**_

 _ **Pairing: Clark and Lois (Obviously)**_

 _ **Setting: This takes place during the summer between season two and three. There will be time jumps later.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! But I wish I did**_

 _ **Prologue**_

 _ **May 31**_ _ **st**_ _ **, 2003**_

It was a warm and beautiful summer night in the center of the mid-western state.

The moon shined brightly in the night sky, cascading over the small-town of Kansas. The farm animals were resting, soundlessly in the darkness that surrounded them. The cool breeze brushed throughout the trees and cornfields.

It was a clear night, like so many other nights.

There wasn't a single cloud in sight, and it seemed to be just a normal night in Smallville.

It wasn't.

The ambience in one household was anything but normal.

Miles and miles away from the town square, there was a yellow farmhouse that was clouded in utter darkness. What was once a happy, loving and high-spirited household was now filled with nothing—nothing, but the pain, guilt and sadness of one loving couple.

A husband and wife were in complete and utter turmoil.

They were grieving for the life they lost so suddenly, but most of all, they were grieving for their only son—their son, who was now gone—gone from their lives, and they just wanted him to come home.

They were sheathed in darkness, as they sat on the kitchen floor, drowning in their sorrows.

Jonathan held his trembling wife in his arms, as he cradled her body into his chest, and whispered soothing words in her ear, but deep inside he knew that everything he was saying was going on deaf ears.

She had lost hope.

He knew that, but he wouldn't believe it.

Not for a second.

He softly, kissed her forehead. "It's going to be okay, Martha."

"No. No, it's not. J-Jonathan, our boy-our baby boy is gone. He left. Why? Why did he do this? Why did he leave?" Her words barely croaked out, her voice filled with so much pain, as she spoke into his chest.

Jonathan breathed deeply, in and out, in and out, as he felt the burning sensation slowly building behind his eyes, but willed himself not to let the tears fall.

His wife needed him.

He had to be strong for her, for their son and for himself.

"He will come home," he spoke with such confidence, way more than he was actually feeling inside.

Martha heard the conviction in his voice before slightly pulling away from him, and gazing into his beautiful blue eyes. "How do you know?"

He swallowed, roughly at the expression that was plastered across her face, and he honestly didn't know how to answer that question.

He didn't know, but he believed, and that was the only thing that was keeping him together. "I don't know. I believe our son will come home. He will, Martha."

She shook her head from side to side, vehemently with tears pouring down her cheeks." No. He won't. He blames himself, Jonathan. Why would he ever come back?"

He remained silent.

Whatever he told her would only fall on deaf ears, and he didn't know how to soothe her.

He wanted to be there for her, but, how could he?

He didn't know where he was, what he was doing, or if he was even okay.

As the night rolled on, Martha fell asleep in his arms, and he carried her to their bed before staring down at his beautiful wife.

This was so hard for her. Not only did they lose their unborn child, but they also lost their only son, who blamed himself for everything that had happened, and as much as he wanted to drown in his own self-pity, he knew that she needed him to be strong.

And that's exactly what he intended on doing.

"He will come home," he whispered before walking out of the room.

As he sat on the couch in the living room with his head in his hands, and eyes closed, he couldn't think of anything other than that horrendous day.

The day his son left.

Their final words to each other ringing, loudly in his ears…

 _He was visiting his wife at the Smallville Medical Center when Clark showed up._

" _How is she?"_

" _Doctors don't know yet. What did you do, Clark?"_

" _I stole Lionel' Kryptonite key and put it in the ship."_

" _And why did you do that?"_

" _Dad, I lied about the voice. It did come back. It told me that I had to leave by noon. I didn't have a choice, dad. I had to destroy the ship."_

" _Why didn't you tell us?"_

" _I knew you wouldn't agree with what I did. Dad, I didn't want it to take me away from you. I'm so sorry for what I did."_

" _Your actions have consequences, Clark! Didn't your mother and I ever teach you that?"_

" _Yes, but—"_

" _There's no time for excuses, Clark!" Jonathan interrupted his troubled son. "It's too late. You didn't think this thing through! You had no idea what was going to happen, and now—now your mother is lying in a hospital bed!"_

 _He heard as his son tried to explain—tried to make him understand—tried to say anything that would have helped, but he couldn't listen. Instead of hearing him out, he turned away from him, going back to his wife, and slammed the door behind him without looking back._

 _If he would have looked back, he would have seen the hurt expression that was plastered across his face—he would have seen the pain and guilt that consumed his son, but he didn't, and without knowing it he lost his son that day._

Jonathan shook his head from side to side, not able to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks.

It was his fault.

His son left because he was so wrapped up in his own grief and anger that he couldn't see that his son was hurt—was in pain—was blaming himself.

And it was all his fault.

He slumped against the couch cushions, and stared up at the ceiling, his mind repeating the same thing over and over again.

 _Please. Please, come home son._

* * *

Pete pulled up to the Kent farmhouse, stopping his red mustang directly outside of the barn, and quickly rushed inside before grabbing what he needed for his plan to work.

Over the past week, he had spent most if not all of his time searching for anything that could have helped him find his best friend, and what he found chilled him to the bone.

He knew.

As soon as he heard The Daily Planet article, he knew that he had to be on Red Kryptonite.

It was the only answer.

Of course, he had suspected that his friend was planning on using that red rock to take his pain and guilt away, but he never thought he would actually go through with it. At least not until he left town without saying a single word to anyone.

He slowly made his way out of the barn, and contemplated on telling Martha and Jonathan his plan since it did involve their son, but immediately decided against it. They were in so much already, and he didn't want to add to it, especially if he could manage to bring him home before the night was over.

He needed to do this alone.

It was better for everyone.

Pete was seconds away from getting into his truck, but the sound of Jonathan' voice ringing out from directly behind him made him stop. "Pete? What are you doing here?"

He slowly turned around towards him, and pocketed what he had stolen in the process. "I, um, I-I was looking for something that could help me find Clark."

Jonathan, who had wanted some fresh air, took a few steps towards the young man. "Did you find anything? We searched the whole loft, and found nothing amiss. Well, nothing except my motorcycle."

Obviously not everything, he thought to himself, knowing that Clark had Red Kryptonite on him.

At his silence, he continued, "Thank you, Pete. I know that you've been looking for him. Have you found anything? Anything that could help me find my son?"

There was a part of himself that knew that he deserved to know, but the other part of himself also knew that he couldn't risk it. He couldn't allow Clark to hurt anyone, especially his parents, but maybe just maybe he could give him a half truth. "I think-I think he's in Metropolis, sir."

Jonathan smiled, the first smile in a week. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go get my son."

He sighed, softly, knowing that he would have to tell him more than he wanted to. "We can't or you can't, but I want you to know that I'm going to bring him home."

"What do you mean I can't?"

"He's on Red Kryptonite."

His face turned pale white, his eyes widened to the size of saucers, like he was realizing something, and he darted into the barn before rushing up the wooden stairs towards the loft.

Pete followed him, and watched as he rummaged through Clark' drawers until he banged his fists down onto the table in utter frustration. "DAMMIT!"

"What is it?"

He slowly turned around towards him. "The class ring. It's gone."

A frown took over his features from his words. "Didn't we destroy that?"

"Yes, but Clark insisted on having it locked inside a box as a reminder that he was capable of doing things that he normally wouldn't do under the influence of that rock."

"Kind of like the way he keeps Green Kryptonite in that lead case to remind him that he isn't completely invulnerable."

In a way it made sense, he thought to himself, but at least he now knew how he got his hands on Red Kryptonite, and he also knew exactly what he needed to do to free his best friend from that rock.

"Are you going to Metropolis tonight?"

He nodded.

"I'm coming with you. It's time I bring my son home."

"No!" He shouted a little louder than necessary before lowering his voice, slightly. "No. I can't let you do that."

"Why the hell not? This is my son we're talking about! This is all my fault! If he's in Metropolis then I'm going with you, and dragging his ass back to Smallville!"

"I'm sorry, but that's not a good idea. You know better than anyone what he's like on red meteor rock. He will say things-do things that will hurt you, and I can't let that happen. I'm going to bring him home."

He seemed to be contemplating that for a few seconds before he shook his head from side to side. "No! What if he hurts you? I'm coming with you."

He stood taller, his tone holding absolutely no exceptions.

"He won't, sir. I know that he is your son, but I'm his best friend, and I need to do this. I knew. I knew he was behaving weird after…" he let the sentence finish itself before continuing, "I promise I won't leave Metropolis until I've found him."

Jonathan stared at the kid he has known for years—the kid that has been so supportive to Clark, and knew that he could do this before nodding his head in approval.

Pete started walking away, but stopped before taking a step down the loft stairs, and glanced over his shoulder at him. "I promise I'll bring your son home."

And with that he left the Kent farm.

* * *

As Pete drove down the darkened streets of Smallville, he wondered if he should have told Jonathan his plan, but shook his head from side to side as soon as he realized that he would have either tried to stop him or tried to come with him, and he couldn't have that.

This was the only way.

He accelerated his speed, as a new determination surged throughout his veins.

He was going to bring his best friend back to where he belongs.

* * *

Jonathan walked back into the farmhouse, and restarted the dying fire before sitting down on the couch.

A part of himself knew that Pete could do this, especially since he was the one person that Clark trusted above everyone else in his life, but the other part of himself couldn't help wondering if this was only going to drive him further away.

No, he told himself, his son would be coming home.

Hopefully, Pete managed to free him from the affects of the red meteor rock without getting hurt. Clark would never forgive himself if he hurt his best friend, and he would never forgive himself for allowing him to do this alone.

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips.

He still had hope.

He knew Martha didn't, but that would all change by tomorrow—tomorrow his son would be home, and they would deal with this as a family.

He stared into the roaring fire, and waited—waited for moment that his son would walk through that front door.

 _ **I know this was short, but I just wanted to show how Martha was feeling, like all hope is lost without her son, and how Jonathan blamed himself, but I especially wanted Pete to be the one that figured out Clark was on Red Kryptonite.**_

 _ **I hoped you enjoyed the prologue**_


	2. Chapter One

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter One:**_

Her hazel eyes shined brightly in the dimmed room, defiance and challenge radiating from them, as she looked at the three men sitting opposite of her. "Drink up, boys."

They all glared at her. "You first, Lane."

Lois rolled her eyes.

They did this almost weekly, and they still haven't learned.

She downed the three shots, closing her eyes, as the cool contents slithered down her throat, and when she opened her eyes, she noticed the expressions of bewilderment plastered across their faces before smirking at them.

One man, in his early twenties, downed the three shots with an expression of pure satisfaction etched onto his rigid features before his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he slumped to the ground.

One down, two to go, she thought to herself.

The second man, older and gruffer looking, down the shots with a wide grin before he turned green, and jetted from the table. Obviously, to go throw up.

That only leaves one more, she thought to herself.

She looked over at the last man standing, and groaned, internally.

Of course it would be him, she thought to herself.

Wes downed the three shots before smirking at her. "Is that the best you got?"

Her hazel eyes glared at him.

"Is that fear of losing I sense on your beautiful face?"

"Oh. Wes. Do you not know me at all? I don't give up or do you not remember the first time we drank together?"

He growled, softly at her, not wanting to remember the splitting headache and gash he was awarded from trying to kiss her the first night they drank together. "Bring it on, Lo because you, my friend are going down!"

She smirked, her eyes never leaving his, as she called out, "Hey, Billy! Three more shots each!"

"Lane, don't you think you should stop?"

"Oh. Come on. Live a little." She looked over at him with a smirk set in place before she noticed the terrified notion lingering in his eyes. "Don't tell me that your scared of The General. Have some and pour the shots."

He nodded, and began pouring the shots.

"Don't even think about it, soldier."

Lois groaned, loudly and dropped her head into her hands, as her father's gruff voice reverberated off the walls of the bar.

He was always ruining her fun.

The men quickly stood, standing at attention with their hands angled at their heads, and averted their eyes from him.

Pansies! She thought to herself.

"Now, does someone want to explain to me what is going on here?"

Silence.

He glared at every single one of his men. "Get out of my sight! We have a meeting at 0500 sharp!"

All the men scurried out of the room, giving her sympathetic looks, as they walked out the door.

Wes started to get up, intending to leave just like everyone else, but The General placed his hand on his shoulder stopping him from making another move, and making him retake his seat. "Wes. Mind telling me why your drinking with my underage daughter? Especially when your barely legal?"

He paled.

"Leave him alone. He didn't do anything wrong."

"Really? Then why is he the one drinking with you?"

She quickly stood up, facing her father head on. "Because I challenged him to do it! Come on, daddy. We were just having a little fun."

"We don't have time for fun." He scowled at her before turning around towards Wes. "Your dismissed, soldier."

Without hesitation, he rushed out of the room.

As soon as the door shut behind him, she growled low in her throat. "Why do you always have to ruin everything?"

He glared at her. "Don't get smart with me, Lois."

She was seconds away from retorting, but he grabbed her arm before forcefully pulling her outside.

"OW!" She ripped her arm out of his grasp, rubbing the soreness away. "What the hell was that for?"

He ignored her comment. "What do you think you're doing? I don't have time for this! I spend all day watching over my men! I can't add you to that list!"

"What a shocker? You'd rather be a General to your men than a father to your own daughter!"

"I don't have time for civilian chivalries. I have a job to do, men to protect and a world to save. You know what my job entails, Lo."

"Yeah, which means more to you than being a father!"

He growled at her. "I don't have time to watch over you."

"I don't need to be watched over!"

"Really? I think otherwise."

"But you won't," she whispered. The alcohol making her say things she has always thought of saying, but never had before.

"What was that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing, General. Are we done here?"

"Not even close. Now, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"It's called having fun. You should try it sometime."

"Don't get smart with me. You need to buck up, and start acting your age!"

"What? Like a rebellious, defiant teenager?" She scoffed. "That is what I'm doing!"

"I've raised you better than this."

She wanted to laugh at that absurd statement, knowing that he didn't raise her like a father should, actually, that part of himself died a very long time ago. "You didn't raise me at all! I raised myself! Or did you forget how you tossed both Lucy and me to the side after mom died?"

"Don't bring your mother into this!"

A smirk spread out across her face. "What dad? Can't face the facts? Are you pissed that I'm drinking or that you can't control me anymore?"

He stood his ground. "I will send you to Military school if you don't stop acting like an immature five-year old!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Don't test me, Lois. I will not hesitate to send you away just like Lucy!"

She gaped at her father. "You what? You told me you sent her away for a better education because she was smart!"

"She was six, Lois. How smart could she had really been? I couldn't afford to watch over both of you."

"You've never watched over me! Or do I need to remind you about what happened to me less than three years ago, and whose fault that was?" At his complete and utter silence from her words, she glared, heatedly at the man. "Then send me away! It's what you do best! You send your men on missions, not really caring if they come back. You send Lucy away, and now your threatening to do the same thing to me. Do it! I dare you! Send your only daughter away!"

It took him a second to regain his composure from her reminding him of one of the biggest mistakes he had made in his life before he glared at her. "Drop the attitude, Lo. One more outburst, and you're off to Military school. Is that clear?"

She felt a million and one barbs on the tip of her tongue, but he quickly turned away from her, stopping her from saying anything more before she glared at him, burning imaginary holes into the back of his head, as he walked away.

Nope! No way in hell!

Lois stormed off to her room, not even acknowledging the soldiers passing her sympathetic smiles and reassuring looks. She was too pissed off to care.

She wasn't going to be subjected to his scrutiny any longer!

If he wanted her gone then she would be gone. It might not be what he had in mind, but she didn't really care. She wasn't going to Military school.

No way in hell!

He would have to find her first.

Once she made it to her room, she started throwing her things into a duffel bag. She was leaving. She didn't know where she was going, but as long it wasn't here, stuck underneath his thumb.

As she packed her things, rushing from her bathroom back to the bedroom, her best friend, Cassie, walked into the room. "Woah! Where's the fire, Lo?"

She ignored her.

Cassie grabbed her shoulders, making her stop. "Lois, seriously. What's going on?"

"I'm leaving."

Those words caused her to release her hold on her. "What? Why?"

"I'm done. I'm done with The General," she told her, as she continued packing her things.

"Your father?"

She stopped her movements, and looked over at her best friend. "He is not my father. We might be related by blood, but I'm just a soldier to him. Not his daughter."

"Lo, you need to think about this! Is this because he caught you drinking? That's not the first time, and we both know that it won't be the last."

"He threatened to send me to Military school even after everything that happened. Can you believe that? I won't let that happen. He wants me gone, so I'll be gone."

Cassie watched, sadly, as she finished packing her things. "There's no changing your mind is there?"

Lois noticed the hurt and sadness lingering in her eyes. "No. I'm sorry, Cas. I love you, but I can't stay here."

"You know he will look for you."

"Yeah. I know. Look, there is something I need you to do. He will come to you first. He knows we are close, so…" she trailed off.

"I won't say anything."

"You sure you can handle the Lane interrogation?"

"Am I your best friend or am I not?"

She laughed, loudly before pulling her into a hug. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Later that night, after everyone was sleeping, Lois crept over to her white car, and drove away from the base. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that she couldn't stay here any longer. Of course, she knew he would find her, and probably ship her off to Military school, but at least she could be free…for now.

She accelerated her speed, wanting to get further and further away from her father, and never looked back.

* * *

Kal grinned from ear to ear, as he walked down the darkened streets of Metropolis before he breathed in the smoggy air, and felt the cool air brushing across his skin.

Life was great!

As he turned the corner, he noticed the throng of people waiting in line to get entrance into the best club in Metropolis.

Atlantis.

He walked past every single one of them, nodded at Mike, the bouncer, and walked right inside before a smirk spread out across his face, as he heard the protests from the people directly behind him.

Only if they knew, he thought to himself.

He loved this feeling.

He relished in it.

He loved being able to do whatever he wanted when he wanted, and there was no one that could stop him.

They could try, he thought to himself, but they wouldn't succeed.

Kal walked past the dancing crowd, and took his seat at the bar. This seat was always open. It was like it had an imaginary sign reading, 'Reserved for Kal'. "Yo! Toni! I'll take a double!"

Toni, the bartender, who worked here every single night, looked up at him, and smiled. "Well, if it isn't Kal himself. I was starting to wonder where my favorite customer was."

He took his shot.

"So, why are you late? You know, I've gotten used to your nightly chats. I was wondering when you would greet us with your presence."

"I was preoccupied…"

"Yeah. I bet. Let me guess, a tall, beautiful dame caught your attention." At the nod of his head, he placed his hands on his chest, feigning hurt. "I thought I meant more to you. I'm hurt, Kal."

A wide grin spread out across his face. "Oh. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, but when the ladies call, I come."

"Don't I know it. So, tell me, where is this beautiful woman?"

"What woman? You know me. I got what I wanted, and now I'm here ready to have some fun." Toni poured him another shot and he took it before smirking at the man. "So, what do you have for me tonight?"

He searched the crowds. "Well, let's see, we have blondes, red-heads and brunettes. What would you prefer? There's a whole menu tonight."

Kal shrugged his shoulders. He really didn't care, as long as he filled his nightly quota.

"I think you're on someone's menu tonight." He nodded his head, and Kal turned around to see a table across the room, where three beautiful blondes were laughing and giggling, as they stole glances at him.

Mhmm. They were quite beautiful, he thought to himself before turning back around.

"What? Not interested? Your failing, my friend. Why not go over there, and work your magic?"

"Why should I? It's not like they don't like what they see, besides the women come to me. Not the other way around." He grinned before pointing to his glass, and took another shot. "But you can send them a bottle of your most expensive drink."

"Which girl?"

He looked back over at them, eyeing all three of them up and down. "Just put it on the table, and let's watch the cat fight start. It doesn't matter because I'll be dancing with every single one of them before the night ends."

"You know, your one cocky son of a bitch," he told him, after he returned from doing exactly as he had asked.

"Yeah. That's true, but it works for me, does it not?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I don't know how you do it, but you do, and I envy you for that."

A wide grin spread out across his face. He supposed that the men would envy him since he had the women here wrapped around his fingers.

"Well, your plan seemed to work. Here's one now. Good luck."

"Don't need it." The grin never left his face, as he waited, and felt her presence behind him before she softly trailed her hand down his arm.

He glanced down at her hand before meeting her eyes. "What can I do for you beautiful?"

She revealed the bottle before setting it down on the counter. "How about a drink?"

After pouring them shots and taking them, he turned around towards her before he swept his eyes up and down her slender body, grinning at what he was seeing. She sure was scrumptious.

"Like what you see?"

"Mhmm. You know it, baby."

She moved closer to him, her body only inches away from his own. God, he loved women. They seemed to love him, and he just ate up the attention they gave him. It was a major edge to his growing ego. "So, sexy. Now that you have me here, what do you plan on doing?"

"I have a few ideas."

"Mind sharing?"

"I think I'll just show you." She trailed her hands up his arms, down his chest, and rested them on his abdomen. "God. You're so muscular. Do you work out, handsome?"

He stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

Every night.

Every night, he heard that line, and it was starting to get old.

Did they seriously think that worked?

Of course, it boosted a man's ego, but for him it just irritated him.

He gripped her waist in his hands, and yanked her closer to him. "Yeah…something like that."

She leaned close to him, practically purring in his ear before gently biting his lobe. "How about a dance?"

"Whatever the lady wants." He dragged her to the dancefloor, the upbeat music ringing in his ears, as he pulled her close to his body before he wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, enjoying the feel of her body against his, and grinned when she wrapped her arms around his neck, her head resting on his shoulder.

Their bodies moved in sync to the music.

As they danced, she slowly rubbed her backside against him, making him bite back a groan before he gripped her hips a little roughly, pushing her harder against him, making her moan, softly.

He grinned, loving the feeling that arouse inside of him when they did that.

They were so easy, he thought to himself, as he moved her head to one side before kissing, biting and licking her neck.

She moaned again before pushing back against him.

He growled low in his throat. "Your being very, very bad."

"Only for you," she told him, as she twisted her head to look up at him.

They continued dancing, their hips moving in time to the beat of the music.

As the song was coming to an end, he noticed a tall, beautiful red-haired woman standing at the bar, and his eyes took her in. She was beautiful, by herself and his next victim.

He glanced down at the girl in his arms. He danced with her and now he was bored with her. He quickly untangled himself from her. "Thanks for the dance, love."

And with that he walked away, completely ignoring her protests.

Kal walked with absolute confidence towards the beautiful woman.

The night was still young, and he was only getting started.

A few hours later, Kal was sitting down at the bar, downing another shot. He had already danced with several women, all of them wanting him to take them home, but before they could have asked, he walked away.

He wasn't looking for one-night stands.

Of course, sex with a beautiful woman was intriguing, but he knew that they would expect more than he was willing to grant. Women were emotional rollercoasters, and there was no way in hell he was going to get caught in one of their traps.

He took another shot, not really understanding why he kept drinking since it didn't even affect him, before glancing down at the red ring on his finger, and supposed that the red now running through his veins just made everything so, so much more fun.

"Aw! Don't tell me that your done already?"

Kal mock glared. "What do you take me for, Toni? The night is still young. Trust me. I'm not even close to being done. I have my eyes on plenty more women, who need to be swept off their feet."

Toni stared at him, curiously, causing Kal to glare at the man. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just, well, I'm just curious about something."

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you ever take the women home with you? I mean, I understand you not wanting them to get attached, but why not have a good lay and throw em out?"

"Does your wife know you talk like that?"

"Shut up!" He titled his head to one side, slightly. "Why though? You know as well as I do that if you asked, they would come running after you like a dog in heat."

He smirked. "They already do that."

"Your deflecting, Kal." He was thoughtful for a few seconds. "You know what I think?"

"No, but your going to tell me."

He ignored that sarcastic barb. "I think you have or had a girl back home, and you feel guilty about taking them home, so you don't."

A laugh full of coldness erupted from him. "There is no girl. There will never be a girl. I don't have time for romance, my friend. I just want to have fun, and that's exactly what I plan on doing."

"What's so wrong with having a beautiful girl to come home to?"

"There isn't, but that's just not me, besides this is rich coming from the guy, who had a lady waiting for him at home." He smirked. "I've seen your girl, and what a girl she is."

Toni glared, causing Kal to throw his hands up in surrender. "I'm just not interested in the whole falling in love with the first beautiful girl that shows me interest. Trust me. I've been down that road before."

His brows rose in query, but didn't comment on that. "Your incorrigible, you know that?"

"Face it, Toni. Your nights would be oh so lonely without me around to bug you every night."

"Yeah. You're right about that. Just don't go disappearing on me now. I look up to our nightly chats."

"Well, I don't plan on going anywhere."

Toni grinned, and shook his head from side to side before walking away to serve other customers, who were getting antsy at the way he kept pouring Kal more shots.

It sucks to be them, Kal thought to himself.

He downed the shot, closing his eyes, as the contents spilled down his throat before groaning, loudly when he heard a familiar voice echoing from directly behind him. "Oh. I wouldn't be too sure about that."

One week.

Kal lasted one long, blissful week before his old life came crashing into his new and improved one.

He slowly spun around, facing none other than, Pete Ross.

"Why am I not surprised?" He glanced around his surroundings, looking for other party crashers. "I figured that the cavalry would send you, but I am quite shocked not to see the old man himself."

A smirk spread out across his face. "Was he too scared? So, he sent you instead?"

Pete shook his head from side to side, at his friend's words. He really was different while on this stuff. "Clark, I've been looking for you for one week, and what do I find? You partying it up? Women? Alcohol? Really?"

"Oh. This. It's called having fun. You know what fun is, right?" He smirked, as he looked around the club before returning his gaze to him. "Oh. Wait. You wouldn't because your too busy being stuck in Nowheresville."

"Nowheresville? Seriously? Smallville is your home."

"Home? Your joking, right. I don't have a home."

"You're not acting like yourself. You know, deep inside that Smallville is your home."

He quirked a brow. "On the contrary, my friend. You see, I've never felt more like myself. Smallville is so small and pathetic. Just like the people that live there."

Pete recoiled back from his words, but stood his ground, knowing that he was just trying to get underneath his skin. "And Metropolis?"

"Hmm. Metropolis-Metropolis is great. It's big, the air is refreshing, and the people mind their own damn business. I can see a future here."

"Your future, huh? Well, it's a good thing that this is the present because you're not ready for the big city."

He growled low in his throat. "You think you know me? You don't! No one does!"

"Clark, it's time for you to go back to your life."

"My life? What? You mean, living on a farm? Doing chores? Going to school? That isn't a life. This is my new life, and I plan to enjoy every second of it."

"Doing what? Hitting on women? Drinking? That isn't a life. Having friends, family and loved ones with you is a life. Not this."

He stood up, clearly trying to ignore him.

"Come on, Clark. Just go home to your family. We all miss you."

"Yeah right," he scoffed. "I don't have a family, actually, I never did."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You don't get it, do you? I've never had a family. I had people who took care of the alien they found in a cornfield!"

"Clark! What the hell is your problem, man?"

"Problem? I don't have one, but if you don't stop pestering me then we are definitely going to have a problem."

"Never gonna happen."

He ignored him, and started walking away, but was stopped by his hand wrapping around his arm, causing him to glare down at his hand before his menacing eyes met his own. "Get. Your. Hand. Off. Me."

"Just come home," he told him, after releasing him.

"Yeah. That's not happening. You see, I love my life now. I love Metropolis. I love the women. Oh. The women. They are so exquisite. I'm not going anywhere."

"This isn't you talking. It's the red meteor rock. It's making you say things-do things that you would never do."

"But I've thought about, and you know that." He sneered at him before continuing, "You know, the good thing about this is that I can do the things and say the things that I really, really want to say or do."

"Just take the damn ring off! You'll feel better afterwards, and we can deal with everything…together."

He lifted his hand, waving the ring on his finger in his face. "You mean this? I put this on myself, so yeah, it's not going anywhere. It makes me feel alive. It makes me feel like I can have anything I want."

"You mean stealing hundreds and thousands of dollars from ATMS?"

His eyes glared at him. "How do you know about that?"

"This is Metropolis. News hits faster than you could blink. Your little stunt was front page news for The Daily Planet."

"Well, I guess it's good that I can blink pretty fast." He brushed his fingers down his shirt. "Now, if you excuse me, I was in the middle of something."

"Oh. We're not done yet," Pete muttered, as he grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking away from him.

"Oh. I think we are." Pete tightened his hold on his arm, which Kal quickly shook off. "I don't think your hearing me. I'm not going anywhere! Smallville is my past! It means nothing to me!"

Pete took a step back from his words. "What about your family—your friends—your girl?"

"Like I said, they are all part of my past," he scoffed. "It's time I move onto bigger and better things."

"Like what? Women and alcohol?"

"Damn straight."

"This is ridiculous!" He reached for the ring, but Kal quickly pulled his hand away.

"You didn't just do that."

"Look, I get it, okay? Your blaming yourself for what happened, but it's time to go home."

"No." He growled out, impatiently before starting to walk away from him, but was stopped by Pete grabbing him once again, causing him to twirl around in complete and utter anger. "Don't. Touch. Me."

He leaned closer to him. "Or do I need to remind you who has the upper hand here?"

"Oh. Get over yourself. Yeah, your strong, but you won't hurt me."

"Are you sure about that?"

Pete stood tall, not taking his bait. "Clark, just come home. Your parents miss you."

"What parents?" He scoffed. "My parents died a long time ago on Krypton!"

"Clark!"

"What? Worried someone might overhear?" He shrugged his shoulders, as he looked around. "Who cares? I'm tired of living in secrets, so if someone finds out good for them."

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. "What about Chloe? What about me? We miss you!"

"Yeah right. Now that I'm out of the picture you can have Chloe all to yourself. That's what you want, right?" He smirked. "She is pretty, but she just never did it for me, and she never will."

The anger boiled deep inside of him, but he decided to change tactics instead of focusing on his anger. "What about Lana?"

His head tipped backwards, as he laughed, loudly. "Lana? Seriously? Did you think that was actually going to work? You know, we kissed, right? And then she backpaddled. That girl messes with a guy's head, so no, not even she will make me come back."

"Clark, this isn't like you. Please. Please, just come with me."

"No."

"Cl—"

"Kal!" He interrupted him. "My name is Kal! Clark Kent is dead!"

"I'm done arguing with you. You're coming with me whether you want to or not."

He stepped towards him, and loomed over him. "Yeah? You and what army?"

Pete touched the lead case in his pocket before opening it in his pocket. He had really hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but it seemed to be the only way.

Kal immediately felt his stomach churning in immediate pain before he crumped over in agony.

He knew what that was.

Kryptonite.

"P-Pete! What are you-you doing?"

"What I have to," he told him, as he took the rock out of his pocket and shoved it into Clark'.

The pain ripped through his body.

Kal could feel his insides churning in pain, his heart hammered inside of his chest, and his body felt weak before he fell to the ground, groaning. Pete quickly pulled him up, dragged him outside, and tossed him to the ground.

He rolled onto his back, holding his stomach, as he looked up at Pete with pleading lingering in his eyes. "P-pl-please! Please, d-do-don't do this!"

He knelt down beside him, and took the lead case out of his pocket. "I have to do this. It's the only way."

"Pl-please, s-st-stop!" He continued to plead.

Pete closed his eyes, hating hearing his friend in so much pain before he grabbed his hand, and placed it on the ground.

Kal watched, in horror, as he lifted the lead case high above his head, and instantly knew what he was planning on doing. "N-no! P-please! I'm beg-begging you! Y-you d-don't understand! I-I ca-can't go-go back. P-Pete, please! S-st-stop! D-don't do this!"

He ignored his pleading. He knew that once the ring was gone everything would be okay. He would get his best friend back, and he would come home.

"I'm sorry, Clark," he whispered before slamming the lead case down onto his hand, shattering the red rock into millions of pieces.

"NOOOO!" He screamed, as he felt the Red Kryptonite leave his veins, and felt the world come crashing down around him.

"No! No! NOOO!" He screamed, as memories of everything he has done came rushing back to the forefront of his mind.

His pain.

His guilt.

Everything he has done.

It all came rushing to him, wave after wave, and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

Pete grabbed the Kryptonite from his pocket, and put it away before he lifted Clark up, beginning to walk him towards his truck, but the second Clark felt the strength return to his body he forcefully pushed him away. "No."

"Clark?"

He took a few steps back before staring at the ground, as everything hit him at once, and it was so, so painful.

How could he do those things? Why did he have to destroy the ship?

He killed his unborn baby brother or sister!

Everything he did while under the effects of Red Kryptonite came rushing back to him, and he just wished he could go back underneath that protection.

It made him feel better.

It made him forget.

Why did Pete do this to him?

"What have you done?" He whispered.

"What?"

He looked up at him with anger-filled eyes, his voice filled with so much venom, as he spoke, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Pete staggered back a few steps, not expecting this reaction whatsoever, of course, he knew that he would feel pain, but anger?

That was unexpected. "Clark, it's going to be okay."

"Okay?" He laughed with a hint of coldness in his tone. "No. No, it's not okay. Why didn't you listen to me, Pete? Why couldn't you have just left well enough alone?"

He stared at him, dumfounded. "What are you talking about."

"I begged you. I begged you not to do that, but you didn't listen. I was fine. I was doing just fine. Why? Why did you do this?"

"If your referring to destroying the red meteor rock then that was one of the best things I've ever done! It controls you! You need to be with your family and friends! Not that stupid rock!"

He glared at him.

He had nothing. At least with the rock he felt alive, but now he was dead.

He was dead inside.

He was miserable.

He was in pain.

He felt guilty.

He felt like nothing mattered anymore.

"I'm taking you home."

"No."

"No?"

"You don't get it. I don't have a home." He looked up at him. "Why? Why did you do this to me?"

"I did it to save you. You weren't yourself. You need to come with me."

"No," he muttered, as he took a step back from him.

"What?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

Pete sighed, heavily. "Look, man, your upset. I get it. I really do, but now that that rock is gone you can come home to your family."

He looked up at him with pure menace in his eyes, as he screamed out, "I WANTED THIS! I NEEDED THIS! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!"

His heart pounded like a jackhammer inside of his chest, and his breathing was harsh and rapid, as the tears rolled down his face.

Pete stumbled back, at the pure menace lingering in his voice, and for a split second it felt like he was still high on Red Kryptonite, but he knew that wasn't true. He knew he was in pain, but he didn't think it was this bad. "Clark, please. Your family and friends miss you. I did this, so you would come home."

"They don't need me. I'm a disgrace. My parents, Chloe, Lana and especially you. You're all better off without me in your lives." He started to walk away, but Pete quickly followed him, not wanting to give up on his friend.

"Clark! Wait! Please, don't do this! Just come home!"

He crawled onto his motorcycle, and revved the engine. "No. I'm not going back. I'm never coming back. It's too painful."

Pete saw that there was no convincing him otherwise. "Where are you going to go?"

"I-I don't know." He looked up at his best friend, one last time. "I'm leaving Metropolis. I'm leaving Kansas, and I won't be coming back."

"Please! Please don't do this! We need you! I need you!"

"You'll be okay. Tell Chloe that I'm sorry." A strained smile appeared on his lips before he took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. "T-tell my parents-tell them that I love them, okay?"

He nodded. "What about Lana?"

He shook his head from side to side, as thoughts of her consumed his mind, and he realized that out of all the things Kal believed he was right about one thing. She really was a tease. He liked her, of course, who wouldn't like a pretty, slender brunette? But did he love her?

He didn't know and he really didn't care.

"Tell her whatever you want. I really don't care."

"You don't mean that."

"I do. I just don't care anymore. I ca-can't. It's too painful to think about. My parents, Chloe, Lana and you. I just can't, okay?"

Pete didn't want to believe those words, but he knew that he meant every single one of them. His best friend was gone. The pain and guilt consuming him changed him, drastically, and he wasn't sure he would ever get him back. "Please! Please, think about this!"

"I have. This is best for everyone. I just ca-can't-I can't go back. I'm sorry." The hot, sticky tears poured down his cheeks. "Goodbye, Pete."

And with that he drove away.

He didn't know where he was going, but he needed to get as far away from Metropolis—from Kansas as he possibly could.

* * *

Pete watched him, solemnly, as he drove off into the night, disappearing from his sights.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

He promised Jonathan that he would bring his son home, but he only managed to push him even further away. He supposed that he could try again—try to convince him to come home, but what was the point?

He would only be hurting himself and Clark even more. It was obvious that he was suffering. His once happy and loving best friend was now lost and broken.

How was he supposed to fix that?

He couldn't.

Clark would heal on his own, and he hoped that one day he would come home.

How could he tell the Martha and Jonathan that Clark even free from the Kryptonite refused to come home to his family? To his friends?

They were in so much pain, especially now, and now they would be in even more.

He didn't know what he was supposed to do, but he did know one thing for an absolute fact…life would never be the same without his best friend.

 _ **I'm not too sure if the scene between Clark and Pete was realistic, but I needed a way for Clark to be himself, but still in so much pain that he would choose to leave. Remember that it's only been one week since he left, so that pain and guilt is intense right now. As for Lois and The General, I'm not entirely sure if I got them but, but I hope it was okay.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter one**_


	3. Chapter Two

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Two:**_

The bright, hot, burning sun was already radiating heat down on the base in the center of Phoenix, Arizona.

It was god awfully hot here.

Everyone was miserable—everyone except one tall, stoic, gruff man.

General Sam Lane was currently in his office, sitting down at his large, Oakwood desk, which had papers scattered everywhere. His brows furrowed, in frustration, as a frown formed on his face, and the cigar hanging loosely from his lips billowed out smoke from his nose and mouth, filling the room in a thick fog.

He stared down at the several papers.

The meeting this morning had been long, tiring and honestly, a waste of his damn time. His supervisors in Washington were demanding that he send one third of his men to a platoon in Eastern Europe to oversee a treaty that was currently being reconsidered.

They needed reinforcements, but which men should he send?

He had no idea.

This was the worst part of his job, which is why he had people for this. Well, one person in particular.

"Wes!" He bellowed.

Wes, who was still shaken from yesterday's confrontation and feeling the effects of a slight hangover, rushed into the office. "Yes, sir?"

"Send in my daughter," he instructed him without even looking at him, his concentration locked on his assignment.

He replied with a curt, yes sir, and left the room.

Wes walked down the many corridors towards Lois' quarters, and knocked on her door.

Silence.

He knocked a little harder.

Nothing but silence.

He banged on the door, knowing that she could be passed out from last night's debacle.

Silence.

As he stared at her wooden door, he contemplated what he should do. On one hand, he was following orders from her father, but on the other, she would kick his ass to kingdom come and back if he walked inside, uninvited.

After hesitating, slightly and taking a deep breath, he slowly reached for the door knob, mentally preparing himself to face his inevitable fate of the Lane wrath.

"Wes?"

He sighed, in absolute relief, at the thought of not getting his ass handed to him by his best friend.

At least, not today, he thought to himself, grimly.

He slowly turned around to face the voice that belonged to the most beautiful girl he has ever known—the girl with the strawberry blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. "Hey, Cassie."

Cassie smiled, softly. "Uh. What are you doing?"

Honestly, he had no idea how to answer that question, so instead of digging himself into a deeper hole he remained silent.

She quirked a brow. "You were going to break into Lois' room, weren't you?"

He stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and averted his eyes to the ground, like that would erase what he was seconds away from doing. "No! I mean, yes. I, um, I can explain. The General is sending for her, and he requested that I bring her to him immediately."

His eyes traveled back towards the closed door. "Do you know where she is? She's not answering."

Her heartrate accelerated.

She needed to deflect.

She knew exactly why she wasn't answering. "Oh. Um. Why?"

"I don't know. Paperwork, I think."

Cassie rolled her eyes. Of course, it would be for that reason.

Why else would he send for her?

It's no wonder she ran away, she thought to herself before noticing that Wes was about to open her door, and quickly jumped in front of him, stopping him from taking another step. "Woah! What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm following orders."

She pushed him aside. "Let me. Unless you want the wrath of Lois Lane."

He took several steps back, not wanting that to happen, especially since he had been in that situation more times than he could count before watching her open the door, and what he saw when he walked inside made his mouth drop open, in complete and utter shock. "Oh my god!"

Cassie glanced around the room, and sighed, inwardly, at the disarray of her room.

Way to make a statement Lois, she thought to herself before she slowly turned around towards Wes with a look of feigned shock plastered across her face.

She had to act like she was clueless.

Wes looked around the room, completely dumbfounded. "Where is she?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Cassie. Do you know something?"

Her green eyes locked onto his brown ones. "No. I saw her after that fight she had with her father, but I haven't seen her since I put her to bed. She was quite drunk last night."

His eyes never left hers, as he looked for any signs of untruthfulness, but found none. "Okay. Thanks."

Cassie watched him walk away from her until he rounded the corner, and sighed, heavily. That was much easier than she previously thought it was going to be. She was never one for lying, especially to Wes, but her loyalties were to Lois.

Not the man she had conflicting feelings towards.

As she walked towards her quarters, she just knew that this situation was about to get a hell of a lot worse.

Oh Lois, she thought to herself, I hope you know what you're doing.

* * *

Wes couldn't believe it.

She actually did it.

She actually ran away.

He couldn't really blame her, especially since he figured that she would have done this sooner, actually, he had expected her to do this right after that major blowout they had a few years ago, but now—now he would be stuck right in the middle of this.

Without knocking, he rushed into The General's office.

"Wes! What happened to knocking? I'm your boss not your roommate!"

He gulped, knowing that he wasn't going to like this.

Nope.

Not one bit. "Sir, I apologize, but um, your daughter…"

He narrowed his eyes at the young soldier. "What about her?"

"She's gone, sir."

"WHAT!"

General Lane shot up from his chair, his cigar long forgotten before rushing to his daughter's room, and what he saw when he walked inside angered him to an absolutely high level. Her bed was made, never slept in. Her drawers were wide open. Her clothes were strewn throughout the room.

He walked throughout her room, noticing that some of her clothes were gone, but all of her bathroom supplies were missing. "WHERE THE HELL IS, SHE?"

Wes took a staggering step back from him. "I-I don't know, sir."

After examining her room a little longer, he stormed back to his office with Wes in tow.

What was he going to do with that girl? First, she is caught drinking, and then she runs away?

He was going to find her, and when he did, she was being shipped off to Military school.

He paced his office back and forth, not paying any attention to the young soldier standing a few feet away from him, as his mind was consumed with ways, he could find her. She was smart since she had been raised in Military customs. She would know how to cover her tracks, but she couldn't have gotten far.

When an idea occurred to him, he quickly turned around towards Wes. "What's the name of that girl she is always hanging out with?"

"C-Cassie, sir," he told him with a slight blush.

"Bring her to me."

He nodded before quickly exiting the room.

General Sam Lane sat down on his chair. He was going to get the answers he needed, and he knew that this Cassie girl would know exactly where his daughter had run off to.

He waited, quite impatiently for the moment his daughter's best friend would walk through that door.

He would get the truth.

No matter what, he would be bringing his daughter back home.

* * *

 _ **A few miles away from the Colorado border…**_

Pain.

Guilt.

Shame.

That's how he felt, as he sped down the highway throughout the early morning, and most of the day.

Lost.

Broken.

Lifeless.

That's how he felt now, as his piercing blue-green eyes stared down at the river flowing beneath him.

The sun was beaming high in the cloudless blue skies, as he stood on the side of the highway, his hands clenching the railing of a bridge, almost bending the metal. His head dropped, slightly, as he thought about what his life had turned into.

He destroyed everything that mattered to him.

And it all started one week ago…

 _Clark opened the wooden door, leading to the storm cellar, and gripped the box, concealing the Kryptonite key that he had stolen from Lionel Luthor before he slowly made his way down the stairs towards the small ship, which was bathed in a foreboding blue light._

 _He took several deep breaths, preparing himself physically and mentally._

 _He had to do this._

 _He would not leave his family and friends._

 _After much contemplation, he crushed the box in his hand, revealing the Kryptonite key, and causing himself immediate pain, as it glowed, brightly in his presence. He gasped, loudly, as he fell to his knees before he slowly, and quite painfully placed the key into the ships octagonal groove._

 _He collapsed to the ground._

 _The pain was too intense._

 _As fast as he could possibly manage in this state, he crawled away to the furthest corner in the storm cellar, and watched as the ship festered, burned and shook, violently before it exploded into a blast of bright, white light._

 _The shockwave elicited a ring of white energy, which expanded outwards, destroying everything in its path._

 _When he began feeling some resemblance of strength return to his body, he glanced around the giant hole, completely shocked, at the destruction of the storm cellar, but it was over now._

 _He could be free._

 _He ran up the stairs, the only thing left standing, and tripped, falling face first into the dirt before he slowly stood back up, his eyes looking into the distance. His heart sank to the deepest part of his stomach at what he saw._

 _His parents!_

 _He quickly super sped over the upside-down truck, hoping and praying that they were okay._

Why did he do it? Why couldn't he have just left well enough alone.

If he would have just obeyed his biological father, Jor-El, everything would be okay, but it wasn't. He wished—wanted to go back to that horrendous day to take it all back, but he couldn't, and he would have to live with what he's done…forever.

He destroyed his family.

 _HIS FAMILY._

They were now grieving for the life they lost, and it was all his fault.

He destroyed his ship, causing his parents truck to crash—a crash that put his mother in the hospital—the hospital, where she found out that her baby was gone.

Dead.

Forever.

He killed his unborn baby brother or sister!

And why?

Because he defied his biological father.

Why? Why didn't he listen? Why didn't he accept his fate? His destiny?

He couldn't, but now his family was in so, so much pain.

Unbearable.

Agonizing.

Unreconcilable.

He was to blame for all of it, and he would live within his pain, guilt and shame for the rest of his life. He softly closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it anymore, but it would always be there, and he knew that.

His father's words rung in his mind…

" _There's no time for excuses, Clark! It's too late! You didn't think this thing through! You had no idea what was going to happen, and now—now your mother is lying in a hospital bed!"_

He heard the anger—the sadness—the disappointment—the gravity laced in his voice.

It consumed him.

It overcame him.

It became him.

He broke his father's trust. He lied to his parents. They couldn't trust him.

He felt like such a disenchantment. He couldn't stay—he couldn't look into their eyes and see what he felt inside…

Pain.

Guilt.

Shame.

A pain, guilt and shame he would carry on his shoulders for the rest of his life.

So, he left.

He just wanted to forget everything, and that's exactly what he did, but to what cost?

After the Red Kryptonite was gone, he remembered everything—everything that he did as Kal-El, and he was completely and utterly ashamed of himself.

Pain.

Havoc.

That's what he caused.

He stole. He bribed. He used. He did whatever the hell he wanted.

As Kal, he was unstoppable, and he enjoyed everything that he did. He enjoyed stealing. He enjoyed bribing. He enjoying using. He enjoyed being free, but that wasn't Clark. He didn't steal. He didn't bribe. He didn't use, but deep inside did he want to do those things? Did he want to feel free? Liberated?

He didn't know.

Agonizing pain.

Unforgettable guilt.

Belittling shame.

He didn't know what to do—he didn't know where he was going—he didn't know what to feel—he didn't know what to think.

Lost…forever.

Broken…deeply.

Clark Kent was dead—lifeless, and he was never coming back.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

He quickly spun around, at the sound reverberating in his eardrums, and his eyes widened when he noticed that a car was heading straight towards him. It was seconds away from hitting him. He didn't have much time to think about the best course of action before he held out his hands, stopping it dead in its tracks.

He breathed in deeply, as his hands were molded and buried into the metal hood of the car. His heart was pounding inside of his chest, as he looked around, hoping and praying that no one saw him using his abilities.

He sighed in absolute relief.

His secret was safe.

He looked over his shoulder, towards the bridge, and knew that if he wouldn't have been here this person would have driven off the bridge, dying immediately.

At least he could still save people, he thought to himself, resolutely.

After his racing heart calmed down, he looked up into the windshield, wanting to make sure that the driver was okay. He figured that the blow would have knocked out the driver, but no, instead he was met with a pair of shocked hazel eyes staring at him.

His eyes widened.

His mouth dropped open.

His face paled.

And then he internally freaked out.

He felt the fear seep into his veins. The frightened notion of what was going to happen to him. The terrifying thoughts of being dissected like a lab rat. It all hit him at once.

He stared into her eyes.

 _Oh God! What the hell have I just done?_

 _ **This was relatively shorter than my last chapter, but that's because I just wanted this to be Clark's point of view. I also wanted to go into great depth of what Clark is feeling. His pain, guilt, and shame are a big part of this story. So, I apologize, if it seems like I'm dragging it out, but I've read other season three storylines, and they usually don't incorporate his feelings of his actions. As a writer, I like to focus on the characters feelings and emotions.**_

 _ **I hoped you enjoyed chapter two**_


	4. Chapter Three

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Three:**_

 _ **Songs used in this chapter: 'Here I Go Again' and 'Love Ain't No Stranger' by WhiteSnake.**_

 _I can do this. I can do this._

Cassie repeated that mantra over and over again in her head, as she sat across from The General, and she could admit to herself that she was feeling nervous—that she was feeling terrified—that she was beginning to question if she could do this or not.

And then he glared the all too familiar Lane glare.

 _I can't do this!_

She took a deep breath. She would do this—she would because her best friend was counting on her. It's not like she knew where Lois was, but she did know that she left, and if she didn't know Sam Lane then she would say that wouldn't be a problem.

But…

She did know him, and he would definitely not take that lightly.

Nope.

Not at all.

He would interrogate her over and over again or just simply have her followed. She believed that the latter would be the case in this situation.

General Sam Lane sat up straight with his hands crossed directly in front of him, and glared harder than he was a few seconds ago. He had scowl lines on his forehead, as a frown was etched onto his gruff features, and just stared at her, like he was reading her or something.

She wanted to roll her eyes.

What was it with Lanes and reading people?

Lois was so damn good at it. She could look at you, and know exactly what your thinking.

And she crumbled every damn time!

Not this time.

Nope.

Lois' freedom was hanging in the balance, and even though she missed her with all of her heart she would not rat her out or herself for that matter.

She squared her shoulders, as a new determination surged through her veins.

 _I can do this, and I will do this._

They stared at each other for several minutes, neither moving—neither speaking.

As her green eyes were locked onto his brown ones, she supposed that most people would feel terrified underneath The General's angry gaze, but she wasn't. She was an army brat. She was used to it, but she was also best friends with Lois, who could be a hell of a lot scarier than her father.

"So, Cassie. It's Cassie, right?"

She nodded.

She could do this.

She was strong.

She was independent.

She would not break.

"I need you to be completely honest with me. Do you know where my daughter is?"

GULP!

The tone of his voice radiated that he meant business. The steel gaze in his eyes chilled her to the bone. The way he held his body was overwhelming.

Yeah. This was going to be much harder than she previously believed it was going to be.

* * *

Freedom…

 _ **I don't know where I'm goin'**_

 _ **But I sure know where I've been**_

 _ **Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday**_

 _ **An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time**_

 _ **Here I go again, here I go again**_

Liberation…

 _ **Tho' I keep searching for an answer**_

 _ **I never seem to find what I'm looking for**_

 _ **Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on**_

 _ **'Cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams**_

Exhilaration…

 _ **Here I go again on my own**_

 _ **Goin' down the only road I've ever known**_

 _ **Like a drifter I was born to walk alone**_

 _ **An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time**_

Free from the likes of her father. Liberated as she drove further and further away from her troubled life. Exhilaration pumped through her veins as thoughts of her new adventure scorched through her mind.

As Lois sped down the highway, jamming to her favorite WhiteSnake albums, all these emotions, plus a few unidentified ones encompassed her.

She finally did it.

She was free.

She couldn't believe it.

Her whole life, especially after that ordeal a few years ago, she had wished—hoped—prayed for this moment, and now it was finally here.

Over the years, she had attempting running away—escaping from the trivialities of her life through unconventional ways, but this was so, so much better.

It made her feel alive.

For the past twelve years, she had tried escaping from the life of an army brat and the constant moving around from one country to the next, but, especially the tight grip of her father, The General, as she liked referring him as.

And now she has.

She's escaped from everything.

As the lyrics of one of the best songs written and performed by WhiteSnake rung in her ears, she thought about her never-ending rollercoaster of a life…

Pain.

The pain of losing the most precious thing she had in her life, her mother, Ellen Lane. She was beautiful, high-spirited and a breath of fresh air. She meant absolutely everything to her, and then she lost her.

She was only six years old.

No child should ever have to deal with a pain so great, but she did, and she believed that she had prospered through that pain. But she hasn't. She was supposed to grieve, heal and eventually move on, but that never happened. She still grieved on those cold winter nights. She has never healed from that loss. She will never move on from her mother's untimely death.

And it was all his fault.

Instead of sheltering her—protecting her—grieving with her, he placed a mountain of responsibilities on her tiny shoulders.

Responsibilities.

At the age of six, she was a high-sprung, energetic child, but that all changed, and she became, Lois Lane, older sister and her father's little soldier. She had to put up with things that no child her age should ever have to deal with.

They are supposed to have a childhood, be carefree and worry about nothing except what games they played that day, but not her. No. She become a mother. She was her little sister, Lucy's new replacement mother.

Lucy didn't really understand since she was so young, but Lois sure did. She was no longer a child. She lost that the day her mother died, and became an adult. She made sure Lucy was fed, bathed and cared for.

As the years went by, she was in charge of making sure that she got to school on time, was picked up on time, was fed properly three times a day and made sure that her homework was completed every single night.

When they were older, they learned to follow a system of command, of course, it was ordered by The General himself. Lucy reported to her. She reported to The General. And the cycle continued day in and day out.

Hardships.

One day, her life completely changed, tilting her entire world on it's axis when The General sent Lucy away to a school in a different country, Switzerland to be exact because she was smart.

What did that mean for her? Was she not smart? Was she not allowed to the same privileges as her younger sister? Was there something wrong with her?

Every single one of those questions were asked and answered in the following years. It didn't matter what she wanted. Her father needed her, or an assistant, and the hardships of her life began.

She was treated like a soldier. She followed commands from her father, and other Sergeants. She did paperwork. She cleaned her room spotless every single day. She listened to every little thing that came out of her father's mouth.

She had hoped that maybe just maybe he cared about her, but she soon realized that she was just a damn spare piece of luggage to him.

And she was tired of it!

So, she did the only thing she could do…she rebelled.

Rebelliousness.

It has been her way of things since she turned thirteen years old. She purposefully broke her father's specific commands, and refused to do HIS paperwork. That wasn't her damn job.

A few years ago, she had picked up smoking cigarettes one day at school with some friends, but soon realized that that wasn't for her. She didn't agree with the smell it left on her clothes and the taste it left in her mouth. It was absolutely disgusting, but it was fun while it lasted.

When she entered her freshman year of high school, she began ditching her classes. At first, it had started out as a few classes here and there, but eventually turned into never going to class for weeks at a time, which was the main reason she was failing most if not all of her classes.

And then the boys started interesting her, immensely. She started fooling around with them, which had aggravated the hell out of her father, but that had been the point.

After the ordeal she was put through not too long ago, she started drinking and partying. It started out as a way to tick off her father, mainly a way to make him pay for what had happened, but she soon learned that it was fun, and she could keep up with the other soldiers, especially since she had drank with Russian Generals without her father knowing, of course.

It had felt absolutely amazing doing all of those things just in the name of being a rebellious, defiant teenager, but now—now she didn't just feel great. She felt ecstatic.

She ran away.

And she's never felt better.

" _Then send me away! It's what you do best! You send your men on missions, not really caring if they come back. You send Lucy away, and now your threatening to do the same to me. Do it! I dare you! Send your only daughter away!"_

" _Drop the attitude, Lo. One more outburst, and you're off to military school, is that clear?"_

The last words her and her father spoke to each other rung in her mind over and over again.

She sighed, heavily. She knew that what she did was right for her. She was free—free from everything—free from his commands—free from the military lifestyle—free from moving from one base to the next—free from reliving the worst part of her life. She was just free.

It was new, exciting and frivolous.

But…

She couldn't help but feel a foreboding doom looming over her.

This wouldn't last forever.

He would find her. That was obvious, and when he did, she was positive that he would collect on his threat of sending her to Military school. She didn't want that in the first place, which is one of the many reasons she left, but now that she was thinking about her decision it would seem that she would be going there as soon as he got her back into his tight grip.

It was useless to try to escape from her fate.

No matter what, she would be going to Military school, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

He would send his men after her, ship her back to base and then the life she knows would be over. This was just a fun and exhilarating temporary fix.

She quickly shook her head from side to side, dispelling those thoughts from her mind. It didn't matter right now, so she wasn't going to think about it. She was free right now, and she was going to enjoy every second of it, however long it lasted.

 _ **Who knows where the cold wind blows,**_

 _ **I ask my friends, but, nobody knows**_

 _ **Who am I to believe in love,**_

 _ **Oh, love ain't no stranger**_

She reached over to the radio, blasted the music, drowning out her own thoughts, and quietly sang along.

 _ **I looked around an' what did I see**_

 _ **Broken hearted people staring at me,**_

 _ **All searching 'cause they still believe,**_

 _ **Oh, love ain't no stranger**_

 _ **I was alone an' I needed love**_

 _ **So much I sacrificed all I was dreaming of,**_

 _ **I heard no warning, but, a heart can tell**_

 _ **I'd feel the emptiness of love I know so well**_

 _ **Love ain't no stranger,**_

 _ **I ain't no stranger**_

 _ **Love ain't no stranger,**_

 _ **I ain't no stranger to love, no, no, no**_

 _ **Can't hold the passion of a soul in need,**_

 _ **I look for mercy when my heart begins to bleed**_

 _ **I know good loving an' I'm a friend of pain,**_

 _ **But, when I read between the lines it's all the same**_

 _ **Love ain't no stranger,**_

 _ **I ain't no stranger**_

 _ **Love ain't no stranger,**_

 _ **I ain't no stranger to love**_

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

What the hell? She questioned herself, as her car started making weird screeching noises, and she quickly shut off the radio before listening, intently, frowning as she did so.

After a few minutes, it stopped, and she released a breath of relief. She didn't know what that was, but now that it stopped, she had nothing to worry about.

Not even two seconds later, her car started jerking, ferociously, and it was beginning to get difficult to stay on the road. She breathed in and out, as she tightly gripped the steering wheel. She would NOT freak out. She was a Lane after all, and Lanes did not freak out.

She lightly pressed on the brakes, intending on slowing down, so she could pull off to the side of the road, but instantly realized that her freeing brakes didn't work.

You've got to be kidding me! She thought to herself, as she took deep breaths.

 _Nope._

 _Still not freaking out._

In the distance, she noticed that several of the vehicles were pressing on their brakes, and her heart sunk to the deepest part of her stomach.

 _Oh god!_

She couldn't—wouldn't hit anyone. She knew what would happen if she didn't do something and fast. With her speed, she would either die from the impact or seriously harm the person in the car ahead of her. No way in hell was she allowing either of those things happen.

Without hesitation, she jerked the steering wheel to the right, effectively swerving away from impacting the car in front of her, and began heading towards the side of the road.

She sighed in relief.

It was better to hit a tree—a wall—anything that didn't endanger anyone else, but herself.

That relief was short-lived however, as she realized that her car was not only headed towards a bridge, but there was a young man standing there.

Her heartbeat accelerated, as she came closer and closer, and she was officially freaking out.

"NO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, before honking the horn, frantically, hoping that he would turn around, realize the danger he was in and move out of the way.

Move! Please! Turn around and move! She pleaded, silently in her mind.

She knew her fate. She was going to die, but it was better to go out with a bang, and not having a guilty conscience of unintentionally murdering someone on her way there.

As she came closer and closer to the man, seconds away from hitting him, she watched as he quickly spun around and stood there like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

 _What the hell are you doing?_

 _Move out of the way!_

He didn't, but he did do something that completely and utterly amazed her.

When she was milliseconds away from running him over, he held out his hands, abruptly stopping the car with his bare hands. The action caused her head to bang, violently against the steering wheel, and once the whiplash faded from her, she quickly looked up, wondering if she was seeing things, but realized that she wasn't.

He was still there.

What the fucking hell? She questioned, internally before staring at him, completely shocked at what she had seen this man do, especially since he looked like he was only fifteen years old.

How could he have stopped a car with his own hands? Was she seeing things?

She wasn't too sure about that.

She watched as he looked around, frantically, like he was looking around to see if anyone had seen his heroic act. She wanted to laugh at that, but the pure shock she was feeling stopped her from making a single move or a single sound.

Did he actually believe that she wouldn't see him? Or did he think that she would pass out from the exhilaration of almost dying?

He would soon learn that Lanes aren't afraid of anything. Not even death.

And then it happened.

He looked up, and she stared right into his aquamarine eyes.

His face paled.

His eyes widened.

His mouth dropped open.

And that's when she saw the scared, and terrified look take over his features.

He was afraid! Afraid of her! Afraid that she had seen him use his abilities!

Poor guy! Shy sympathized, as their eyes were locked onto each other, like they weren't sure what they were supposed to do in a situation like this.

He has probably kept this part of himself hidden from everyone, and now—now he has just revealed himself, albeit unknowingly, but still she had seen everything. And now he was terrified.

She was a curious person, and she was definitely intrigued, but the fear-filled expression plastered across his face made her so something very un-Lois like…she wasn't going to say anything. Not unless he wanted her to know anything.

As they stared at each other, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She wanted to break the very uncomfortable ice between them, but how?

She didn't want to scare him away, so instead of speaking like she normally would she smiled, softly and waved at him, which turned out to be a big mistake. If it was possible, he paled even more so before removing his hands from the hood of her car, stepping back and disappearing right in front of her eyes.

Nice going, Lane! She scolded herself, and shook her head from side to side, at her own stupidity.

 _ **This was basically just Lois' POV. I wanted a little insight into Lois' life, and why her car just suddenly came hurtling towards Clark. I thought this would be a pretty creative, weird, and out there way for Lois to accidentally witness Clark's powers. I have a very vivid imagination, and this particular scene just wouldn't leave my head.**_

 _ **So, I hoped you enjoyed chapter three**_


	5. Chapter Four

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Four:**_

"She's lying."

Wes fidgeted, slightly, as he stood across from the seething General, who was pacing the length of his office. The 'interrogation' didn't really go exactly according to plan, actually, it had gotten them absolutely nowhere. Cassie was short, simple and gave them no new information. He didn't want to believe that she would lie, but knowing how close they were it wouldn't be that surprising if she covered for Lois.

"She's hiding something," The General continued when he received no response.

"I'm not so sure, sir."

General Lane stopped his movements, turned around towards him, and glared, heatedly. "Wes. Do you not know my daughter at all? She's loyal, fierce and stubborn."

He knew that, of course, but what did that have to do with Cassie?

"Cassie and Lois are close, right?" At his nod, he continued, "They tell each other everything, am I right?"

He nodded again. He knew that for an absolute fact. There were so many times, too many to count, where one of them would see or hear something, and not even five minutes later the other one would know about it. They weren't gossipers by any means, but there were absolutely no secrets between them.

Could it be true? Did Cassie know where Lois was?

"Then it wouldn't be surprising if this Cassie girl knew of Lois' plans."

"Do you think she knows where Lois is?"

"Of course not."

Wes gaped at the man.

How could she be lying, but not at the same time? Did she know or didn't she?

A soft groan escaped from his throat. This entire situation was giving him a damn headache. "Sir, didn't you just say that she was lying?"

"A lie of omission, Wes. She probably knew of Lois' plans, but she doesn't know where she is."

"How do you know?"

He sighed, heavily. "My daughter is quite resourceful. A trait she learned from me, unfortunately. She wouldn't risk telling anyone where she was going. Not even her best friend."

"Then what do you suggest we do, sir?"

His determined eyes stared straight into his confused ones. "Follow her."

Those words caused him to pale, slightly. "What? Why? If she doesn't know anything…"

"She might not know anything, but she also might attempt to contact her, and that's our key to finding my daughter."

He really, really didn't want to do this. "What would you like me to do, sir?"

"Just follow her, and when she contacts my daughter you will report back to me."

Wes nodded, and quickly left the room. He didn't like this. Not one bit, but what choice did he have?

When The General gave an order you obeyed and asked no questions.

As he walked through the corridors, he couldn't help but think that he was betraying his friends. Lois, the girl he has known since he was a kid—the girl he tried kissing and got knocked on his ass for trying. Cassie, the beautiful girl, who took up his thoughts and dreams—the girl he was beginning to fall in love with.

He sighed, heavily. This was going to end very, very badly, and of course, he was stuck right in the middle of it.

Damn you, Lois, he thought to himself, desolately, as he headed towards his assignment.

* * *

Clark felt like he couldn't breathe.

His breathing was rapid and uneven. It felt like his lungs were on fire from the excessive amount of air he was sucking in. His heart pounded, like a jackhammer inside of his chest, the sound of his own heartbeat ringing, loudly in his ears.

He was never one for overreacting, but right now, in this moment, Clark Kent was having a complete and uncontrolled panic attack.

She saw! She saw everything!

As he stood underneath the bridge, leaning against the concrete wall, he willed himself to calm his racing nerves, but it was nearly impossible, and he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do—how we was supposed to react—how in the hell he even let this happen.

His entire life, especially when he found out his true alien origins, he was always so careful, and now after all of these years hiding his secret that had been shot to hell in a matter of seconds.

He was utterly horrified, but more than that, he was completely terrified—terrified of what was going to happen.

What was she thinking? Did she believe him to be some kind of freak? Was she disgusted? Horrified? Terrified? Was she scared of what he could do? Did she want to turn him into the authorities? Study him? Dissect him? Turn him into a living, breathing lab rat? What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Of course, he could just leave—he could just superspeed away and never return since that's what he was doing anyways, so he supposed that he could just leave everything behind—he could forget he ever saved her life—forget she saw him using his abilities—just forget everything.

A loud groan slipped past his lips, and he softly closed his eyes. He was being a coward, and he knew it. He was literally hiding underneath a damn bridge because he was too terrified to find out what would happen to him if he confronted after she had seen everything.

There was a part of himself that wanted to disappear, god, he wished he could just disappear, pretend that this never happened, and forget she knew the truth about his abilities, but the other part of himself knew that he couldn't—wouldn't do that.

He couldn't leave.

It wasn't just the thought of what was going to happen to him that was worrying him. It was also her. She could be hurt, albeit probably not too severely, but still hurt in some capacity. She was without a vehicle—a vehicle that was broken down on the side of the road, and he wouldn't just leave her completely and utterly stranded.

He might be running away from his life—his pain—his guilt, but he wasn't too far gone to realize when someone needed help, and she needed his help.

She was possibly hurt.

She was stranded with nowhere to go.

She was alone.

He couldn't just leave her.

But…

She knew. She knew everything. She knew he had abilities. She might not know the whole truth, but he wasn't naïve enough to believe that she wouldn't figure at least some of it out.

How the hell was he supposed to get out of explaining? How was he supposed to tell her anything? How was he going to get out of this colossal mess?

He wasn't.

If he went back up there, he knew that she would have a million and one questions, and he didn't know how to answer a single one of them without revealing his true origins.

What was he supposed to tell her?

' _Hey! My name is Clark, and I'm an alien from another planet with special abilities!'_

He scoffed at that, knowing he couldn't—wouldn't do that. There was no way in hell he could tell her the truth. He didn't know her. He couldn't trust her, or anyone for that matter. He was raised to protect his secret, and he wouldn't stop now.

A soft sigh escaped past his lips, as his mind was consumed with thoughts of what had just happened. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He couldn't tell her the truth, but he also couldn't hide underneath her forever. His life was a huge mess, and now this just made things so, so much worse.

What was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

He had three options, all involving confronting the girl.

Firstly, he would be captured by the authorities or the girl herself, strapped down to a table and spent the remainder of his life being experimented on. Secondly, he would be bombarded by a million questions from her, and would have no choice, but to tell her something, even if it was a lie. Thirdly, he could just avoid the topic altogether, help her get situated in a nearby town and then leave.

A loud groan escaped from him at the last one. No way in hell would she just brush off the topic of what she had seen him do. He would either be relegated to having his life taken away from him or answering questions that he didn't have answers to.

It was now or never, he thought to himself before slowing opening his eyes, taking a deep breath, and super speeding back up to her.

After he just disappeared in the blink of an eye, Lois dropped her head into her hands, and immediately regretted it when a sharp, stabbing pain shot through her forehead, and groaned, miserably, as soon as she had pulled her hands away, noticing smudges of blood smeared on her hands.

Great! She thought to herself. Just great!

As soon as her hands were clean, she slowly made her way out of her car, and leaned against the door, feeling the slight effects of a growing headache.

Her day had started out blissfully amazing. She had escaped from her father, but now—now her car was broken down on the side of the road, she had a splitting headache, which was vastly turning into a migraine, and she terrified the guy responsible for saving her life.

Where the hell did, he go? She questioned herself, as she spun around in circles, searching for him.

He was absolutely and stunningly amazing. He was stronger than anyone she's ever seen in her entire life. He was faster than a speeding bullet. He probably had other amazing abilities, and what does he do with them?

He saves her life.

Why? Why would he do something like that?

If anyone else possessed this abilities they would want fame, money, power, hell, they would want to conquer the damn world.

What was so different about him?

She sighed, heavily, knowing that she would never find that out, and even if he hadn't run away from her, she wouldn't have asked him anyways.

As she continued glancing around her surroundings, she noticed that his motorcycle was sitting a few feet away from her, and frowned, immensely.

Was he really that terrified of her? So terrified that he left without his bike?

Of course he was, she thought to herself, as she rolled her eyes.

This extraordinary guy literally saves her life from almost driving off a bridge, and what does she do?

She scares him away. Typical!

A part of herself knew that she needed to learn better tact, but the other part of herself also knew that she didn't even say anything to make him leave. All she did was smile and wave at the guy, hoping he would understand that she wasn't going to badger him about what she had seen him do, but she still scared him away.

Why was he so terrified of her?

She knew that she could be a little high strung, but she didn't even say or do anything threatening. At least, she hoped she didn't.

Her eyes widened, as a horrible thought crossed her mind, but it made complete sense.

 _Oh god! He probably thinks I want to study or dissect him like some kind of lab rat!_

Of course, she would never do that. She wasn't a cynical person, but she wasn't naïve either. This guy saved her life. He deserved a thank you not to be studied, tormented and tortured, but that didn't mean she wasn't curious about him. He wasn't your average human being. That much was obvious, but he was also more human than anyone she's ever met. She didn't even speak to him, and knew that much.

She turned around towards her car, seeing the imprints from his hand, and traced them with her fingers. He was incredible. He saved her life, and she couldn't ever thank him. "Good going, Lane! This guy saves your damn life, and you didn't even thank him! You scared him so much that he left without his motorcycle! You seriously need to lean some better tact! Haven't you learned anything? Always think before you act! Now, this guy is probably halfway to China, and you can't even thank him for saving you!"

Clark, who had been standing a short distance away, was watching her with a soft smile on his lips. She was more worried about him than anything else.

His head titled to one side, slightly, as he listened to her ramblings, his smile growing wider and wider. She was definitely something else. "You talk a lot."

He knew that was lame, but he couldn't think of anything else to say to announce his presence.

The sound of his voice coming from directly behind her, completely startled her, and she quickly spun around, breathing heavily, as her hands went over her palpitating chest before her hazel eyes glared at him. "Jesus! Warn a girl, won't you? You can't just sneak up on people like that!"

The smile never left his face, as he shrugged, sheepishly. "Sorry?"

She scowled at him. "You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"

He just shrugged his shoulders, which she rolled her eyes at .

They stared at each other for several seconds, and as her hazel eyes connected with his blue ones, she realized that he was anticipating her next words, like he expected her to attack him with an onslaught of questions, which is something that she would do, but this was different. He was different. "Well, now that you're here you can help me figure out what the hell happened to my piece of crap car."

His mouth dropped open, as she just turned around, intently examining her car.

That was it? No questions? No inquiries?

He just couldn't believe it. She had just brushed it off, like what she had seen him do didn't even faze her, which was absolutely ridiculous.

Who the hell was this girl?

Several minutes later, they were both looking at her engine, having absolutely no clue what was wrong with it, but their attention wasn't exactly on her car either.

Clark kept stealing glances at the girl, who had surprised him completely, and couldn't help but wonder what she was really thinking. She knew he had abilities, but wasn't saying anything. Either he had trust issues up the wonka or there was something wrong with her. He was leaning more towards the former.

Lois, on the other hand, was becoming very, very irritable.

He was staring at her!

It was infuriating as hell!

For the past twenty minutes, as they looked over her car, she had tried everything to keep her cool. She tried ignoring his eyes practically burning holes into her skull. She tried ignoring the way his gaze was questioning her, like he was just waiting for her to bombard him with questions. She was thankful to him. That much was obvious, and she didn't want to frighten him with a crazy, hot-tempered outburst, but his staring was really starting to grate on her nerves.

It was like she was the one with abilities.

Five minutes later, he was still staring at her, and she was completely done. She couldn't handle it anymore, and she quickly turned towards him, catching him off guard. "Is there something on my face? Or is there a reason why you've been staring at me for the past twenty minutes?"

"I-I'm s-sorry," he stumbled over his words before averting his eyes from her, and looked down to the ground when he felt the heat rushing to his cheeks, hoping that she wouldn't notice, but of course, she did.

She smiled to herself.

She kind of liked it when he blushed.

There was a part of herself that wanted to tease him about it, but seeing the flushed expression on his face, and knowing how he still seemed to be questioning her motives every single time he looked at her, decided against it. "So, um, I think I should just call someone. Thanks for trying to help."

He just nodded, still refusing to look at her.

"You can go if you want…" Her sentence was cut off by him quickly walking away from her, pulling out his cellphone, and calling someone.

She stared at his retreating form with a puzzled expression slowly spreading out across her face, but then realized that he was calling the tow truck company for her, and smiled, softly.

Such a gentleman, she thought to herself.

Out of their own accord, her eyes swept over his form-fitting body, and in that moment, she realized that he was the most handsome man she has ever seen in her entire life. His hair was a dark ebony shade, a few strands laid perfectly on his forehead above his eyes, and she had a fleeting thought of what it would feel like to run her fingers through it. His eyes were a mix of blue and green, making them appear aquamarine. He was muscular, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from his bulging biceps, as his tight shirt clung to him.

She gulped, silently. He was way too good looking for his own good.

As soon as she realized what she was doing, she quickly pulled her eyes away from him, and honestly, couldn't believe that she was actually checking him out. She couldn't be doing that. Not when he probably thinks she has ulterior motives; besides it wasn't like she would act on her attraction towards him. He was clearly lost, confused and she sensed a little bit sad. She was too busy running from her father to think about things like that.

She quickly turned away from him, sat down on the ground, and leaned her back against her car before softly closing her eyes.

Clark didn't really understand why he didn't just leave when she offered. She could have called for help herself. He could have left, and this whole meeting would have been forgotten, just like he wanted in the first place.

But…

He didn't want to leave…not yet.

There was something about this girl that intrigued, excited and confused him. She was high-strung, spirited and voiced her own thoughts, but she also surprised him. She saw him use his abilities, and she hasn't breathed a single word about it.

Why? Wasn't she mentioning it? Questioning him? Running away from him?

He didn't understand it. Not one bit, but he wanted to find out, and he wouldn't mind spending more time with her. She was like a breath of fresh air to him.

As soon as he hung up with the tow truck company, he turned around towards her, and couldn't stop himself from roaming his eyes over her slim figure. She was leaning against her car with her eyes closed, and she was so, so beautiful. The most beautiful girl he's ever laid his eyes on. Her hair was a light, dirty blonde shade, but he got the impression that that wasn't her true color. He could picture her with soft, dark chocolate strands—strands that he could picture himself wanting to twist his fingers through. Her eyes were a deep, dazzling hazel color, which also had tints of gold spreading throughout her irises. He could drown in those beautiful pools, like he could get completely lost just gazing into them. Her slender physique was intoxicating. The tight blue tank top engulfed her curves, perfectly, and the dark black denim jeans acclimated to her hips, making her look all that more beautiful.

All of a sudden, he felt a hot, slightly painful trickling form behind his eyes, and blinked several times, attempting to squelch the heat from his eyes before he turned away, not able to believe that that almost happened.

He remembered as Kal, how he checked out several women, and that never happened.

What was it about her that was affecting him so profusely?

She was exquisitely beautiful. That was quite obvious, but he couldn't be looking at her like that. She probably thought he was some kind of freak, and after today they would probably never see each other again. He could tell that she was running, just like him, but for different reasons. She seemed defiant, like she was running from something or someone trying to control her life. There was no way he would ever act on his attraction towards her. She could never be a part of his crazy, pain-filled life, He couldn't—wouldn't drag her down with him. She was so much more than him, and she deserved better than him.

He slowly walked over towards her, sat down, and leaned his arms against his knees. He made sure that he was sitting close enough so he could see and hear her clearly, but also far enough away so they weren't touching.

Lois sensed him, and opened her eyes, instantly realizing that he was sitting down next to her. "Uh, what are you doing?"

Clark looked over at her, puzzled by that question. "I'm not letting you wait by yourself."

She rolled her eyes before muttering that she could take care of herself, which made him smile, but it faded as soon as he noticed the deep gash above her right eye. It was slightly bleeding.

How did he not notice that before?

Oh right, he thought to himself, he was too focused on why she wasn't questioning him, running away from him or doing anything except the way she was behaving. "Your hurt."

A frown took over her features from his words before she remembered the cut on her forehead. "Oh that? It's nothing. Just a scratch."

He looked away from her.

He did that.

It was his fault.

He saved her life, but she still got hurt.

Why couldn't he do anything right?

As soon as the question entered his mind, he pushed it down to the deepest part of himself, and ripped off a piece of his flannel shirt before pressing it gently against her cut, which made her wince, slightly, but tried not showing it.

"Sorry."

Their eyes found each other, and they felt themselves becoming lost, as everything around them faded away until it was just the two of them.

She quickly averted her eyes from his, liking the way he made her feel way to much, and needed a distraction as soon as possible, but looked back at him, like it was impossible to not have her eyes on his handsome face. "I'm Lois, by the way. Lois Lane."

He smiled, softly. "Clark. Clark Kent."

Their eyes locked, their emotions—feelings lingering in them, as they smiled at each other before they softly shook hands.

 _ **Clark and Lois finally met. I know in the last two chapters they kind of did, but this is where they actually talked, and it wasn't the easiest task.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter four**_


	6. Chapter Five

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Five:**_

Their eyes widened to the size of saucers when a jolt of electricity passed though their fingers, radiating up their arms, and warming their insides, as a tingling sensation spread throughout every inch of their bodies.

They ripped their hands away from each other at lightning speed, like they had been burnt, and simultaneously thought…what the hell was that?

Their hearts accelerated faster and faster, as her shocked hazel orbs met his surprised aquamarine ones, and they quickly turned away from each other, both of them feeling the deep, red blush creeping up to their cheeks.

Clark frowned down at his hand, still able to feel the heat of her skin lingering there, and couldn't help wondering what the hell had just happened. He had never experience a sensation like that in his entire life. It was like his body was physically reacting to hers, and it was the most amazing—most intense feeling he has ever felt.

Why did it happen? What did it mean? Did she feel it too?

He was completely and utterly confused at the tirade of emotions he was feeling. It was quite obvious that he was attracted to her, but this felt like more than attraction. It was different somehow.

Over the years, he had been attracted to a few women, Lana in particular, but he had never felt this deeply about someone he had just met. Not even Kyla, the girl he had believed to be his soulmate until she died.

Why was he feeling this way?

He didn't know or even understand it since she was literally the complete opposite of him, actually, she was everything he wasn't.

She is strong-willed.

He is feeble.

She is independent.

He is reliant.

She is determined.

He is vacillating.

Of course, he knew that he shouldn't be thinking such things, especially in his current state of mind, but he couldn't help wondering what this actually meant.

Where was this attraction coming from? Where did these undeniable feelings come from? What was it about Lois Lane that affected him like this?

Lois, on the other hand, didn't know what to think or feel, as she stared down at her hand, a tingling sensation prickling over her skin, and she could still feel the heat resonating from his touch. She had never felt anything like that in her entire life. It was new, startling and the most incredible thing she has ever experienced.

What was it? What did it mean? Did he feel it too?

She was overwhelmingly befuddled at the multitude of things that were racing through her mind. It wasn't the mere fact that she was physically attracted to him, actually, that wasn't all too surprising since he was very handsome, but it was the fact that she was completely and utterly overwhelmed by the things he was making her feel—things that no other man has ever made her feel.

Her heart skipped a beat every single time he smiled at her.

His endearing words made her blush.

He made it impossible for her to think.

In her sixteen almost seventeen years of life, she has never been the type of girl, who was affected by attraction since that's all it was, but this was different. She wasn't just attracted to him. She felt connected to him in more ways than one, but that was ridiculous, right?

They didn't even know each other.

Another thing she never believed in was true love, soulmates or love at first sight, but the way he was making her feel was changing her aspects on everything she once believed to be true, and that terrified her…immensely.

Why was she feeling this way about a man she had just met? What was it about Clark Kent that affected her mind, body and soul so overpoweringly?

It had become eerily silent between them, as they stared at the empty air in front of them, and wallowed in their never-ending thoughts.

Clark had no idea what he was supposed to say. He wanted to break the silence between them, desperately, but he was too afraid to even look at her, let alone speak.

Lois was becoming antsy, as they were consumed in complete and utter silence. She hated uncomfortable silences, and this was one of the worst ones she has ever experienced.

"So, um, how long before the tow truck company gets here?" She blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, and instantly felt stupid as soon as the words came out of her mouth, but she didn't know what else to say.

It wasn't like he was saying anything, so she had to improvise.

He sighed, softly, and closed his eyes before whispering, "About an hour or so."

She didn't want him here. She didn't want to be stuck here any longer than necessary. He couldn't really blame her, but for some reason the idea of her not wanting him here hurt a lot more than it probably should have.

But what was he expecting?

She was probably terrified—disgusted—horrified by him, and just wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

At that thought, he slightly, shifted, uncomfortably, and moved a little further away from her. She didn't want him here. He was probably freaking her out. He should leave. He should get on his bike, and never look back.

But…

He really, really didn't want to. Not yet. She was affecting him in many more ways than one, and honestly, he liked her company. He didn't know what to do.

On one hand, he should just leave like he was originally intending on doing, and on the other, he was enjoying spending time with her, but before he had a chance to make a decision her next words completely caught him off guard. "Well, since we don't have anything better to do, can I ask you something?"

His entire body tensed, immediately from her words, and he knew that she was going to ask about his abilities.

What was he going to tell her?

"S-sure."

"Why were you standing on the side of the road?"

His eyes traveled over to her, not expecting that whatsoever. "Uh, I was thinking."

This was going well, she thought to herself, as she sighed, heavily.

It was still uncomfortable between them, and all she wanted was for it to end. She genuinely liked his company, but the dead air between them was killing her. She has always been a talkative person, and he seemed to be the complete opposite, which only complicated this situation. She understood that he couldn't or wouldn't talk about certain things, but he could at least hold up his end of the conversation.

"Where are you headed?" She tried again.

He looked down to the ground, not noticing how irritated she was becoming, and wished that they could discuss something else. He didn't want to think about that or even talk about it for that matter, but as he looked over at her he realized that she was attempting to engage him in conversation, which made him second guess his previous thoughts.

Maybe she did want him here, but why couldn't she ask safer questions?

These were just hitting way too close to home.

"I was just driving."

 _I officially give up!_

His short and simple answers, which were honestly irritating the living shit out of her, were getting her absolutely nowhere.

Clark glanced over at her, immediately noticing how her shoulders dropped in frustration, as she just stared at the ground, and in that moment, he realized that he was being completely idiotic. This beautiful, amazing woman wanted to talk to him—get to know him, and he was shutting her out. He wanted to talk to her—get to know her, but he couldn't since he didn't want to discuss certain things.

But…

It wasn't like she was asking for his life story, actually, she was doing the complete opposite. She just wanted to fill the empty silence between them. If he wanted to talk to her then he was going to have to open himself up to her, even if it was just a fraction of himself.

"Where were you headed?"

Lois looked over at him, completely surprised that he was asking her question.

They might be getting somewhere, she thought to herself.

"The same as you, actually, but honestly, I have no idea where I'm going."

"I don't know where I'm going either."

They glanced at each other with soft smiles lingering on their lips, both of them feeling completely surprised that they were both clueless to their next destination.

Was it just coincidence that they met?

They weren't too sure about that.

She turned her entire body towards him, so they were facing each other. "Where are you from?"

That particular question caused him to look down to the ground, as every fiber in his being hesitated on answering her. He had hoped that she wouldn't ask that, but he didn't want to stop talking to her. "I lived in a small-town."

 _Lived._

The past tense of that word popped out at her, but she wasn't going to question him on what it meant. She would have, but she could sense a sadness lingering in his voice, and conceded that he didn't want to discuss his home life.

As much as she wanted to know, she also knew that this conversation needed some lightening up, and smirked, playfully at him. "A small-town huh? So, you're a farm boy through and through?"

His eyes narrowed at her. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, firstly, you're from a small-town, and secondly, you're wearing plaid. If that's not a dead giveaway then I don't know what is."

He frowned, slightly, as he looked down at his clothes before returning his eyes to her. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

A soft chuckle escaped past her lips from his confusion. "Your joking, right? It's absolutely hideous, but it kind of suits you."

Her words caused him to smile, widely. She was teasing him, and he supposed that that was something she did a lot. The mere thought of her teasing him didn't only surprise him, but it excited him. "Where are you from?"

He watched as she sighed, quite heavily, and rolled her eyes, like that was the last thing she wanted to discuss. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to open up since he also refused to discuss that part of his life, and was opening his mouth to inform her that she didn't have to tell him if she didn't want to, but she answered him anyways. "I don't have a home. Well, not really."

A frown took over his features from her words.

How could someone not have a home?

As soon as she noticed the questioning gaze lingering in his eyes and the confused expression that took over his features, she sighed, heavily, relegating to telling him. "I lived on a military base, actually, I've lived on many bases in this country and many other ones for most of my life."

He paled.

She lived on military bases? She's military?

 _Oh god!_

Who the hell did he reveal himself to? Was she going to report him to them? Was he going to become a military experiment? Was this all a part of her plan to capture him?

The second those questions entered his mind, he looked away from her, knowing that he couldn't say anything else. She could just be wasting time until the cavalry showed up to ship him to god knows where, and his life would be over.

She noticed the terrified expression spreading out onto his handsome features once again, and groaned, silently, as she mentally berated herself for being so thoughtless. He was scared of her again, of course he would be. He probably thinks that she wants to study him or something, which wasn't what she wanted to do.

As she continued watching him, she realized that he was mentally and physically closing himself off from her, and he looked like he wanted to get out of here as fast as he could possibly manage. She couldn't have that. She needed to reassure him. She needed him to know that he could trust her.

Without hesitating, she placed her hand on his shoulder, tentatively, which made him tense underneath her touch, but still looked over at her, and the expression that was plastered across his face broke her heart. He was absolutely terrified. He was scared of her.

"Clark, it's okay," she told him in a soft voice, as she squeezed his shoulder, slightly. "You don't need to worry. I'm not going to say anything to anyone. Your secret is safe with me, okay?"

He nodded, but didn't say anything.

After releasing her hold on him and looking in the other direction, she realized that that was the first time she had actually mentioned what she had seen him do, and was feeling a little relieved from mentioning it, but also anxious from what his reaction would be. She doubted he would elaborate, but at least he knows she won't say anything, and hopefully he wouldn't be so terrified of her anymore.

At least, she hoped so.

Clark just stared at her. She wasn't going to tell anyone. His secret was safe with her.

That thought alone caused him to sigh in utter relief, but that relief transformed into shock as soon as he realized that she had actually brought up what she had seen him do. They have been in each other's company for over one hour now, and she hadn't uttered one damn word about it.

Why wasn't she asking questions? Why wasn't she curious? Why wasn't she doing anything else but brushing off the topic like it was the black plague? Did she not care? Was she afraid of him, and that's why she didn't want to talk about it?

He didn't understand this girl. Not one bit. She was different. Anyone else would have already asked him a million questions, so why hasn't she?

Lois noticed him gaping at her like she had grown a second head or something from the corner of her eyes, and instantly knew what was going through that head of his, but never looked at him when she spoke, "You're wondering why I'm not badgering you with questions, aren't you?"

"Yes," he mumbled before looking away from her.

"I didn't want to scare you away."

His head snapped back towards her, as deniability radiated off of him in waves. "I wasn't scared of you."

A smirk spread out across her face, as she looked over at him. "Really? You can't fool me, farm boy. Admit it, you were terrified, and not only that, but you ran away from me in a matter of seconds."

Of course, he knew that, but there was no way he was going to admit that to her. "I didn't run away from you."

When she glared at him, playfully he couldn't help but feel like he had absolutely zero power underneath her gaze, and sighed, softly before grumbling, "Fine! I was terrified that you saw me, and I didn't know what to do, so I ran away."

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

A wide grin appeared on his face from her teasing. She was definitely one of a kind. "I guess not."

The smile slowly fell from his face when she turned away from him. She still wasn't asking him anything, which he was thankful for, but there was a small part of himself that wanted her to. He needed—wanted to know what she was thinking and what she was feeling.

Was she afraid of him? Was she disgusted by him?

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips when she noticed that he was staring at her once again. "You're doing it again."

"I'm s-sorry," he apologized before quickly looking away from her with a slight blush on his face.

"Let me guess, you're wondering why I'm not scared or running away from you, right?"

His mouth fell open, as he gaped at her. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" She feigned ignorance.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?"

She smiled, softly, and shrugged her shoulders, slightly. "I don't know. I guess you could say that I'm good at reading people, and you're like an open book."

He smiled, but it faded just as quickly. She didn't actually subdue his fears. "Why aren't you afraid of me? Anyone else would have been."

"Well, I'm not like anyone else." When he didn't seem enthused by her response, she moved a little closer to him, and stared directly into his eyes. "Clark, you literally saved my life today. Why would I be afraid of you? I know you could never hurt me or anyone else for that matter."

"How do you know? We don't even know each other."

"That's easy." She smirked over at him. "You wear plaid. There is no way in hell that a guy who wears the most hideous apparel known to man could be even slightly threatening."

He chuckled, softly at that, of course, only she would see logic in that.

As they sat in content silence, watching the sun begin to set, he wondered how it was possible for one human girl to surprise him every singe time she opened her mouth. She was absolutely amazing.

Who knew that such an understanding person could actually exist?

Over the span of his life, he always thought that people would judge him, and even though she doesn't know the whole truth she was still understanding. He knew that she was one of a kind, and he also knew that he would never meet someone like her ever again.

He was still lost in his thoughts when she spoke, surprising him with her words, "You know, you have no reason to be scared of me. I would never do anything to hurt you."

"I'm not anymore," he told her, as he looked over at her.

She never looked at him. "I promised myself that I wouldn't ask you questions, and I'm not going to, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious about you. I know you've probably kept this a secret most of your life. If you wanted to you could talk to me about it, but you don't have to."

As soon as the words had come out of her mouth, he looked away from her, his mind digesting what she had uttered, and let it sink in. He knew what she was doing. She was trying to make him more comfortable around her, and he was in a way.

Would telling her make it easier? Did he want to tell her?

There were two things he knew for an absolute fact. She wasn't afraid of him and she wouldn't ask him questions unless he either brought it up or asked himself.

An inward groan erupted from inside of himself, and he honestly, didn't know what he wanted anymore.

After he had ran away from her, he was vehement on not telling her anything about his abilities, origins or anything related to what she had seen him do, but now for some reason he really, really wanted to tell her.

She was easy to talk to.

She didn't judge him.

But would that change once she knew the whole truth?

When he was under the affects of Red Kryptonite, 'Kal' had been so carefree about his secret. He had made it adamantly clear that he didn't care if anyone found out, and he had declared that he didn't want to live in secrets and lies anymore.

Did he have a point?

There was a part of himself that knew he was tired of all the secrets and lies, especially to the people he cared about, but the other part of himself was absolutely terrified that everyone would react the same way Pete had before he finally accepted him.

The only other two people who knew were his parents, and as soon as images of them popped into his mind, he immediately regretting thinking about this. He could feel his pain and guilt rushing up to the surface, but quickly pushed it down, not wanting to think of that, especially since he has been doing so good at not thinking about it.

He supposed that his company had little to do with that, and would forever be thankful for that. She definitely kept his mind off things.

What was he going to do? Did he tell her? Did he only tell her a half truth?

No. He would not lie to her. He could never lie to her, even if it was a lie of omission. She deserved better than that, especially after everything she has seen and everything they have discussed. He wanted to tell her really, really badly, which was quite surprising since he has never wanted to tell anyone.

But could he trust her?

His eyes slowly gravitated over towards her. She had never uttered a single word to him until it naturally came up. She promised that she would never tell anyone. She seemed like one of the most trustworthy people in this world.

In that moment, he knew—he knew what he needed and wanted to do. He could trust her, hell, he already trusted her.

He wanted—needed her to know…everything.

After building the confidence within himself, he took a deep breath before blurting out the one sentence he never thought he would say again, "I'm an alien from another planet."

 _ **This chapter was a little difficult to write. I wanted the dialogue to flow, but I also didn't want it sounding too monotonous. This is a story. Not real life, so hopefully it wasn't too dreadful.**_

 _ **As for our favorite dynamic duo, I knew I wanted Clark to reveal his true self to Lois early on. It only makes sense for the direction I'm going with this story.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter five**_


	7. Chapter Six

**A Summer in Love**

 **Chapter Six:**

It had been eerily silent between the two of them for several minutes since she uttered the words, and there was a part of herself that wondered if maybe she shouldn't have said anything at all. She knew that he could completely shut down from her. He was already closed off from what he was feeling and what he was hiding, but, most of all, what he was thinking.

And she hated it.

It was risky offering him support—offering him a way to open himself up to her, but she couldn't squelch her curiosity any longer, and she wanted to reassure him that she was trustworthy.

She wouldn't ridicule him.

She wouldn't tell a living, breathing soul about what she knew about him.

And whatever he did tell her, if he did, would never, ever leave his lips.

His secret was safe with her.

No matter what it was.

There were millions and millions of questions running rampant through her brain, and have been ever since she first witnessed him using his abilities to save her life. It had taken literally everything inside of her, and a hell of a lot of determination to keep her mouth closed this long.

She was an inquisitive person.

She didn't like mysteries to go unanswered, and she definitely wanted all the answers to her never-ending questions.

Normally, she wouldn't have thought twice about badgering him for answers, but this was different—Clark was different. She wouldn't push for answers, knowing that he could become even more isolated from her, and she didn't want that. She wanted him to open up to her, but of his own volition.

She had given him a little rope, and now it was up to him on whether he was going to use it or not.

After a few more minutes of complete and utter silence between the two of them, the truth was inevitable.

He wasn't going to say anything to her.

It was obvious that he didn't trust her, or anyone for that matter, and she couldn't really blame him for that either. She knew that he probably had a hard time trusting people, especially when he couldn't determine whether he was putting his trust into the wrong hands. She wished that she could tell him that it was okay to trust her—that she wouldn't betray that trust.

That was something she would never do.

She might not know him very well, but she understood his dilemma, and there was a small part of herself that held onto a sliver of hope that he would open himself up to her.

And then it happened.

It was rushed.

It was barely audible.

But she heard him loud and clear when he uttered the words that she had never, in a million years expected to hear him say…

"I'm an alien from another planet."

Her entire body froze.

Her mind blanked, ceasing all coherent thoughts.

Her heart stopped, started again, then stopped again until it was beating, ferociously inside her chest.

She slowly turned around towards him, her eyes narrowing at him, slightly, as questions ran rampant through her mind. "Mind running that by me again?"

Clark never looked at her, as his eyes were trained on the ground by his feet, but he could feel her eyes practically burning holes into his skull. He really, really didn't want to say it again. It was hard enough the first time, but he vowed to be honest with her, and that's exactly what he was going to do.

He very slowly, and very carefully looked over at her. "I'm not from earth, Lois. I'm from a different planet."

Lois stared at him for several excruciatingly long minutes, and never blinked one single time.

Did she hear him right? Did he really just say that? It just wasn't possible, was it? He had abilities, but that didn't mean he was an alien, did it?

And then she did something very Lois like.

She laughed—she laughed so hard that tears started to fall from her eyes. She just couldn't believe it. It just wasn't possible, of course, he had abilities, but that didn't mean he wasn't from this planet. He was either completely crazy or pulling her chain. She really, really hoped that it was the latter.

He was a good guy.

He was sweet.

He might be a little lost, but he wasn't crazy.

He couldn't be.

She really, really hoped that he was just pulling some huge joke on her.

Clark was feeling a multitude of emotions, as he awaited her reaction, and for a split seconds he thought that she just might believe him, but then she laughed with her head tipping back, her shoulders shaking, and a few tears slipping down her cheeks.

He sighed.

His head dropped in embarrassment.

His shoulders slumped in defeat.

Honestly, he didn't know what he was expecting from her, but it certainly wasn't this. It wasn't her laughing at him, like he had told some ginormous joke.

He was being honest with her.

He was trusting her.

And she didn't believe him.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't make himself look at her. It hurt too much. He has always feared telling people the truth about him, knowing that they would look at him like a freak, and even though that's not what she was doing, it still hurt that she wasn't taking him seriously. She had been so understanding when he didn't want to talk about what she did witness, but now—now she was laughing at him, and that hurt…a lot.

Memories of when he had told Pete, his best friend, the truth about himself came rushing to the forefront of his mind…

" _So? You're some sort of…what? You're not a human?"_

" _I don't know what I am. I don't know where that ship brought me from. I just know that I grew up in Smallville, and everything that I care about-everyone that I care about is here."_

" _If you care about me so much then how come you never told me sooner?"_

" _Pete, believe me, there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't want to tell you, but my parents thought it was too dangerous. Not just for me, but for anyone else, who knew the truth."_

" _You didn't think I could handle it?"_

" _Can you?"_

 _Pete walked around him, slowly, like he was seeing him in a completely different light, and it wasn't a positive one. He was looking at him like he was some kind of freak. That hurt, terrified and disappointed him._

" _Pete, another reason I didn't say anything is because I knew people would look at me the exact same way that you're looking at me right now."_

" _And how's that?"_

" _Like a freak, Pete. I've tried my whole life just to blend in-just to try and be more normal than anyone else." When he remained stoic, his eyes staring at him like he didn't even know he was looking at, he pressed further, "Would you just say something?"_

 _Silence._

" _Call me…call me an alien-call me a monster. I don't care. Just say something."_

" _It's like I don't even know you."_

" _Yes. You do know me. I'm the same kid that used to camp in your backyard. We used to ride our bikes in the woods. We used to play basketball with your brothers. Nothing has changed."_

" _Yeah right."_

 _Clark stepped closer to his best friend, carefully, not wanting to upset him even more than he already was. "Pete—"_

" _Back off man!" Pete interrupted him, as he backed away from him, abruptly._

" _Pete, I would never hurt you."_

" _Too late."_

 _Pete rushed past him, leaving him alone in the storm cellar, making him wonder if he just made the biggest mistake of his life-if he just lost his best friend because he was an alien._

Clark quickly shook the memory away.

Would she react the same way? Would she look at him like he was some kind of freak? Would she be terrified of him?

Lois felt like she couldn't breath since she was laughing so damn hard, and after several minutes she managed to calm herself down before wiping the tears from her eyes with one hand, as her other punched him in the arm, playfully. "That was a good one, Clark!"

Clark closed his eyes, not able to able to look at her and not able to say anything to her.

He was just hurt.

Lois sobered almost instantaneously when he didn't respond to her, and glanced over at him, eyeing him, curiously. He wasn't looking at her. His head was lowered. His shoulders were slumped. He looked miserable, like someone had just killed his puppy, but it was worse than that. He looked hurt.

Did she hurt his feelings?

Her eyes widened.

Her heartrate accelerated.

Her mind into overdrive.

Was he telling the truth? Was he serious about this? Was he really an alien? Was he really not from Earth?

She gulped, silently, and cleared the lump that had suddenly dried up her throat. She needed to know if he was being serious about this because if he was then that meant everything, she once believed to be true wasn't, and that was very disconcerting. "C-Clark?"

Clark slowly glanced over at her, his eyes pleading with her to believe him—to believe that he was telling her the truth. It was hard enough to tell her the truth about himself, worrying that she would look at him like he was a freak, but he wouldn't be able to handle it if she didn't believe him.

He needed her to believe him.

As she stared into his emotion-filled aquamarine eyes, she could see that he was pleading with her—pleading for her to believe him, and that's when she knew the truth. It was practically staring her in the face, and it tilted her entire world on it's axis.

He was telling her the truth.

He was deadly serious about this.

He really was an alien.

He wasn't from Earth.

"Y-you're not joking, are you?"

He shook his head from side to side.

She believed him, but what did that mean exactly?

She gasped, slightly before covering her mouth with her hands, and snapped her eyes closed, as the hurt expression on his face bombarded her mind. It was her fault. She had put that there. He had told her the truth about himself—a truth he had probably never told anyone before, and she reacted so harshly.

She wanted to kick herself—slap herself—anything that would take back the obvious pain she had put him through. He was honest with her. He was putting his trust in her, and she had laughed at him. She thought it was some big joke, but in reality, he was putting himself out there to her, and she had made fun of him for it.

Her eyes slowly opened, and she could feel the hot, prickly tears building behind them. "I'm so, so sorry, Clark."

A frown etched over his features, as he looked over at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry for laughing at you. I'm sorry for everything."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, he realized that she was feeling bad for the way she had reacted. She had laughed at him, and now she was apologizing for hurting his feelings. He couldn't exactly blame her. He supposed that it was better than her screaming, running or recoiling from just the mere sight of him.

A tear slipped down her cheek, causing an unfamiliar feeling to stir deeply within his stomach, and he hated it with everything inside of him. He never, ever wanted to see her cry again. It clenched his insides, and he wanted it to stop.

Without hesitation, he slowly reached out, and wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. "It's okay, Lois."

How? How was this okay?

She had hurt him.

He didn't deserve that.

He deserved to be accepted—to be understood—to be appreciated. Not to be made fun of. It wasn't right what she did, and she regretted her reaction to the very being of her core.

"No! No, it's not okay!" She shook her head from side to side, vehemently. "I laughed at you! I made fun of you because I thought you were joking! I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt your feelings, Clark. I swear. I never wanted to do that."

A soft smile graced his lips. She had the biggest heart he's ever seen someone have. She was amazing.

"Lois, I know." He grabbed her hand, and softly squeezed it. "It's really okay."

Her eyes stared straight into his own, and as soon as she noticed that all signs of hurt were gone, she sighed before tilting her head to one side, slightly. "So, it's true then? You're really an alien?"

The use of that word made him cringe, slightly. He really, really hated that term.

"Intergalactic traveler," he corrected her.

A frown slowly etched over her features, as her nose crinkled, in confusion, and her brows furrowed, questioningly. "What?"

She looked cute when she did that, he thought to himself.

"I prefer to be called intergalactic traveler."

Her eyes stared at him, as her mind felt completely dumbfounded by his words before she rolled her eyes, dramatically. There was absolutely no logic to that whatsoever. "You do realize that it's the same thing, right?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and smiled, a lopsided smile at her before he watched her very, very carefully for a few seconds. She wasn't looking at him like a freak. She wasn't scrutinizing him. She wasn't doing anything besides smiling at him.

What was she thinking? Did she want to know anything? Did she have questions?

"Um, Lois?" A nod of her head gave him the incentive to continue, "A-are you okay with this?"

"You mean the fact that you're not exactly from around here?"

He nodded.

"That doesn't bother me, but…" she trailed off, not really sure if she could do the one thing she's been wanting to do since she met him.

Her words caused the fear he was feeling to seep into his veins, chilling him to the bone. "But what?"

A wide grin spread out across her face. "You can't just drop a bombshell like that, and expect nothing in return. I'm literally dying with questions over here."

He figured that she might. "What do you want to know?"

Faster than humanly possible, she turned her entire body towards him, crossed her legs Indian style, and placed her hands on her thighs, her fingers tapping, excitedly. "I want to know everything."

"E-everything?" He managed to croak out.

She nodded before staring at him with expectation.

After calming the nerves racing through his body, he turned around towards her, so they were facing each other, and copied her movements. "What do you want to know first?"

"Oh. I don't know." She grinned from ear to ear. "Where do you come from? When did you get here? What's your real name? How did you get your abilities? Do you have other abilities? Do you have a spaceship? What—"

"Okay," he quickly interrupted her multitude of rambling questions. "Okay. I get it. You want to know everything. How about I just start at the beginning?"

When she scooted closer to him, her excitement radiating off of her in waves, he couldn't stop himself from smiling at her eagerness. She seemed really, really excited, and that gave him some hope that this would all go okay. He needed this to be okay. He liked her more than he probably should, and what she thought of him meant a lot to him. "I only found out a few years ago, and some things I don't even understand about myself yet, so I can't really explain everything, an—"

"Clark!" She interrupted him. "Your procrastinating, farm boy. It doesn't matter if you know everything or not, so come on! Spill!"

He took a deep, long refreshing breath before telling her everything. He explained how when he was just a baby, his biological parents, Jor-El and Laura sent him to Earth to protect him from the ultimate destruction of his home planet, Krypton. He explained how three years later, his spaceship crashed through Earth's atmosphere in a massive meteor shower, which brought remnants of his home world with him. He explained how as soon as he had landed, a farming couple had found him, and took him into their home as if he was one of them. He explained how they raised him, took care of him and protected not only him, but his spaceship for all of these years.

Lois listened, intently, never interrupting him one time, which was definitely a world record for her, as he told her his life story, and her heart literally ached for him. She couldn't even imagine what it was like knowing your parents, who obviously loved you, sent you away to protect you from the fate they, and the rest of their civilization endured. She couldn't imagine what it was like feeling alone—isolated—abandoned before his parents found him, and still feeling all of those things because he knew that he was the last of his kind. He had been through so much in such a short amount of time, and he still didn't know everything about who he was, what he really was, or even what he was supposed to be. She couldn't even begin to imagine what his life was like growing up, knowing that he was different from everyone else, and trying to pretend to be something that he wasn't.

She felt for him in her mind, heart and soul so very deeply.

Clark watched, as she digested everything, he had told her, knowing that it was a lot to take in. Not only did she just find out that he wasn't even from this planet, but also what he endured on getting here, even if he didn't really remember that part of his life, and what it was like arriving on Earth, not knowing or even understanding the strange, strange planet he had arrived on.

What was she thinking? She had told him that him being an alien didn't bother her, but what did that mean exactly? Was she terrified of him now?

He needed—wanted to know what was going through that beautiful mind of hers. "Lois?"

"Hmm?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips, as she just stared, blankly, and was becoming even more concerned.

Did he frighten her in some way?

Hopefully, that wasn't the case.

"Uh, Lois? Are you okay?"

Lois nodded, absently, not even looking at him, as she was still lost in her hoard of hazy thoughts. She just couldn't believe everything that he had went through—everything that he had endured—everything that he still didn't know about himself.

What was he feeling about all of this? What was he thinking? Was he scared of his own future? Was he unsure of his own life? Was he doubting himself? Did he want to be normal?

Clark continued to watch her for a few minutes, noticing every little emotion that crossed over her face, and it was beginning to become worrisome. From the moment he had met her, she had never been this silent, and the fact that she was speechless right now was terrifying him. She liked talking. He knew that much, but it didn't seem normal for her to behave like this.

He was nervous.

He was anxious.

He was terrified.

He was worried.

Did she accept him? Was she scared of him? Was she going to tell anyone? What the hell was she thinking?

After clearing his throat, silently, he took a deep breath, wanting and needing to know all the answers to those questions. "Lois?"

Lois was still lost in her thoughts when she faintly heard his voice calling her name, and quickly brought herself out of her stupor before she shook her head from side to side, softly, blinking a few times, as she cleared away her fuzzy thoughts. When she finally looked over at him that's when she noticed the tirade of emotions crossing his features—emotions that were clouding his mind.

Fear.

He was dreading that she wasn't going to accept him—that she wouldn't accept the real him—that she wouldn't accept the part of himself that he never, ever showed anyone.

Concern.

He was apprehensive that she was now terrified of him because of what she now knew about him—afraid that she saw him as a freak or a monster.

Nervousness.

He was panicking at the thought that she might tell someone his secret—a secret that he had probably kept hidden from everyone.

Clark took another deep breath. This was the moment he would find out what he needed—wanted to know. "Lois. H-how are you feeling about all of this?"

Lois gave him a small smile before grabbing his hand, and squeezed, reassuringly. "I'm okay. I promise. I want you to know that it doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter where you came from, how you came to be here, or even how you have these amazing abilities. You're not a freak. You're not a monster. I might not know you very well, but what I do know is that you are the kindest, sweetest and most caring person I have ever met."

He gave her a questioning look, and was seconds away from rebuking that, but she rose her hand, stopping him from uttering a single word. "Yes, Clark. You're a person. Not an alien-intergalactic traveler. Whatever. You, Clark Kent, are a farmer, who wears the most disgusting and hideous looking plaid shirts, and you just happened to save my life even though you didn't have to. You're amazing, and it has nothing to do with what you are or what you can do. It's about what's inside your heart, your mind and your soul."

She took a deep breath before continuing, "I will never, ever breath a word of what you have told me today. I promise you that your secret will never leave my lips. It will always be safe with me."

Clark smiled, softly at the woman, who he knew would never stop surprising him. She wasn't just amazing. She was absolutely incredible, and she was also the most extraordinary person he has ever met in his entire life. "Thank you, Lois."

"I'm guessing you still have questions," he added, as soon as he noticed the cogs still turning in her head.

A wide grin spread out across her face from the way he seemed to be able to read her just as well as she could read him. "I only have a few more questions."

He nodded, and waited for her to continue, but was not prepared for her first question.

"What's your name?"

His eyes were trained on her for the longest time, as a frown formed on his face, not understanding that questions whatsoever. "What?"

A loud chuckle escaped past her lips from the dumbfounded look on his face. "What were you called before you came to Earth? Or do you not know?"

That makes more sense, he thought to himself, before shifting, uncomfortably, not liking that question since it reminded him too much about everything he's done, and he really didn't want to think about that right now, but figured she deserved to know.

"It's Kal-El."

"Kal-El?" She repeated the name, slowly, trying it on her tongue before she crinkled her nose from the way it sounded coming from her lips.

It was just plain weird.

The expression on her face made him chuckle, softly. "I know. It's weird."

"I think I'll just stick with Clark."

Honestly, he was more than happy with that. He really didn't want her calling him by his Kryptonian name. "I think I'd prefer that anyways. I've always been Clark, and I always will be."

"Okay!" She clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Next question, well, two actually, but I promise they are related."

Oh, this was going to be good, he thought to himself.

"How do you get your abilities? And do you have more than what I've already seen?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. It figures that she would be curious about that. "Okay, um, for the longest time I didn't really understand how I had abilities or where they came from, but not too long ago I learned that the yellow sun is what gives me my abilities."

"The sun?"

He nodded. "It doesn't really make any sense. I know, but it's like I told you. There is a lot about myself that I don't even know yet."

"That's okay, Clark." She smiled, softly at him. "What other abilities do you have?"

"Well, I have quite a few. The first being that I'm virtually invulnerable, a—"

"Woah! Stop there!" She interrupted him. "Virtually invulnerable? You mean nothing can hurt you?"

He nodded.

This was intriguing. "So, if you were to get shot, for instance, it would what? Bounce off you like nothing happened?"

He nodded again.

"So, you're what? Immortal?"

He shook his head from side to side. It would seem that way to anyone, but of course, that wasn't exactly the case. "No. I can still get hurt, bleed and die just like everyone else. Do you remember when I mentioned the meteor shower that brought me here?"

She nodded.

"Well, with it came radioactive pieces of my home planet. There are two types. At least that I know of. Green and Red Kryptonite. The red meteor rock is like a drug to me. It diminishes all my inhibitions, and turns me into a completely different person, but it also brings up things that I didn't even know were bothering me. The green, on the other hand, is fatal to me. If I'm around it for an extended amount of time. It could kill me."

Her entire face paled from those words. He could get hurt. He could be killed. She didn't like that thought one bit. She might not know him very well, but she liked him—she cared about him, and she definitely didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

When she didn't say anything, he looked over at her, instantly noticing her worry, and quickly grabbed her hands, squeezing them in his. "Hey. Don't worry about that. They can't hurt me if I stay away from it, and I promise that I try to stay clear of it as much as possible."

As her worried and terrified eyes stared straight into his, he was hit with an unidentifiable emotion, one he has never felt in his entire life. She cared about him. She didn't want him to get hurt.

That thought alone caused him to smile, inwardly since he cared about her too, and was feeling extremely happy that the feeling was mutual. He didn't know what it was about her, but she awakened things inside of him—things he has never felt.

When he noticed that she was still worrying, he quickly changed the subject, "I, um, I have super strength and superspeed. You've already seen both of those. I also have heat vision and x-ray vision."

Her hands quickly shot up to her chest, covering herself as much as she possible could. "What's this about x-ray vision? How does that work exactly?"

A loud groan escaped from him before he shook his head from side to side, and rose his hands, as a sign of peace. "It doesn't work like that. I have to focus."

She slowly lowered her hands before smirking at him. "So, are you telling me that you've never 'focused' hard enough to spy into the girl's locker room?"

He quickly looked away from her with a slight blush on his face, as he remembered that day at school when he first developed that ability.

"That's what I thought," she commented with a grin when she noticed the expression on his face, knowing that he was remembering something.

His head snapped towards hers, all signs of embarrassment gone. "Lois, you know I would never do that to you, right?"

"Yeah. I know. You're too much of a gentleman to go spying through women's clothes." When he blushed from her words once again, she decided to change the subject for his sake, of course, she enjoyed teasing him too much to do it for herself before she quickly stood up, which earned her a questioning look from him. "Come on, farm boy. Up and atom. I want to see these abilities of yours."

Clark stared at her for a few seconds before standing up. This was definitely a first for him. He never even showed Pete his powers when he told him the truth about himself. "Why do you want to see them?"

"There is something you should know about me. I'm quite an impulsive and inquisitive person. I'm just curious about how they work."

He sighed, heavily, knowing that she would not let this go until he did what she wanted. He had a feeling that she liked to get what she wanted. "Okay. Fine. Um, since you've already seen the super strength, we'll skip that one. Which one do you want to see"

A smirk spread out across her face, as an idea popped into her mind. "What color are my underwear?"

 _What? She wants me to actually…?_

His face turned bright red before he looked away from her, coughing, uncomfortably. "Uh. I'm not doing that."

She pouted. "Aw! Why not? Are you gun shy, Mr. Kent?"

"Of course, not!" He scoffed before becoming thoughtful for a few seconds. "Uh. How about this…"

Without telling her what he was doing, he zeroed his vision inside her car, pulling back the metal door from his sights, and gazed into her glove box. What he saw surprised him, slightly, and he smirked, widely, as he pulled his vision back to normal. "Do you really need a dozen packs of Nicorette gum?"

Her mouth fell open for a few seconds before closing it again, as she was feeling completely and utterly flabbergasted, but not even two seconds later she realized what he had actually did, and glared at him. "For your information, mister. They were very necessary one year ago."

He quirked a brow at that. "Wow! I never would have taken you for a smoker. You know smoking kills, right?"

She glared even harder. "I know that! It was a phase I went through rebelling against my father."

"Now that I can picture. Why do I get the feeling that you were or are a little trouble maker?"

"Oh shut up!" She told him, as she smacked his chest.

A wide grin spread out across his face before he moved onto his next ability. Heat vision. He frowned, as he wondered how he was going to do this one without burning something down before he spotted a flower a few feet away from him, picked it up and handed it over to her. "Hold this and watch."

She nodded.

As he focused his vision on the flower, he thought about Lana Lang since she was the girl that had activated it last time, and was pleasantly surprised when that didn't work.

When did that change?

It didn't take him very long to wonder before images of Lois flashed in front of his eyes. He saw her beautiful face shining up at him, as those dazzling hazel eyes of hers stared straight into his soul. He saw her long, silky blonde hair waving, slightly, and he imagined running his fingers through those long strands. He saw her perfect curves, and wondered what it would feel like to hold her there, while kissing her with everything he had.

As soon as his lips met hers in the vision, his eyes burned before hot, fiery red beams shot out of his eyes, and he carefully aimed them at the flower, not wanting to hurt her in any way.

Lois yelped, loudly, as the flower burned to a crisp, and quickly dropped it to the ground before she looked over at him, completely surprised. "How the hell did you do that?"

He pointed to his eyes.

Her mouth dropped open. "What? How does that happen?"

A slight brush creeped over his features, as he remembered everything, he had thought about to make that happen, but that was something he would never tell her. Not ever. "It's not important."

She narrowed her eyes at him, slightly, knowing that he was hiding something from the way his cheeks tinted pink.

What was he thinking about?

Before she could question him any further, he quickly changed the subject. "Okay. All that's left is superspeed, and that one is nearly impossible for humans to see, so I'll have to demonstrate."

"Do you mind?" He asked, as he took a few steps towards her.

She shook her head from side to side, unable to form any words in her mouth, let alone let them out when he was standing so close to her, and was rendered absolutely speechless when he swept her up into his arms.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Her body trembled.

She never, ever thought that she would be in his arms, but now that she was, she could admit that she liked it…a lot.

Clark looked down at her, instantly realizing that she was just as nervous as he was, and was starting to wonder if this was a good idea or not, especially after the thoughts he was just having about her. "A-are you ready?"

She nodded.

He super sped them to the bottom of the bridge, stopped long enough for her to look around at her new surroundings, then super sped back up towards her car before he slowly lowered her feet to the ground, but when he let go of her she stumbled, slightly, and he quickly placed his hands on her shoulders, steading her. "Are you okay?"

Lois was dazed for a few seconds, and needed a minute to regain her composure before she looked up at him with a wide smile. "That was amazing!"

Her words caused him to smile. "Your amazing."

His smile fell. "Thank you, Lois. Thank you for being so understanding about all of this. It really means a lot."

They smiled, widely at each other before his blue-green eyes meshed with her hazel, gold-specked ones, and within seconds they could feel everything fade away from them until it was just them—just Lois and Clark.

Clark gazed into her beautiful orbs. She was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. She was amazing. She was everything he never expected a human girl to be. She was the most incredible person he has ever had the chance of knowing.

His heart started to beat, rapidly inside of his chest before his eyes fell to her lips. They were plush, pink and looked so, so soft. He really, really wanted to take her lips with his. He wanted to kiss those perfectly shaped lips. He wanted to taste the sweet flavor of her. He just wanted her.

And with that thought in mind, he slowly started leaning towards her.

As she gazed into his mesmerizing eyes, she was reminded by just how handsome he really was. He was incredibly good looking. He was the most amazing person she has ever met. He was incredibly, extraordinary and not because of his abilities or origins. He was more human than anyone she has ever met.

She watched, as his eyes fell to her lips, and she couldn't stop herself from doing the same thing. They were so full and luscious, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to kiss him.

Her entire body froze, as he started leaning closer to her, and her heart stopped before beating twice it's normal speed.

He was going to kiss her!

Normally, in any other circumstance, she would have stepped back, pushed him away or even slapped him for even trying, but right now—right now she didn't even think about doing any of those things. She really, really wanted him to kiss her.

As their lips grew closer and closer, they softly closed their eyes, and they could feel each other's breaths lingering on their skin before their hearts started beating in synchrony and their breaths became uneven, but before they could feel each other a loud clanking sound startled them.

Their eyes snapped open, met and locked before they abruptly pulled away from each other, their eyes roaming towards the side of the road, where they noticed that the tow truck driver was pulling up.

Lois quickly looked away from him.

She had almost kissed him! He had almost kissed her!

What was she doing?

She couldn't kiss him!

A silent groan escaped past her lips at the thought of how out of control her feelings for this one man were, and it's been like this ever since she laid her eyes on him. She liked him. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted him, but she couldn't have what she wanted. She needed to focus on getting her car fixed, so she can get back on the road, and avoid her father from finding her.

She wouldn't—couldn't go back.

Her eyes slowly traveled back over to him. His eyes were trained on the ground, as a frown was etched onto his features, and in that moment, she knew that she couldn't think about him like that, besides he would be leaving, so it wasn't very likely that they would be seeing each other again.

A heavy sigh slipped past her lips, as she walked away from him towards the tow truck driver.

Clark averted his eyes to the ground, not able to believe that he almost kissed her, and the fact that she was going to kiss him back.

What the hell is he thinking? Was he thinking at all?

He can't be trying to kiss her! He shouldn't even be thinking about things like that!

Deep inside, he knew that it would never work out between them not only because he would be leaving, but because he would only bring her down to what he was become…a lonely, broken and lost soul.

There was no way he would—could do that to her. She was light, brilliant and vibrant. He was full of darkness, and he wouldn't allow her to see that side of himself.

But…

She had distracted him from everything that was troubling him—everything that was going wrong in his life—everything that he had destroyed, and he enjoyed being able to feel like none of it mattered, but in the end, it wouldn't have mattered. He would be leaving as soon as she was settled, and they would probably never, ever see each other again, which only meant one thing…he would inevitably return to the shell of a person he was before she literally crashed into his life.

He slowly looked over at her, watching as she talked to the tow truck driver, and sighed, heavily before walking over to the man, who was going to help Lois Lane leave his life…forever.

 _ **This was a difficult chapter to write. I wanted Clark and Lois to have a full blown conversation about his abilities, but it just didn't seem like it flowed well enough, so I just stuck with a short explanation instead.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter six**_


	8. Chapter Seven

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Seven:**_

Clark Kent was completely and utterly furious.

For the past twenty minutes, he had watched, as the tow truck driver leered at her like she was piece of meat. He was making it absolutely clear how much he appreciated what he was seeing. The way his eyes roamed over her body, hovering a little too long on her perfect crevasses made it obvious to what he was thinking.

She was beautiful.

He knew that, but he wasn't gawking at her with eyes that clearly showed what he imagined doing to her.

It irked him like nothing ever has. Of course, he knew that he shouldn't be reacting this way, but he couldn't help feeling a little protective over her.

It didn't make any sense.

They barely even knew each other.

Why was he feeling like this?

He conceded that he just didn't want her to get harmed in any way, and this guy was definitely a threat, but deep inside he knew that what he was feeling was so, so much more than just friendly concern.

Clark Kent was jealous.

He was jealous over a girl, who he had absolutely no right feeling jealous over, but it was still there, and he vowed that he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

This guy would not get his grubby hands on her.

Nope.

He would die before letting that happen.

 _You won't say anything. You won't do anything. You won't say anything. You won't do anything._

That mantra repeated in his mind over and over again. Lois could handle this situation on her own, but that thought was literally thrown out the window at his next words, "You're all set, love. So, how about we get you settled, and I'll take good care of you."

That was it!

As soon as the words had left his mouth, he knew that there was more meaning behind them, and there was no way in hell he was allowing that to happen.

Faster than either of them could blink, he stepped closer to the man, effectively placing his body in between them, not noticing the way Lois practically glared daggers into his back. "Yeah. That's not happening. She won't be going anywhere with you. I'll take her there myself."

Lois glared at his backside. She had heard the conviction in his voice, his tone clearly stating that there would be no ifs, ands or buts in this situation.

Did he seriously just speak for her? What the hell does he think he's doing?

She wasn't naïve. She knew exactly what this guy was thinking, feeling and expecting from the moment his eyes glazed over every single part of her body. He was expecting things that she would never, ever think about doing with him, but that gave Clark no right to speak for her like she was some kind of invalid.

She could take care of herself.

The man glared, heatedly at Clark, his eyes continuously traveling down to Lois like he was expecting her to say something before Clark stepped directly in front of her, blocking her from his sights. "Don't look at her. You did your job. Now, leave. I'll be escorting her to this little town of yours, got it?"

His eyes narrowed, menacingly, as he nodded his head before he reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a white business card, and attempted to look over his shoulder, but couldn't see the beautiful girl, who caught his attention. He sneered at Clark, as he stepped around him, facing her full on, and handed it to her, his fingers brushing across her soft flesh before he smiled—a wicked smile at her.

Lois cringed.

Clark growled low in his throat, as he took a step towards him. "You can go now."

The man glared one last time before getting into his truck and driving away.

As he watched him disappear from his sights, he could feel her eyes burning holes into him, and gulped, silently before he slowly turned around to face her.

This wasn't going to be good, he thought to himself.

Lois glared, meritoriously, as she placed her hands on her hips for good measure. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Clark took a staggering step back from the tone of her voice—from the way her eyes glinted at him, dangerously before he squared his shoulders, and stood his ground, refusing to feel any type of sympathy towards that man. "I did what was right whether you think so or not. Did you not see the way he was looking at you? He had other ideas for you, and not the friendly kind. There was no way in hell I was letting that happen."

Lois narrowed her eyes at him. "So? What? Did you think I would have let something happen? I'm not stupid, Clark! I know what he wanted, but that doesn't give you the right to behave the way you did!"

"I never said you were. He deserved it, besides the only reason I behaved the way I did was because—" he stopped mid-sentence at the icy glare he was receiving and took another step back from her. The way she was looking at him was completely and utterly intimidating. It was like she was looking into his very soul, and it looked as if she wanted to slap the living shit out of him.

He gulped, silently, as he felt even more intimidated by her.

He, superpowered alien, was irrevocably browbeaten by her.

Lois just couldn't believe he had the audacity to speak for her like she wasn't even there.

What the hell was he thinking? Was he thinking at all? Did he think she was just small, fragile, innocent girl, who needed a man to fight her battles?

He might have saved her life, but that was completely out of her control. This—this she would have, and intended on dealing with herself. He didn't need to be some kind of hero, but she supposed that that was just him.

But still. He had no right—no inclination in doing what he did.

She was seconds away from continuing to berate him even more so when a thought crossed her mind, and it caused her heart to flutter in hope, as her stomach twisted and turned in knots from the mere thought of it being true.

Was he jealous?

As she recalled the way they had behaved around each other before this man had shown up, and the way he reacted when this man was flirting with her, she realized that it was true. Clark Kent was jealous over her.

That only caused the multitude of things she was feeling to magnify.

A smirk spread out across her face. "You were jealous, weren't you?"

Clark quickly looked away from her, as he felt the heat succumb to his cheeks, knowing that he was jealous, but there was no way he was going to admit that to her. "No! Of course not! Why would I be jealous?"

She grinned even wider at the truth that was staring them both in the face.

He knew it.

She knew it.

Why was he trying to deny what they both already knew to be the truth?

He was cute when he got all over protective, she thought to herself, but as soon as the thought entered her mind, she quickly pushed it away.

This was serious. He might not know her very well, but he was about to learn that she was very capable of handling situations such as this one herself. She was an army brat, who has dealt with guys ten times worse that that guy.

One in particular.

A shiver ran down her spine from just the mere thought of him, but she quickly erased him from her mind, not wanting to think about that horrible part of her life—not wanting to think about one of the many reasons she left in the first place, especially around him—around Clark.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Let's get one thing straight, mister. I am more than capable of taking care of myself, okay? I don't need you or anyone else for that matter fighting my battles for me."

Of course, he knew that, but there was no way he was going to apologize for the way he reacted.

He copied her movements, standing a little taller, and smirked. "Why do I get the feeling that you like to do things yourself?"

A wide grin spread out across her face from the glint that was lingering in those cerulean orbs of his, and honestly, it was quite surprising since she didn't think he would be gall enough to tease her back. "My father raised me to be independent and self-sufficient."

That much was obvious, he thought to himself, he already knew that she was independent, and he could tell that she could easily take care of herself.

As they stared at each other, that feeling that he was slowly becoming accustomed to with her around started brewing deeply inside of him not only from the way they were looking at each other, but also from the way they were teasing each other. She had a weird way of bringing out the more self-assured—more confident part of himself.

He liked that feeling, hell, he just liked her.

"That'd be one way to describe you."

Her eyes stared deeply into his own, smiles lingering in both of them, and immediately began to feel herself slipping away—slipping into a spell that she wasn't sure she could escape from or wanted to escape from, as her heart fluttered, rapidly inside on her chest. He was staring at her with such an intensity that it gave her chilling goosebumps.

An image of their earlier encounter flashed in front of her eyes over and over again, and she couldn't help wondering what it would have felt like to have him kiss her—touch her—hold her.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she quickly looked away from him with a slight brush creeping onto her cheeks, and pushed those tantalizing thoughts down to the deepest part of herself once again.

She couldn't let herself get caught up in the moment…again.

Clark felt his heart pounding inside of his chest, the sound reverberating in his ears, as his eyes gazed into her sparkling ones, and he could feel himself getting lost in those endless wonderful swirls of delightfulness. His eyes fell to her full, luscious lips, and he unconsciously licked his lips. He wanted to swoop down, take her lips with his, taste her sweet, sweet flavor, and never stop kissing her until neither of them could breathe.

He shook his head from side to side, not able to believe that he was thinking this way again, and cleared away his hazy thoughts before taking a step away from her, feeling that heat succumb to his cheeks once again.

Why did she make him blush so much?

As he watched her turn away from him just as fast as he had stepped away from her, he noticed the light pink tint coloring her skin, and couldn't stop himself from grinning, inwardly at the fact that he had the same effect on her before he cleared his throat, wondering why it felt dry all of a sudden. "Uh. Maybe-maybe we should get going."

She nodded, not able to look at him, too afraid of what she might see there. He couldn't know that she was having these thoughts about him, knowing that it could never amount to anything.

An immense sadness, one she hasn't felt in a very long time, began to overwhelm her from the thought of having to say goodbye to him before she slowly walked over to his motorcycle, her eyes staring at it, curiously, and in that moment, she realized that she had no absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do. She had never ridden on one before and could feel the apprehension rise inside of her.

This was new to her, which was exciting, but it also made her a tad bit nervous.

Clark grabbed the helmet that was placed underneath the seat, his mind wondering why he even had it since he didn't need it, but was glad that he did for her sake before he slowly turned around towards her, immediately noticing the cogs slowly turning in her head. Her brows her crinkled together, as she studied the bike, and he sensed that she was a little nervous about this.

He softly titled his head to one side, slightly, watching her, and smiled at the worried expression that crossed over her features. "No need to worry, Lois. I'm a safe driver."

That thought never even crossed her mind even though she was still feeling a little nervous about this, but it faded somewhat from the soft smile playing on his lips.

She took a deep breath before grabbing the helmet, and placed it on her head, but started getting frustrated when she couldn't get the clasp to click together. She could feel her fingers shaking, and sighed, heavily. She wasn't just nervous about riding a motorcycle for the first time. She was also nervous about being in such close encounters with him.

Clark chuckled, softly, as he watched her struggle with the helmet. It wasn't a tricky clasp. He knew that for a fact, and he figured that she was really, really nervous about this, of course, she would never admit that to him, but it did make him wonder why she was so nervous.

Was it the fact that she would be riding a motorcycle? Or was it because she would be riding with him?

He didn't know, but he had a feeling that it was a little bit of both, and understood how she was feeling since he felt the same exact way. She would be riding with him, which was a situation he never thought would happen with her. She would be sitting close to him, as her body pressed against his, and her arms would be wrapped around him.

He felt hot.

He felt like he couldn't breathe, as the anticipation rose inside of him, but quickly pushed it aside.

He needed to focus.

He couldn't think about that.

Without another thought, he quickly stepped towards her, grabbing the straps from underneath her chin, causing her to look up at him completely surprised. "Here. Let me."

Their eyes locked onto each other, as he skillfully clasped the straps together, making sure that he didn't pinch her skin, and slowly dropped his hands down to his sides.

Her eyes never left his. He was staring at her with such an intensity that she had to force herself to look away from him. It was making her heart skip a beat, and her breaths were becoming labored and uneven. She needed to clear her head, but how could she do that when all he did was cloud her thoughts, feelings and judgement?

Clark quickly stepped away from her, climbed onto the motorcycle, pushed back the kickstand, and revved the engine, half expecting her to just climb on with him, but when he didn't feel her presence he looked over, immediately noticing that she was still standing in the same spot staring at the bike, like she was scrutinizing it or something. "Well? Are you coming or not?"

Lois looked over at him, shaking her head ever so slightly to dispel her thoughts before she walked over to him, swung her leg over the seat, and maneuvered herself behind him into a comfortable situation behind him, but froze, as she stared at his back.

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

She took a deep breath before very slowly and very carefully slithering her hands around his stomach, barely even touching him. She wasn't sure she could handle what it would do to her senses. She was already confounded by him. She didn't want to add to it.

When he felt that she was comfortable enough behind him, he glanced over his shoulder, immediately noticing that she still extremely nervous. "Are you ready?"

She nodded.

He turned back around, quickly sped off and merged with the traffic.

Lois yelped in utter shock and excitement, as the bike jolted forward, and couldn't stop the grin that spread out across her face, as she tightened her arms around him, clenching his shirt into her hands before pressing herself against him a little more firmly.

The wind whipped across her face, causing her hair to flip in every which direction, and gently rested her head on his shoulder, attempting to hide the wind from her face before she softly closed her eyes, as she sighed in complete and utter content. She was enjoying this too much, and she knew it, but she couldn't stop the flutter that rumbled in her stomach from the feelings erupting deeply within her. He felt so good being this close to her, and she didn't want this to ever stop.

Why was she feeling this way about him?

Clark took a sharp intake of breath, as her arms tightened around him, and had to remind himself to breath properly. She was affecting him so immensely, hell, she has been ever since he met her, but now—now it was so much more intense. She was clinging onto him. Her body was pressing harder against his back, which caused his stomach to twist and turn in knots. Her fingers were digging into his flesh, as she fisted his shirt into her hands. She felt so good against him, god, he never wanted this moment to end.

Why did she make him feel like this?

"WHAT?" Lois shrieked, startling both Clark and the manager of the tow truck company.

It had taken them less than thirty minutes to arrive in Tribune, Kansas, where they have been sitting for an hour waiting for an update on the damage of her car. At first, she had felt utter excitement at the idea of getting her car fixed and back on the highway, but now—now she just felt very, very pissed off, and she was more than happy to take it out on him. "What do you mean one week? I can't stay here for one week! You need to get this fixed tonight! I've got things to do-places to be! I don't have time for this! So, I recommend that you rally up your incompetent employees and fix my damn car!"

The man took a staggering step away from her, as his eyes were trained on the ground. He had never, in his thirty years of life, ever witnessed a woman get so angry before, and quite honestly, she scared the living shit out of him. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am, but there is nothing I can do. Your vehicle has too many issues to fix in one night. I'm sorry, but it won't be ready until then."

This is absolutely ridiculous, she thought to herself before storming out of there, her hot-temper rising by the minute, and honestly, she couldn't deal with this right now.

She just needed some fresh air.

As soon as the cool breeze brushed across her skin, she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, and paced back and forth, as her mind went on overload. She just couldn't believe it. She was going to be stuck here for one hellish long week, while her piece of crap car was getting fixed. She couldn't stay here that long. She didn't really have somewhere to be, but she couldn't be here.

It was too risky being stuck in some small-town for longer than a few days.

Her father could find her, and then the life she so desperately wants would be over. She didn't want that. It was way too soon for her to go back to her life. She had only escaped late last night. She couldn't—wouldn't go back.

Not yet.

Of course, she knew that eventually he would catch up to her, but that day would not be today. She wanted to continue feeling liberated. She still had things and places she wanted to experience.

Clark was completely and utterly dumbfounded, as he listened to her outburst, and as soon as she had stormed out of the building he quickly apologized to the man before following her outside, where he watched her pace back and forth, her hands clenching and unclenching like she was fighting to urge to hit something.

He wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

He wanted to find some way to calm her down, but he had no idea what to do or what to even say to her.

In his sixteen almost seventeen years of life, he had seen several hot-tempers before, his being pretty intense, but never—never has he ever witnessed someone behaving so volatile.

She was angry.

She was pissed.

He understood that, but what he couldn't grasp was what the big problem was with staying here.

As he studied her composure, intently, he sensed that she didn't want to or couldn't stay in one place for too long.

Why? Was she running from something? Was she in trouble with the law? Was someone chasing her?

A frown slowly formed on his face, not liking the feeling that rose inside of him from the mere thought of someone dangerous coming after her, possibly wanting to hurt her, actually, he didn't like that thought at all, and quickly disregarded it, knowing that if she was on the run from someone dangerous then she wouldn't have given in, in the first place.

Whatever it was he wasn't going to question her about it since he was running from his own problems, and he has absolutely no room to judge.

Lois knew he was standing with her—watching her, but she could honestly care less about what he was thinking at this point in time. She had been pretty good at hiding the fact that she was running from someone, and she had a feeling that he had figured that much out from her reaction to staying in this town, but right now she was too high strung about this situation to care. "I can't believe this! First, my car breaks down, and now I'm going to be stuck here for one week! Why? Why is this happening to me? I swear-I swear that this damn town and that ineffectual manager is out to get me! I can't stay here!"

Clark grinned from ear to ear, as he listened to her ranting and ravings before he tilted his head to one side, slightly, not able to stop himself from thinking how cute she looked right now.

She is definitely a firecracker, he thought to himself, an adorable, cute firecracker.

He shook his head from side to side, as soon as the thought entered his mind, knowing that she would probably kill him if she knew what he was thinking right now, but it was still the truth—a truth he would never admit to her.

As he listened to her continuous rant, an idea surged through him, and he knew it would stop her dead in her tracks. Of course, he also knew that he was a little nervous about saying it out loud, but it was the truth, and for some reason he really, really wanted to utter these words to her.

It was something he would never imagine saying to another girl, but she brought out a completely different side of himself—a side that he was starting to like…a lot.

"You know, you're kind of cute when you ramble."

Her entire body froze, his words halting her movements—halting her thoughts—halting the stream of words that were on the verge of slipping past her lips.

Did he really just say that?

She slowly turned around towards him, immediately noticing the smirk plastered across his face, and blushed, profusely before she decided to tease him back since that's exactly what he was doing to her. "Are you flirting with me, Mr. Kent?"

He chuckled, loudly from the nickname. Never had he ever been called that, but it felt good coming from her lips. "Well, it shut you up, didn't it?"

A playful glare shot out of her hazel eyes before she softly punched his shoulder.

Another goodhearted chuckle escaped from him before he pulled her away from the building, and began helping her find a hotel she could stay at for the time being.

One hour later, Clark and Lois stood outside of her hotel, which wasn't the greatest looking, but it would have to do, and smiled, tentatively at each other even though that was the last thing they wanted to do right now.

They both knew what was about to happen, and for some reason neither of them were ready to say the words.

He was going to leave—leave her, and she didn't want that.

Not yet.

Lois shuffled, uncomfortably before an idea, albeit only a temporary fix, came to mind. "Uh. Do-do you want to get some dinner or something?"

Clark smiled, widely. "Yeah. Yeah. I would like that."

He didn't want to leave—leave her.

Not yet.

Of course, he knew that he was only postponing the inevitable. He would be leaving, and he doubted that he would ever see her again.

But…

Right now—right now he was going to go to dinner with her, and enjoy whatever time they had left together.

Twenty minutes later, they found themselves at a quaint little restaurant, which had a wrap-around porch, and were sitting down at an outside table, just enjoying the fresh air, as they ate their meals.

Lois looked across the table at him, as a feeling of slight dread clenched her heart, knowing that their time was running out, and she wanted to know as much about him as she possibly could.

"So, um, what was it like growing up with you know…" she trailed off, not wanting anyone to overhear their conversation.

Clark glanced around his surrounding, making sure that there were no prying ears before he locked his eyes onto hers, and leaned in closer, making her do the same thing since he didn't want anybody overhearing him. "It wasn't easy. I was pretty young when I developed my first ability, and over the years I just kept developing more, so it was hard for me, you know? I'm different and I have to work hard at pretending to be someone I'm not just so everyone else sees me as just a normal guy."

She felt for him in more ways than one. He had spent his entire life living in secrecy—hiding the truth about himself from everyone he loves, and was never able to actually be himself around them, knowing that they would judge him for what he is and what he could do.

She didn't see him that way.

He was just Clark Kent to her. She could care less if he was from Earth or Krypton, besides what a person can do isn't what defines them. It's who they are that do. He wasn't some freak or monster because he had abilities. He was just a caring, sweet, kind person, and that's who he would always be.

At least to her.

"I'm sorry, Clark. It must have been hard not knowing how people would react to your secret and not knowing if they would see you as something that you're not. Your just Clark Kent to me."

A small smile graced his lips from her words. It filled his heart knowing that she didn't see him as an alien or a freak. She just saw him as he was, and that made him extremely happy. He was always afraid of people's reactions, but even though she did react in a way he never expected, she still accepted him, and that meant absolutely everything to him. "Thank you, Lois. That means more to me than you'll ever know."

He took a bite of his food before continuing, "What about you? What was it like growing up?"

"Oh it was thrilling," she scoffed.

"Is that all I get?"

She rolled her eyes, dramatically. "Uh. Well, there's not much to tell. As I've mentioned before I'm a military brat, so I've practically lived on every base here in the states and I've even been to a couple in a few different countries."

That was very intriguing, he thought to himself, he had never left Kansas, hell, he still had yet to do so, and couldn't stop himself from wondering what it was like in other states, as well, as other countries. "What countries?"

"I've been to Germany, which by the way was quite fun the first time around, but after visiting three times it's not as thrilling. Um, I've been to Russia and Ireland." A wistful smile graced her lips. "And when I was really young, I went on an African Safari with my mom."

As she listed all of the places she has already been, he was completely and utterly awestruck, especially since she was still so young, but it did raise a few questions, one in particular. "So, if you've been to all these places, why are you traveling now, especially since you've pretty much traveled all over the states?"

She hesitated, slightly. It's not like she could tell him that she was running away from her father. He didn't need to know about that part of her life. He didn't need to know that she was running away, even though she sensed that he kind of figured that part out already, and thankfully he wasn't saying anything. He didn't need to know about the pain she had endured, albeit the problems they faced were completely different, but all in all, it was the same.

Pain was pain, and she didn't feel like hearing his sympathy over the trivialities of her life, besides, what was the point in telling him the truth?

He would be leaving.

She would be staying here.

They would be going their separate ways, and she doubted she would ever see him again.

"Uh. I'm just traveling for a little while. You know, visiting places I haven't been to yet. I don't know where I'm going exactly, but I'll know when I get there."

He just nodded. He knew that she wasn't telling the whole truth. That much was obvious, but he wouldn't question her about it. It wasn't his right, and if she didn't want him to know then he wasn't going to force her to tell him.

She shoved her food into her mouth, wanting—needing the topic of their conversation to move on from her since she really didn't want to think about or talk about her predicament at this moment in time. "What about you? Why are you traveling?"

As soon as the words left her lips, he looked down at his plate of food, feeling his good mood vanish in a matter of seconds not because he didn't want to discuss his life, but because she had asked the one thing he couldn't—wouldn't answer. She couldn't know about what he's done and what he's caused.

If he did tell her the truth of his sins, she would look at him with disgust.

She would despise him.

She would hate him.

He didn't want that, actually, he enjoyed the fact that she didn't know about the pain he has caused because then she wouldn't look at him like he was a monster for what he's done. She had just told him that she only sees him as himself. Not a freak, but if she knew the truth—the whole truth she would only see what he feels inside.

Pain.

Guilt.

Shame.

He couldn't even face it himself, so how could he even begin to explain that to her?

He couldn't.

He would never tell her the truth.

Not ever.

When he didn't respond to her, she looked over at him and watched as he completely closed himself down from her a lot like the way he had when he feared that she was going to tell someone about what she had seen him do. He was hiding—running from something, which was the reason he was on the road. She knew that from the way he avoided looking at her. There was this lingering sadness that took over his features, and she sensed that he was feeling pain and guilt about something.

She silently cursed herself, hoping and praying that he wouldn't close off from her completely. She had dealt with that when they first met, and she really hoped they wouldn't go back to that. She was enjoying this carefree version of himself. "Uh. You know what. Just forget I said anything, okay?"

Clark looked over at her, not surprised that she had sensed he didn't want to talk about it since she was really good at reading him, and he respected the fact that she was putting his feelings in front of what she probably wanted to know before smiling, softly at her. "Thanks."

"You might think I don't understand, but trust me. I do. It's probably not the same, but I do understand wanting to keep things to yourself." She smirked over at him. "Besides, a little mystery is always good for a relationship."

His fork stopped in midair, as her words echoed in his mind before he slowly looked over at her, quirked a brow and smirked right back at her. "Relationship?"

She rolled her eyes.

Of course that would be the only thing he actually heard, she thought to herself.

"Oh shut up!"

After finishing their meals, he paid for their dinner before walking her back to her hotel, and now—now they were standing outside the front doors waiting for the inevitable to happen.

Clark stuffed his hands deep into his pockets with his head lowered, slightly, and stared down at the asphalt next to his feet. He really, really didn't want to say goodbye to her, but he knew it was going to happen nonetheless, and he also didn't understand why this was so damn hard. At first, he was staying with her to make sure she was okay—to make sure that she got somewhere safe—to make sure she wasn't stranded on the side of the road, but now he was having a hard time leaving her.

He could stay, he tried rationalizing with himself, but he was still too close to Kansas—too close to home—too close to everything he was running from.

There was a part of himself that wished he could stay here with her because he didn't want to leave her, but the other part of himself knew that that wasn't going to happen.

Lois shifted, uncomfortably, as she moved her weight from one foot to the other, and refused to look at him like that would stop the reality of their situation from happening. She didn't want him to leave, but she knew that he was going to anyways.

They were both running from a part of their lives, and unlike her, he wasn't stuck and had every inclination to leave. She could tell that whatever had closed himself down from her at dinner was something that wouldn't leave his head—something that hurt his heart, and he needed to get as far away from wherever he came from as possible. She understood that in many ways since she wanted to get as far away from her father as she possibly could, and she was a little closer than she would have preferred, but it's not like she really had a choice in the matter.

Clark slowly looked over at her, and sighed, heavily when he noticed that she still wasn't looking at him.

They have been standing here for five minutes, neither of them talking or even glancing at each other.

Did she want him to stay? Is that why she wouldn't look at him? Is that why this was so hard?

He didn't want to leave.

She seemed to want him to stay.

But…

No matter what, neither of them would get what they wanted.

Their lives were going in two completely different directions. He was going god knows where, and she—she would be staying here until she was able to leave.

A silent groan escaped past his closed lips. He didn't want to do this—he didn't want to say the words to her, but he knew that he had to. "Lois?"

Silence.

He sighed, softly. "Lois, are you okay?"

Lois slowly looked up at him, plastering on a fake smile for his sake. He didn't need to know how she was feeling deep inside. "I'm fine, Clark."

They stared, intensely into each other's eyes for a few seconds, neither speaking—neither moving before she did something he never, ever expected her to do. She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and hugged him. He hesitated, not exactly knowing what to do, but after a few seconds he wrapped his arms around her, resting his head atop hers, and hugged her back.

She gently rested her head on his chest, and whispered, "Thank you, Clark. Thank you for saving my life today, and I promise that your secret will always be safe with me."

He pulled away from her, not wanting to, but knowing that he had to eventually. "Thank you too, Lois."

They smiled, softly at each other, their eyes locking, as their feelings radiated off of them in waves.

It was time.

They both knew it, but they still didn't want to say the words to each other.

Lois looked down to the ground once again, as her feet restlessly kicked some loose rocks around. "Where are you going to go?"

Clark tilted his head to one side, slightly, as she looked away from him. She wanted him to stay. He knew that now, especially in the way she had become reserved. It had been completely different from the way she had been behaving around him not even a few hours ago. He wanted to stay, god, he wanted to stay here with her so, so badly.

But…

He couldn't—wouldn't allow himself to stay in Kansas.

He had to leave.

"I don't know."

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips from his words, and her head dropped before she softly closed her eyes.

He hated that she wasn't looking at him. He hated that he couldn't see her beautiful face. He hated that he couldn't look into her dazzling hazel eyes. He needed—wanted her to look at him as they did this—as they said goodbye to each other.

Without hesitation, he placed his forefinger underneath her chin, and slowly lifted her head up before whispering, "Lois…"

Her eyes fluttered open and locked with his.

He gently trailed a finger down her cheekbone, loving the feel of her skin underneath his fingertip, and softly smiled when her eyes closed from the sensation. "I want to say so many things, but nothing seems like it would be enough."

Lois opened her eyes, and stared into his, intensely, as he continued speaking, "I-I want-need you to know that I enjoyed every second we have spent together, and even though it was quite unexpected it has been one of the best days of my life."

He took a deep breath. "I will never forget you, Lois Lane."

Her breath hitched, as his words reverberated throughout her entire body, and she could feel her heart aching from the emotion that was laced in his voice—from the way his eyes revealed his true feelings. He didn't want to do this just as much as she didn't want him to. "That was enough. I have enjoyed spending today with you as well, and I need you to know that I will always be grateful to you for saving my life. I will always keep my lips sealed about your secret, and I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me even though we don't even know each other."

Clark smiled. "We know enough."

Lois smiled back at him before slowly leaning closer to him, which paralyzed him for a split second, and kissed the side of his cheek.

It was soft.

It was sweet.

It was short—too short for either of their liking.

His eyes closed, softly at the sensation of her lips pressed against his skin.

When she pulled away from him, he smiled, softly at her. "Goodbye, Lois."

She smiled right back at him. "Goodbye, Clark."

As soon as she turned away from him, the smile from her lips fell before she resolutely walked inside of the hotel never stopping until she made it into her room, and once the door was closed behind her she leaned her back against it, wondering why she felt like this—wondering why she felt so heartbroken.

She wasn't that girl.

She wasn't the girl, who wrapped herself in her feelings and emotions, actually, she was the complete opposite of that. She blocked them out, effectively keeping her heart safely tucked away.

But…

Somehow—someway, he had managed to wiggle his way inside of her heart. She allowed him to tear down those walls, which she kept barricaded around her heart, and only after a few hours of spending time with him.

How the hell did that happen? Why did he make her feel like this? What was it about Clark Kent that affected her in so, so many different ways?

She didn't know, but she did know that she would never get the chance to find out for herself. She didn't understand how she allowed herself to get into this situation, but she truly and honestly, liked the way he made her feel, and she also knew that for as long as she lived, she would never feel this way about someone else again.

A soft sigh escaped from her before she closed her eyes.

She was going to miss him.

Clark watched, sadly, the smile immediately falling from his face, as she slowly walked away from him until she had disappeared from his life…forever.

He didn't even know her, and he felt as if he had just lost something that was important to his life.

Why was he feeling like this?

She was so, so beautiful.

That much was obvious to him, but never in his entire life had he ever felt so strongly about someone. He had liked a few girls over the years, Lana being the biggest one, but the way he had felt about them didn't even compare to what he felt for Lois.

It was irrational.

It wasn't normal.

He knew that he shouldn't be feeling like this, especially over a girl he only had the pleasure of knowing for a few hours, but she was different—she was special. In the time he had spent with her she had made him feel things that he has never felt before, and he knew one thing for an absolute fact…he was going to miss her.

After glancing in the spot she was standing not even two minutes ago for a few seconds, he resolutely walked over to his motorcycle, climbed on, revved the engine and sped off into the night.

As he drove, the wind whipping across his face, he could feel a pain in his chest—a pain he has never experienced before, and he knew it was because of her—because of Lois. She had crept her way inside of him. She had made him feel like he could be honest with her. He was honest with her, and she had accepted him. She trusted him just as much as he trusted her.

And he knew without a doubt that he would never, ever feel this way about someone else ever again.

The further and further he traveled from her, the more he started to wonder if he was driving away from one of the best things that could have ever happened to him.

 _ **Clark and Lois are now going their separate ways. It might seem like the way they feel is a bit unrealistic, but in my opinion everything they had endured in one day together would elicit those feelings, besides this is Clois. They have always had a connection, even when they were bickering housemates on the show.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter seven**_


	9. Chapter Eight

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Eight:**_

 _ **June 15**_ _ **th**_

" _You will obey me, Kal-El."_

Clark quickly shot out of bed into a sitting position, his body dripping in sweat, as he gasped for breath, and he could feel his heart hammering inside his chest from the voice of his biological father ringing in his head over and over again. After he managed to calm his racing heart—to return his breathing back to normal, he leaned his bare back against the headboard, and softly closed his eyes.

Every night.

Every night for the past two weeks he has had the same dream.

More like nightmare, he thought to himself.

It haunted him.

It tormented him.

His eyes traveled down to his chest, where a large shield, which covered the entirety of his chest, with what looked like the number eight stamped directly in the middle of it, but deep inside he knew that it meant something else entirely. His fingers traced the slightly pink and slightly raised skin, as his mind wondered if he would always have this—if he would always have this reminder of what he's done and what he's caused.

He plopped down onto the bed and stared up at the white, popcorn ceiling, knowing that he would always have this mark of his ancestors as long as he continued to disobey his biological father, but he couldn't go back to him—to his family—to his friends.

He just couldn't—wouldn't go back.

This was his life now.

This was who he was now, and who he would continue to be for the foreseeable future.

The hot, sticky tears fell down his cheeks before he aggressively swiped them away with his hands. He didn't deserve to be upset or saddened by the thought of what he had turned himself into. It was his fault—his mistake, and he would have to learn to live with it.

He didn't want to feel like this anymore. He didn't want to look at that damn symbol every single day. He was tired—tired of everything, and he just wanted it all to stop, but he knew that it wouldn't. He wanted his life back—his home back. He wanted to forget every horrible thing he caused and go back to the life he misses more than anything.

But…

He couldn't do that.

It was just an impossible dream.

Even if he wanted to forget it would never, ever stop him from feeling this way. He would always feel the pain he caused his parents. He would always feel the guilt of ruining his mother's only chance at having a child of her own. He would always feel the guilt of breaking his father's trust and respect. He would always feel shame for the havoc he caused in Metropolis. He would always feel despair for leaving his friends. He would feel it all for the rest of his life.

He deserved to live in this endless torment that was now, and would forever be his life. He had made the biggest mistake of his life, and now—now he had no choice but to live with the consequences of what he's done and what he's caused.

For the remainder of his life, he would regret everything that happened that horrendous day—he would never accept that he believed he was doing the right thing—he would never forgive himself, but more importantly, he would live in this anguish, self-loathing and culpability…forever.

There was no going back in time.

There was no changing what he's done.

There was no changing his undeniable fate.

His eyes clamped shut, as his mind attempted and failed at dispelling the memories from his thoughts.

Destroying the spaceship.

Disobeying his biological father.

Ruining his parent's lives.

Breaking his friends hearts.

Kal stealing, using and bribing his way through Metropolis.

It all refused to escape from his mind, heart and soul. They lingered in the shadows deep within himself. He wanted it all to disappear—vanish from him, but they wouldn't, and he knew deep, deep down inside of himself that they would always be there.

Haunting him.

Taunting him.

Tormenting him.

A few more tears slipped past his closed eyelids, as the memories of his parents and friends rushed to the forefront of his mind. He hurt them all in one way or another. Some more so than others, but he hurt them all the same. They all probably missed him, and he missed them just the same, but he still wouldn't let that take him back home—back to where he belongs.

There was a part of himself that just wanted to jump on his bike, drive out of this town and go back home to his family and friends, god, he really, really wanted to extremely badly, but the other part of himself knew that it wasn't a possibility for him.

He couldn't—wouldn't face them after knowing and remembering everything he has caused them.

Pain.

Suffering.

Heartbreak.

They were all better off without him in their lives.

His parents.

Pete.

Chloe.

Lana.

They all deserved better than having him in their lives.

He would never go back—he could never go back, and even though there was a small part of himself that wanted to return to every single one of them, he knew who he was now.

He was alone.

He was broken.

He was suffering.

He would live with the mistakes of his life…forever.

* * *

Lois Lane was a woman on a mission, as she slowly walked down the streets of a lovely small-town.

Coffee.

She needed it—wanted it desperately.

She peered at every single cramped building she passed, looking—searching for her salvation.

As she walked, she breathed in the fresh air and could feel the sun rays beaming down on her skin. It felt great. She felt amazing. She felt more liberated than she has ever felt in her entire life.

Life couldn't be any better, she thought to herself, but stood corrected when she spotted exactly what she has been searching for, for the past hour…a café.

A café with food and more importantly, coffee.

Life had definitely just gotten ten times better, she thought to herself, as she rushed across the street.

After hastily ordering a black coffee with three sugars, three maple donuts and a copy of the local newspaper she quickly found a quiet and isolated booth near the back of the establishment before making herself comfortable, wanting—needing to enjoy this little moment of happiness for the time being.

Of course, she had seen the looks of bewilderment—heard the protests from not only the other customers, but also the clerk about her hurry. Fortunately for her, she didn't care what any of them were thinking or saying for that matter. She needed this, and she needed it now.

As soon as she had made herself a little more comfortable in her seat, she slowly breathed in the aroma from her coffee, allowing the strong smell to overwhelm every single one of her senses, and closed her eyes as it sent a wave a pleasure all the way down to her stomach.

She really, really needed this, and as she took that first sip, she sighed in complete and utter bliss.

It was absolutely delicious.

Over the past week, she had gone without coffee, which was definitely a first for her since she was more than just a little addicted to this specific beverage, and this—this tasted like absolute heaven. It was probably the best she's had in what felt like forever.

At that moment, she vowed that as long as she was in this small-town, she would be frequenting this establishment every single day.

It had been a few days since she found somewhere, she wanted to stay for a little while. Within the past two weeks, she had been either staying in small-towns for a day or two or driving until she found a place that practically beckoned her to stay, except for that week she was stranded in that no-good Kansas town.

She hated it.

Every damn second of it.

There was a part of herself that had thought maybe just maybe she could get through being stranded in that town for one week, but that thought had literally been thrown out the window on her first day there. She just wanted to leave, and by the end of that first day she had vowed that as soon as she was free she would never, ever be going back to that small-town.

It was just miserable.

Firstly, there was absolutely nothing to do. She would walk the streets every single day, wanting to find something to do to pass the time, but there was nothing to do at all. Secondly, the hotel she was staying at was small, crummy and had the stench of decaying fish.

It was completely and utterly disgusting.

At night, she barely slept not because of the hotel itself, but because she was just too miserable to even sleep the days away, so she could leave.

Thirdly, the people in the town were worse than anything she had ever experienced, especially with all their questions and inquisitive nature. She was also an inquisitive person. One of the many downfalls to her personality, but she knew when to stop—she knew when to keep her mouth shut. These people didn't.

Every single day and every single night she was questioned about why she was there, albeit it was a small-town, no more than one thousand people living there, but did they seriously have nothing better to do than antagonize her?

As soon as her car was properly fixed and was ready to be picked up, she was out of that no-good horrible excuse of a town within two hours, and was back on the road, which is exactly where she wanted to be.

Over the following week, she had initially planned on just driving through a state or two until she was far enough from Arizona—from her father, but instead of doing that, she had stayed in Colorado, visiting all the small-towns, and it didn't take her very long to fall in love with the state. Of course, she never intended on staying here this long, but it had captivated her, especially the town she was in now, and for some reason she felt like she needed to be here.

It was beautiful.

It was small.

It was surrounded by the humongous blue-purplish mountains.

It was barricaded by trees, trees and even more trees.

The hotel she was staying at was absolutely fabulous and even had a homey type of atmosphere, which made her feel something that she's never felt in her entire life…content.

She genuinely liked it here.

She felt like she could breathe better here like the air was filled with everything she has been searching for since she left Arizona—she felt more liberated here, more so than she has felt ever since running away from her father—she felt like she could stay here for a little while without any worries and without the baggage her life consists of.

She wanted to stay here, and that's exactly what she planned on doing.

But…

Deep inside, she knew that she couldn't stay here forever, even if she wanted to—even if it felt like this was the right place for her be. It was too risky staying in one place for too long. Her father could and would find her. She didn't want that.

Not at all.

She wanted to feel this way for as long as possible.

As she washed down her first maple donut with her coffee, she knew that she could stay here for a while, enjoying herself—enjoying her freedom until she felt like it was time for her to move onto a different place—a different state—a different journey.

This was her life now.

Carefree.

Liberating.

It wasn't what she was used to, but it's what she wanted, needed and intended to keep doing until her father found her.

It was inevitable.

He would find her and drag her back to the life she was attempting to escape from with some heavy consequences no doubt.

She pulled herself out of those negative thoughts, not wanting to think about what would happen when he did find her. Instead, she was going to enjoy herself for the time being.

After finishing off her second maple donut, she sipped her coffee, and flipped open The Estes Park Tribune.

 _Life was great!_

* * *

Clark walked down the familiar streets of Estes Park, watching as the people rushed in and out of the small, cramped buildings. He could feel the fresh air brushing across his skin and could feel the sun energizing him, as he relished in the pure beauty that surrounded him.

For almost two weeks now, he has been here, in Colorado.

It was the first town he came across and hasn't wanted or even needed to leave since then. Of course, he never intended on staying here this long, but he couldn't stop himself from falling in love with this state—with this town.

It was exceptionally beautiful here.

The mountains were the most incredible thing he has ever seen in his entire life.

He knew that he should be wanting to get as far away from Kansas as possible, and Colorado was a little too close to home for comfort, but for some reason it felt right being here. It felt like he belonged here. He didn't know how long he was staying or when he was going to leave, but at this moment in time, he was going to stay here until he was ready to move onto his next destination—his next journey.

He walked inside his favorite café, allowing the aroma of the food and coffee to overwhelm his heightened senses, and allowed the familiarity of this place to bring a soft smile to his lips.

It was small.

It was quaint.

It had a particular atmosphere, which had pulled him from the very first visit, and ever since that day he has been coming here every morning and every night.

They served the best breakfast croissants and their coffee was the best thing he has ever tasted in his entire life. He never used to drink it, but ever since he's been frequenting this place, he hasn't been able to resist the urge for some much-needed and much-appreciated caffeine.

He made his way over to the service counter, and smiled, softly at the red-head, who worked here every single morning. "Hey. Good morning, Joslyn."

Joslyn, who was just finishing off the last customer's order looked up and smiled the most beaming smile when she noticed who was standing directly in front of her. It was Clark. He has been coming in here for the past two weeks, and her day brightened every single morning when he walked through those front doors. "Hey, Clark. Are we having the usual this morning?"

He nodded.

She quickly prepared his regular coffee and his ham and cheese breakfast croissant before handing it over to him.

She was such a sweet girl, he thought to himself, as he smiled at her.

"Thanks." He turned away from her, not even noticing the longing gaze in her eyes or how she was seconds away from asking the question she's been dying to ask him ever since the first moment she laid her eyes on him.

He started making his way outside towards the bench, where he sat every morning, but didn't even make it two steps before something or rather someone caught his attention immediately. There was a woman, who was sitting in a booth near the back of the café only a few feet away from him, that had captivated him completely.

His heart quickened it's pace inside of his chest.

His breath caught in his throat.

And he felt like he couldn't breathe, as he stared wide-eyed at the one person, he had hoped he would see again, but never thought it would happen.

At least not this soon.

It was none other than Lois Lane.

He shook his head from side to side, slightly, and blinked a few times, thinking that maybe he was seeing things—seeing her, but she was there, and for the first time in two weeks a real smile crept onto his features.

As he watched her much down on a donut, drink her coffee and how she kept her nose buried into the newspaper, his smile grew even wider at the perfect picture she painted, his eyes sweeping up and down her slender figure over and over again.

She was even more breathtakingly beautiful than she was last time he saw her.

When he left Kansas, there wasn't one single day that passed where he wasn't thinking about her, especially at night when he would lay in his bed and replay every single moment, they shared together in that one eventful day. The moment he saved her life and stared into her beautiful hazel eyes. The moment he realized just how beautiful she actually was. The moment he decided to give up his secrets, and tell her the truth about himself, even though she wasn't badgering him to tell her. The moment he had put on a display of his abilities, and almost kissed her. The exciting moment when she was pressed up against him while riding his motorcycle. Their dinner together, and the horrifying moment he was forced to say goodbye to her.

A frown took over his features from that last thought.

He had absolutely hated every second of that. He didn't want to leave—he didn't want to leave her, but he had made the decision to leave Kansas, knowing that he couldn't and wouldn't stay there, even if staying meant that he was with her.

Ever since he made that decision to leave her completely and utterly alone in that small-town, he had regretted it, but deep down inside he knew that she going to be okay—that she could easily take care of herself. He learned that first hand, but the one thing he regretted more than leaving her was having to say goodbye to her in the first place.

She had clouded his mind, affected his heart and reached into his soul within only a few mere hours after meeting her. When he left her, it broke him more than he thought it would, especially since he shouldn't have felt the way he did—the way he still feels about her after such a short amount of time, but it felt right.

It still feels right.

And now—now they were in the same town only two weeks after they last saw each other.

What were the odds of that happening?

He wasn't one to believe in destiny, actually, he desperately hated that word, but for some he couldn't explain it any other way. It felt like this was always supposed to happen.

A surge of excitement traveled throughout his entire body at the thought of spending even more time with the woman, who surprised him, intrigued him and most of all, made him feel things that he has never, ever felt with anyone else.

He very slowly made his way over to her, feeling his entire body trembling from the thought that this was actually happening.

She was really here.

She was really sitting in front of him.

The closer and closer he got to her the wider his smile became, and as soon as he was standing right in front of her he stopped walking, his eyes staring down at her, intensely before he took a deep breath. "Is this seat taken?"

He didn't give her any time to respond to his question before he sat down across from her, and waited for the fiery reaction that was bound to arise. He knew it would irritate and piss her off, but mostly, it would cause her to go off on an endless rant, which he enjoyed watching her do, immensely.

But honestly, he didn't care about that.

Not right now.

He was more interested in witnessing her reaction to realizing just who he was.

Would she be happy to see him? Thrilled? Shocked? Surprised?

A smirk spread out across his face, as he folded his hands in front of him, and rested them on the table before waiting, patiently for the inevitable to happen.

Lois was happily enjoying reading the tourist section of the newspaper when she felt a presence looming over her, and as he stared down at her she could feel a million and one bards rising up inside of her before they endlessly rested on the tip of her tongue, but resisted on saying anything.

Normally, she wouldn't mind making a scene, but in this particular case, she was just hoping—praying that this idiot would get the hint that she wasn't interested and wanted to be left alone.

But of course, he didn't.

After she heard this man ask if he could sit down with her, she immediately wanted to berate this guy for bothering her, but stopped herself when a feeling a familiarity rushed throughout every fiber within her being, causing a frown to slowly form across her face.

She knew that voice.

It was familiar—too familiar.

It was like she should know this man from somewhere, but for some reason she couldn't place where she had heard his voice.

A low sounding growl escaped past her lips, all thoughts of familiarity practically flying out the window when he just helped himself to her table without her permission, albeit she would have never given it to him in the first place.

How dare he? Does he even know what he just got himself into?

"Who the hell do you think you—" she clenched the paper in her hands, her words flying out of her mouth faster than he could blink, but stopped mid-sentence when she dropped the newspaper onto the table, and laid her eyes on the man who had rudely interrupted her, recognizing him immediately.

It was Clark Kent.

He was sitting down across from her with his hands folded in front of him, as the biggest smirk she has ever seen was plastered across his handsome features.

She didn't have time to think, talk or even breathe.

Her eyes widened.

Her mouth dropped open, closed and then dropped open again.

He was here.

He was actually sitting in front of her.

The guy that saved her life—the guy that revealed sides of himself that he had never, ever shown anyone—the guy who had made her feel things she has never felt in her entire life.

Over the past two weeks, she had thought about him every single day, especially at night when she was either getting ready for bed or when she was having trouble sleeping, which was a new concept to her since she had never, ever dawdled over a man as much as she has over him.

Every single night when she would close her eyes, she would replay every moment they shared together in excruciatingly detail, and more time than not it kept her wide awake. She would visualize him saving her life, and locking her eyes onto his terrified aquamarine ones. She would see his perfectly handsome features, and the moment she realized how good looking he actually was. She would relive the moment that he revealed his true self to her, and could hear the fear in his voice, even though she never asked him to tell her. She would see him displaying every single one of his abilities to her before they almost kissed, which was a moment she replayed over and over in her head. She would see the moment they rode on his motorcycle, and remember the feel of his body pressed against hers. She would replay their dinner together, still able to taste the food they ate, and the dreadful moment that they had to say goodbye to each other.

She had absolutely hated it when he left. She didn't want him to go, and she knew that he didn't want to either, but they both knew it going to happen nevertheless. He was running, just like her, from a past that he refused to talk about, and she understood that that was why he had to leave, even if he didn't voice it.

He didn't have to.

She could see it lingering in his eyes, hear it laced in his voice and felt it from deep within him.

There wasn't a single moment that she regretted with him, except for having to say goodbye to the man, who had clouded her mind and judgement—who broke down her walls within a few hours before slithering his was inside of her heart and deep into her soul.

When he left, she had refused to walk by, look at or even consider going into the restaurant they dined together at because it only reminded her that he wasn't in her life anymore and that she would never see him again.

And now—now he was sitting in front of her.

Her heart fluttered, rapidly inside of her chest, the sensation spreading throughout her entire body, as she remembered the way he had made her feel—the way he still made her feel just by looking at her before taking a deep breath. "Clark?"

Clark smiled, softly at her, as he tilted his head to one side, slightly. "Hello, Lois."

Lois couldn't stop the smile from spreading out across her face at the sound of his voice. She never thought she would hear it again. She had believed that their few hours in Kansas was the last that she would ever see of him. She just couldn't believe that he was actually here. "W-what are you doing here?"

He took a sip of his coffee, attempting to hide the smile that just grew wider and wider the longer he sat here talking to her before he stared deeply into her eyes, never wanting to look away from those beautiful orbs. "You know, I could ask you the same thing."

She smirked, as she leaned back in her seat, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I asked you first. So, what are you doing here, Clark?"

As he watched her movements, carefully, he realized that he absolutely loved it when she did that. It was something he noticed that she did quite often, especially when she wanted answers. "I've actually been here for almost two weeks now. After I left Kansas, I just drove never stopping once until I ended up here. This is the first town I found, and I haven't left since."

That caused her to quirk a brow at him. It was the last thing she was expecting. In the short time they spent together, she had gotten the feeling that he couldn't or wouldn't want to stay in one place for too long, a lot like herself, but for different reasons. Either he didn't have any ideas where to go or he just loved it here as much as she did, and that's why he hasn't left yet.

Her heart practically stopped beating inside of her chest from the thought of him leaving.

She really, really hoped that he wasn't going to leave.

She didn't want him to.

"How long are you staying here?"

That question caused him to hesitate, slightly since he didn't really know the answer to that question, but it wasn't the only reason he hesitated. The tone in her voice when she uttered those words made him wonder if she wasn't just curious, but wanted to know because she wanted him to stay.

His heart beat even faster, as hope consumed him.

He wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon, but now that she was here, he definitely wouldn't be leaving. "Uh. I'm not too sure. I, um, I wasn't planning on staying here this long, but ever since I arrived here, I've enjoyed it. I don't think I'll be leaving anytime soon. I don't want to."

She grinned from ear to ear at his words. He wasn't leaving. He was staying here, She didn't want him to go, especially since she had literally just got here, of course, she didn't know how long she was staying, but as long as he was here, she didn't want to leave—she didn't want to leave, knowing that he was still here.

It was risky.

It was irrational.

And it was very possible that she could lose everything she desperately wanted. Her freedom being the most important thing, but she didn't care.

Not anymore.

If he was here, then this is where she would be staying. She had missed him, and she didn't want to say goodbye to him again just because her fears about her father finding her tore them apart.

That was the last thing she wanted.

She wanted to stay here with him, and that's exactly what she intended on doing.

"What about you, Lois? What are you doing in Colorado? I mean, I know that we don't know each other very well, but I wouldn't think you'd want to stay in another small-town."

A soft smile graced her lips from the way he seemed to understand her so clearly, but sighed, heavily, as she recalled what happened before she arrived here. "Well, I lived the week from hell in Kansas, and let me tell you as much as I wanted my car fixed, I was on the verge of renting a new car just so I could leave. It was the most miserable place I've ever been, and I will never, ever be going back to that dreadful place."

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," she told him, as she rolled her eyes, dramatically. "Anyways, after I left there I planned to drive through a few states, but as soon as I arrived in Colorado, I really liked it more than I thought I was going to. So, instead of leaving right away, I visited a few of the towns and really started to love it here. Last night, I ended up here, and I can admit that it is very peaceful here."

"Yeah. Yeah. It really is." He stared into her eyes, smiling, widely, but it faded just as quickly when a particular thought crossed his mind, and a dreadful feeling seeped deeply within himself, chilling him to the bone.

How long was she actually staying? He knew that she didn't like small-towns, so did that mean she was leaving? When? Today? Tomorrow? In one week?

He needed—wanted to know.

He didn't want her to leave.

"Ho-how long are you staying?"

Of course, she already knew the answer to that question, but it's not like she could just him that. She might be a very voiced and a very opinionated person, but she wasn't just going to admit that she would stay as long as he was here.

There was no way in hell she could say those words, but that mean she couldn't tease him just a little bit. "I don't know. I wasn't planning on staying very long, but I really do like it here, and I think I just found a pretty good reason to stay a little bit longer."

He grinned from ear to ear, as he leaned closer to her, and he honestly, didn't know what to say. She just openly flirted with him, and he couldn't stop the way his stomach twisted in knots from anticipation. She wanted to stay longer than she planned just because he was here.

That filled him with so many emotions.

Hope.

Happiness.

Excitement.

As he stared deeply into her eyes, his feelings and emotions radiating from them, he could see hers shining right back at him, and in that moment, he knew that they felt the same exact way.

He didn't want her to leave.

She didn't want him to leave.

Neither of them wanted to leave if the other was here, and that was all that mattered to him.

He slightly tilted his head to one side, instantly realizing something that has been running through his mind non-stop from the moment he laid his eyes on her again…he had missed her so damn much.

And now that she was here, he was going to spend as much time with her as possible.

"So, um, I'm guessing that since you just got here last night you haven't really done anything around here yet?"

She leaned closer to him. "You mean like go sightseeing and stuff?"

He chuckled, softly, as he leaned closer to her. "There is more to it than sightseeing, but yeah. Have you?"

She shook her head from side to side. "So? How about it, farm boy? What is there to do in this town? I've been wanting to have some fun, and I'm hoping that this small-town can provide some."

A soft smile graced his lips when he recalled the few things he had done so far, but they would be so, so much more fun if she was with him—if she was experiencing everything with him as long as he could spend more and more time with her. "Hmm. I think there might be a few things to do that just might interest you."

That excited her, immensely, and she couldn't wait to spend some more time with him.

No matter what they did, it was going to be fun.

It could be boring.

It could be appalling.

It could be something that she never, ever wanted to do or see, but it didn't matter as long as they were doing it together.

She was going to spend every waking second of her time with him.

He was just smiling at her, as she patiently waited for him to elaborate, and when he didn't, she became irritable before huffing out, "Well? Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Or not," he responded to her after contemplating her question for a few seconds, which caused her to glare at him before he chuckled, loudly from the expression that was plastered across her beautiful face. "I have an idea. How about I show you instead?"

Her glare quickly disappeared, as a face-splitting grin spread out across her face, loving that idea, immensely. "I would love that."

"Good." He quickly stood up, and held out his hand towards her. "Well? Are you coming or not?"

Without hesitation, she slipped her hand into his before walking outside with him, heading towards their first adventure together, and as they walked hand in hand neither of them could stop themselves from grinning at the mere idea of spending the entire day together.

This was going to be one hell of an adventure.

 _ **This was a little shorter compared to the last few chapters, but I mainly wanted to focus on what Clark and Lois have been doing in the time they were away from each other, and even though their scenes were a little short, there will be more happening between them from this point forward.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter eight**_


	10. Chapter Nine

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Nine:**_

 _ **A/N: I apologize for not updating this story sooner, but I was unable to due to the passing of my grandmother yesterday, and now I have a lot to deal with. So, I apologize if I can't get my chapters out as fast as I have been previously, but I would still expect one or two updates a week.**_

Cassie rushed through the long corridors of the Military base towards her quarters, and when she finally made it to her room, she slammed the door shut behind her before leaning her back against the wooden door, breathing, heavily, as she tried to squelch the multitude of thoughts that were passing through her confuddled mind.

This just couldn't be happening, she thought to herself.

Two weeks.

Two weeks ago, her life had seemed so mundane—so simple—so normal, but now—now it was in complete and utter turmoil, and it has been ever since her best friend left.

Lois Lane, her best friend, left two weeks ago.

At first, it seemed that everything was going to remain the same aside from the rumor mills from the soldiers and the General's newfound attitude, but she was wrong about that. Ever since she left everything has turned to complete hell, and she knew that it was only going to get worse as the days rolled by.

A few days after she left is when things began to change.

There wasn't a single soldier or civilian that wasn't talking about Lois' grand disappearance. The soldiers, especially the ones, who were with her in the pub that evening, were spreading rumors about the truth of how, why and where she had disappeared to.

It was aggravating as all hell, she thought to herself.

They didn't know the truth of why she felt the need to leave.

She did.

She knew her best friend better than anyone, including her own father, and she was absolutely tired of people putting in their two cents.

It was none of their damn business!

They didn't know or even understand what she has dealt with for most of her life, but she did, and she couldn't be even prouder of her for doing what she believed was the right thing to do for her, even if it was making her life practically unbearable.

The General was being secretive, more so than he usually is, which only made her nervous, anxious and concerned.

Nervous for what he has already done or set into motion.

Anxious for what he was planning on doing.

Concerned for the well-being of her best friend.

He was always locked up in his office or his quarters doing, and planning god knows what, and only showed his presence when it was absolutely necessary. Anyone who didn't know him would suppose that he was mourning his daughter's impromptu disappearance, but she did know him, and she knew for a fact that he wasn't mourning.

No.

He was planning—plotting a way to find his daughter and bring her back.

There were now more soldiers guarding the front gates to the base. Before there were two who controlled who entered and left, but now there were five soldiers guarding the gates.

It was like he was preparing for World War III, which wouldn't be too far off the mark once he found Lois, she thought to herself.

It made absolutely no sense.

Why would he do such a thing? How did guarding the gates to an extremely high level, which has stopped people from even leaving the base, help him find Lois?

She didn't know, but she supposed that maybe he was setting up changes for when she did return. He was attempting to make sure that she would never leave again, which of course, would only piss her off even more than she would already be.

Wes, on the other hand, has been conventionally missing from her life ever since their best friend left, and that was just plain weird. She used to see him—talk to him at least three to four times a day, but now it was like she didn't even exist in his eyes, and that was very unlike him. He liked her. She knew that, hell, the feeling was mutual, but now it was like he wanted nothing to do with her, and that hurt. She has only seen him once or twice in the past two weeks, and that was when he was leaving the General's office, which wasn't odd or unusual, but she had a feeling deep inside her stomach that something was going on.

Something was definitely amiss.

It had to be about Lois' vanishing act.

It had to be.

There was no other explanation.

From the General being secretive to Wes being AWOL from her life.

It was all connected.

She wasn't naïve enough to believe that it was all just coincidence that these things were happing right after her best friend had run away. Everything was changing, and it would continue to do so, but that's not what was making her life a living hell.

It was something that she had realized a few days ago.

She was being followed.

Of course, she wasn't sure who, but someone was watching her every movement—her every breath, and it had to be someone in close contact with the General.

It was about Lois.

She just knew it.

Everything has changed since she left, and this was just the topper to all the reasons why her life had become complete hell.

She slowly walked over to her bed, collapsed onto the soft, plush sheets, and softly closed her eyes, as thoughts of her fiery best friend consumed her mind.

She missed her…terribly.

None of this would be happening if she was still here. She wouldn't be looking over her shoulder every single time she got that queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wouldn't be dealing with the General's antics. She wouldn't have to listen to people talk about Lois day in and day out.

It was so different without her best friend by her side, but she understood why she did what she did. Even so, she still missed her, and would continue to do so until she saw her fiery best friend again.

She hoped that she was getting everything she has dreamed of for most of her life. She hoped that she was accomplishing what she wanted in the first place. She hoped that she was happy. She hoped that she was enjoying her newfound freedom.

Her eyes snapped wide open, as a particular thought crossed her mind—a mind that was running a mile a minute, and even though it was a little out there it made perfect sense. It explained everything that was happening. She was being followed—being watched probably ever since the General interrogated her.

As quick as lightening, she shot out of bed, and started pacing back and forth.

He was having her followed!

Why? She didn't know anything about where she went or where she was even planning on going, so why would he be having someone follow her? Did he think she knew something? Did he think that she would somehow lead him to Lois?

Over my dead body, she thought to herself before scoffing, dramatically.

There was no way in hell that she would allow him to use her to find Lois.

Nope! No way in hell!

She would protect her best friend until she took her last breath. She would not jeopardize everything that Lois has been trying and successfully achieving. If she wanted to be free then she would do everything in her power to make sure that she continued to stay that way, even if she desperately wanted her back in her life.

She quickly jumped out of bed, and left her room. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she was going to. Of course, she couldn't confront the General since that would get her absolutely nowhere, and he would only get even more suspicious than he already was. The only thing she could do in a situation like this is find out who was following her. They would give her the answers she needed in order to protect Lois, and if they didn't then she would force them to tell her what she wanted to know.

A smirk spread out across her face. She wasn't Lois' best friend for no reason. She had learned quite a few things from her, and in this case, they would prove to be quite beneficial.

Cassie Marie Jones walked down the corridor like a woman on a mission—a mission she fully intended on accomplishing. She would get the answers she needed and wanted for Lois' sake.

* * *

Clark walked inside of the café, and he stopped dead in his tracks, as his eyes roamed around the entire room looking—searching for one person.

Lois.

A blissful sigh escaped past from his lips when he saw her sitting down at a booth across the room—the same exact booth they sat at every morning.

The widest grin spread out across his face, as memories of the past three days flooded his mind, consumed his heart and filled his insides with an unexplainable feeling that he only felt when he was thinking about her—talking to her—spending time with her.

It has been the best three days of his life.

Ever since he first saw her again three days ago, they have spent every waking moment together, and he couldn't wait to spend even more time with her. Before she rolled back into his life, he had no reason to get up every day—he had no reason to be happy or to even smile. Now, every morning when he wakes up, he wakes up with a smile on his face, knowing that he would be spending his entire day with her, and within thirty minutes he would be showered, dressed and heading to this very café to have breakfast with her.

They have done so, so many things together in such a short amount of time, but he would do it all over again, as long as he got to do them with her. He would never, ever become bored or tired with spending time with her. Lois Lane could never be boring or bland. She was the complete opposite. She just made everything so, so much better—so much lighter—so much brighter.

Every single night, they would have dinner together whether it was at the café or a nice restaurant, and afterwards they would drink a steaming cup of coffee, as he walked her back to her hotel, which was conveniently the same hotel he was staying at before he would say goodnight to her.

A frown etched over his features.

He hated that part of the night, He despised it because he couldn't spend any more time with her—he couldn't look upon her beautiful face—he couldn't gaze into her dazzling hazel eyes—he just couldn't be with her.

After leaving her, he would lay in his bed for hours, reliving their day over and over again, the smile never leaving his face before he allowed sleep to consume him.

His eyes swept over her slender figure, and he felt like he couldn't breathe, as the air escaped from his lungs. Just like it did every single time he saw her. She was the most beautiful woman he has ever laid his eyes on, and he got to spend every single day with her.

An even wider grin appeared on his face, as that thought alone filled his insides with utter happiness.

He didn't know or understand what it was about her that made him feel like this, but for some reason he couldn't explain he felt such a strong connection with her, and he never wanted it to disappear. He wanted to spend every single day with her. He wanted to get to know who she really was inside. He wanted to spend every night with her. He just wanted her.

Of course, he knew that he shouldn't feel this way about her, but he couldn't help himself.

She made him feel things he has never felt in his entire life.

She made him feel like they could do anything together.

She made him feel whole—complete—alive.

It was irrational.

It wasn't logical.

But…

It felt right, and he knew deep inside that it would always feel right with her. He wanted this more than he's ever wanted anything before, and he intended on staying with her—spending time with her—being with her.

He quickly shook his thoughts away, as he started moving closer to her, and smiled at what he saw. She was drinking her coffee, eating her maple donut and reading a newspaper. Just like she did every single morning. He would never tire of seeing this—seeing her every morning.

When he was inches away from her, he leaned closer to her, his head directly next to hers before he whispered in her ear, "Good morning."

Lois, who was too focused on enjoying her coffee, donut and daily newspaper didn't even hear or feel him until he whispered in her ear, his breath lingering on the side of her neck before she practically jumped out of her chair, her hands instinctively covering her chest, as her hearted pounded, frantically inside of her chest.

Clark laughed, loudly, as he walked around the table, and sat down across from her.

She glared at him. "Jesus Clark! Haven't we talked about this before? I swear one of these days your going to give me a damn heart attack! You need to wear a bell or something!"

He continued to laugh at her reaction, and shrugged his shoulders.

Her hazel eyes glared, even more so, as she noticed the smug expression lingering on his face, knowing that he thought this was absolutely hilarious.

It wasn't funny.

Over the past few days, he had made it a habit of scaring the living daylights out of her, not including the first time he had done it on the side of the road when they first met, and even though it irked her, slightly, she couldn't help chuckling at his obvious amusement. She could never stay mad at him for too long.

It was physically impossible.

But, honestly, who could deny that perfectly handsome face, especially when he smiled?

"So, I see that you have ordered breakfast without me…again."

Lois smiled even more so, and shrugged her shoulders, as she took another bite of her donut.

Clark groaned, playfully, as he stood up. "What am I going to do with you?"

She just smiled, sweetly up at him, which made him roll his eyes before he walked over towards the service counter. "Hey, Joslyn."

Joslyn looked over at him, and smiled, widely. She hadn't seen him this happy since he arrived here, and there was a small part of herself that wanted to believe it was because of her. "Hey, Clark! I'll get your order ready."

"Uh, actually, could I get some maple donuts and a coffee?"

A slight frown appeared on her face from the sudden change, but typed in his order on the register before making his food and coffee. "Okay. Um, what's with the change this morning?"

His eyes traveled back over to Lois, unintentionally. "No reason."

Joslyn followed his gaze, and sighed, heavily. She has seen him with her every morning for the past few days, and she couldn't stop herself from feeling a little jealous over the woman that spent all of her time with such an amazing man.

"So, who's the girl you've been hanging out with lately?" She tried not to let her disdain show, but heard the croak in her own voice.

Clark looked back over at her, and couldn't stop the smile that spread out across his features. "Oh, um, that's Lois. I met her a few weeks ago, and we just happen to be in the same town."

She nodded. "You seem quite fond of her."

He narrowed his eyes at her, slightly.

Was that jealousy?

No, he thought to himself, that wasn't possible.

Why would she be jealous?

They didn't even know each other, he thought to himself before quickly disregarding that, as he thought about how fond he really was over the woman that could always make him feel like he could have anything he wanted in the world, and smiled, widely. "Yeah. I guess I am, um, she's pretty amazing."

He didn't notice the way Joslyn' eyes glared at Lois, practically burning holes into the back of her head before he grabbed his order, paid for it, and made his way back over to the woman, who consumed his mind, heart and soul just by looking at him.

They ate their breakfast in contented silence, and as soon as they were finished, he titled his head to one side, slightly. "So? What do you have planned for us today?"

Lois practically spit out the coffee she was drinking, and looked over at him, completely surprised. "What?"

A soft chuckle escaped past his closed lips, as he shook his head from side to side. "Lois, for the past three days I have shown you everything there is in this town. I have suggested what we should do, where we should eat and now-now it's your turn."

She shook her head from side to side, vehemently. "Me? Why should I do it? You know this town better than me; besides I highly doubt that you have shown me everything."

"Really?" he scoffed before he placed his hand underneath his chin, pretending to think. "Let me think about this for a few seconds. We have been on tourist buses, trains and boats. We have been whitewater rafting. We have went hiking multiple times I might add. I have showed you almost every scenery outlook there is, so, yes we have done almost everything there is to do here. I picked out all of those things by the way, and it has nothing to do with how much I know about this town, which isn't much, so, what's it going to be? We are not leaving this table until you make a decision."

A wide smirk spread out across her face, as she leaned closer to him. "Is that a threat, Mr. Kent? You can't make me do anything."

He grinned from ear to ear, as he folded his hands in front of him, and rested his chin atop them. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Miss Lane."

Lois groaned at the implication behind his words. She had completely forgotten about his abilities.

Why did he always use that against her?

Of course, she knew that he would never do anything to hurt her, but he would definitely outsmart her with the knowledge that he could beat her at anything.

"You're an ass, you know that?"

An even wider grin graced his lips, as he completely ignored her comment. "I'm waiting. What are we doing today, Lois?"

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips, as she realized that she would never got out of this one. He would badger and badger her until she gave into his demands.

A thoughtful expression formed on her face, as she recalled all the things they have done in the matter of a few days, and attempting finding something new—something fun that they haven't done yet, but came up with absolutely nothing before an idea came to the forefront of her mind, causing her to smile. "Uh, what about The Stanley Hotel? I've heard some good things about it?"

He frowned, slightly. "Are you talking about that fancy red and white hotel up the hill from here?"

She nodded.

His eyes narrowed at her, slightly. "Why do you want to go there?"

"I don't know. I've heard some people talking about it, and it's supposed to be the number one tourist site in this small-town. I guess it's rumored to be haunted." She scoffed at that before rolling her eyes, softly. "But I don't buy that for a second, so, um, do you want to go?"

Honestly, he didn't really see the point in visiting some random hotel, but he didn't seem the harm in it either, besides she had just given him the biggest opportunity to tease her, and there was no way he going to let this moment slip away before he leaned back in his chair with a smirk plastered across his face. "Oh. I don't know. I mean, it's just a hotel, but I think the only reason you want me to come along is because your scared."

"I'm not scared," she told him, as she glared at him. "Lanes don't get scared. We do happy. We do sad, but definitely not fear."

His smirk grew even wider before he sneaked his hand underneath the table, and grabbed her ankle, as he spoke, "You're scared that the little ghosts are gonna come out and getcha!"

Lois yelped, feeling completely startled when he grabbed her ankle, and glared even more so before she threw her empty coffee cup at him. "Don't do that!"

He laughed at the way she was looking at him before he moved a little closer to her, the smirk never leaving his face, enjoying teasing her…immensely. "Oh, come on, Lois. Admit it. You're scared, and the only reason you want me there is so I can protect you."

That comment was going to irritate the living shit out of her, he thought to himself.

She huffed out, "I am not scared."

"Sure you aren't."

This man was completely and utterly unbelievable, she thought to herself before she rolled her eyes at him, and pointed her index finger at him. "It's the truth, and by the way, mister, that was twice in less than one hour that you've startled me this morning. What is with you today?"

"I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just in a good mood, and it is so, so much fun riling you up."

She rolled her eyes once again, knowing that she would get him back if it was the last thing she did.

"So? Are you coming or not scaredy cat?" he teased her, as he stood up.

Enough was enough, she thought to herself, feeling completely and utterly fed up with his antics this morning.

"That's it!" she growled at him before jumping up from the table, and chased him out of the café.

They both couldn't stop laughing the entire way.

A few hours later, Clark and Lois were walking side by side through the vast grounds of The Stanley Hotel, and were completely astounded by the utter beauty that surrounded them.

It was unlike anything either of them had ever seen in their lives.

They had walked throughout most of the massive hotel, including the two side buildings, just enjoying the scenery, but they mostly enjoyed the things they had learned. At first, they had decided that they just wanted to walk around and enjoy themselves, but within five minutes of being here they were invited to join the tourist ghost tour.

It was educational.

It was fun.

But most of all, it was a thrilling experience.

They had learned about the history of the buildings, including why, when and how they all came to be haunted. Lois was skeptical, of course, but Clark, on the other hand, couldn't stop himself from teasing her even more than he already was, which only caused her to roll her eyes throughout the entire tour.

The most profound story that had captured both of their attention was about a maid, who had lived and worked in the hotel her entire life.

One day, she was in her room, room 217, when a gas chamber exploded and put her in the hospital for weeks. It was believed that it was caused from supernatural occurrences, which both of them doubted, but even after her experience she decided to stay there, and even died there. It was rumored that she was the 'spirit' that haunted that room, and it was the most visited room in the hotel.

Afterwards, they had snuck upstairs, even though it was prohibited, but that was the fun of it.

They had walked through all four levels, reading the plaques that were nailed to each supposedly haunted room, which gave a description about the 'spirits' that resided and haunted the rooms. On the fourth floor, which is where the children 'spirits' resided, there was a little, white door, leading to what probably used to be an attic, and the words 'REDRUM' were written on it with red paint.

They both had chuckled, softly, as they remembered from their tour that this hotel was the inspiration for a movie called, 'The Shining', a movie neither of them had bothered watching, but were now intrigued to watch.

After laughing, joking and making fun of the ghost stories they had made their way back outside, where they found a small maze directly in front of the hotel, and walked through it. They practically walked through every inch of the grounds, feelings mesmerized by everything they had seen, heard and learned until they came across a small, white bench, and made themselves comfortable.

They watched as people rushed back and forth holding flowers, decorations and prepared for what looked like a wedding. It was beautiful here, and it seemed like the perfect place for a wedding, especially for tourists.

After a few minutes of contented silence, Lois glanced over at him. "It's beautiful here, isn't it?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah. It really is. I can't believe they actually do weddings here."

Lois smirked, as she heard the confusion laced in his voice. "What's wrong Clark? Don't think it's romantic enough or do you just not like weddings and marriage altogether?"

He grinned, as he turned his body, slightly to look over at her. "No. It's not that. I think it's very romantic, and probably very expensive too, but I don't know. I just don't see myself getting married in a place like this, you know?"

"Really? Why not? What's there not to like? A beautiful town with stunning scenery, and it's outside." She studied him for a few seconds. "Ah. I see. Let me guess, you've always pictured your wedding in a barn or something along those lines?"

"So romantic," she added when he didn't respond to her.

Clark chuckled, softly at that. "No. Not in a barn, but probably a church or something like that."

A smirk spread out across her face. "So, you have thought about getting married one day?"

"Yeah. I mean, I guess I've thought about it before, and one day I would like to find a beautiful woman, marry her, and have children with her, but it's not something I really like to think about." He smirked over at her. "Unlike you women who dream about the day you'll walk down the aisle."

"I don't," she scoffed, as she glared, playfully at him, and when he gave her a questioning look, she pressed further, "I'm serious. I've never thought about my wedding day, wedding dress or anything wedding related, especially not the man I'd imagine marrying. I just don't see marriage in the future for me."

He frowned, slightly at that. "Why would you say that? Everyone should want to get married at least sometime in their lives."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I never said I didn't want to one day, but honestly, my life is way too complicated. I want to travel. I want to go to college. I want to build a career as a journalist one day, so marriage is the last thing on my mind, besides I highly doubt that if I even wanted to there wouldn't be a guy that could handle my brash personality and lifestyle. I'm just too high-strung for anyone to stick around long enough. Trust me. I know, so no. I don't see marriage in my future."

His frown intensified, not liking the way she was talking about herself. It was like she felt like she wasn't special enough for someone to care about or love her, which was just outrageously dumb. She was a beautiful woman. She was incredible. She cared more than anyone he has ever met. She might be a little eccentric at times, but honestly, that was what he liked most about her. Any guy would be lucky to end up with her, hell, he would be lucky to ever end up with someone like her.

His aquamarine eyes stared directly into her hazel ones. "I don't believe that. I think that someone out there will love everything there is about you, and will do everything in his power to be with you forever."

She grinned, widely at him. "That was incredibly sappy."

He rolled his eyes, knowing that she didn't believe him, but figured that one day to would realize that one for herself, and even though they still didn't know each other very well, he knew that one day she would find someone that could and would accept her for who she is, which was an amazing person, who deserved nothing but happiness. "Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Sue me for being romantic."

They both chuckled at the direction their conversation had gone, of course, they were watching wedding preparations taking place, and after watching for several more minutes in comfortable silence they decided to go get some dinner, especially since they have been here most of the day.

After dinner, they were walking towards their hotel, both of them enjoying a seaming cup of coffee.

Just like they've done every single night since they reunited.

They had gone to a small, quaint restaurant a lot like the one they went to in Kansas, and both enjoyed the delicious food, even sharing a chocolate mousse cake.

Clark smirked, widely, as he watched her practically inhale her coffee. "You know, if you actually took the time to enjoy that you might not need so much caffeine every day."

Lois glared at him before punching his shoulder, softly. "Watch it, farm boy! I need caffeine, and look who's talking. You drink just as much as I do."

"Yeah, but I don't inhale it like it's going out of style."

"Shut up!"

They walked in comfortable silence, as they noticed their hotel coming into view, both of them slowing their steps, knowing that they would have to say goodnight to each other soon, and neither of them wanted that to happen. This happened every single night, and neither of them wanted to leave each other.

Not yet.

They were having too much fun with each other.

As they walked, Lois felt the cool breeze brush across her bare shoulders, and involuntarily shivered before slowly wrapping her arms around her body, hoping that he wouldn't notice, but also attempting to keep herself warm.

Clark watched from the corner of his eyes, as she shivered and attempted hiding it from before rolling his eyes, dramatically.

What was with this girl?

She always did this.

Every night, they would walk together, and she would always get cold, but wouldn't say anything.

He didn't think twice before he stepped closer to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, effectively pulling her into his side.

Her entire body froze, and she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do right now. He was so close to her that she could smell his aftershave. His body was pressed against hers, and it felt so good—too good. She wanted to pull away from him, but he was so warm, and she really, really enjoyed being this close to him.

Without hesitation, she snuggled closer into his side, and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging herself to him.

He smiled down at her, knowing that she couldn't see him, and began rubbing soothing circles across her bare skin. He could feel how cold she was, and he wanted to warm her up, but he was also enjoying the feel of her skin against his fingertips.

She sighed, quite happily at the feel of him rubbing her arm, and rested her head on his shoulder. He was so warm. She wanted to stay like this forever, inside his embrace, and bask in the feeling of being so close to him.

A few minutes later, they arrived at their hotel before they very reluctantly and very slowly untangled themselves from each other.

Lois felt the loss of his heat—loss of him immediately, and instantly wanted back in his arms. She really, really didn't want this night to end yet. "I-I had fun today."

Clark nodded. "Yeah. Me too."

They stared at each other, their eyes meshing together, and their hearts beating in synchrony, neither of them wanting to say goodnight to each other—neither of them wanting to leave each other. They just wanted to spend the entire night together.

He sighed, softly, knowing that he was going to have to say the words to her, but he really didn't want to. It was getting harder and harder every single night. The more time he spent with her the longer he wanted their days and nights to last, which only complicated things further.

A smile graced his lips, as an idea popped into his mind, and it would mean that they could spend more time together, but would she want to?

"I, um, a-are you tired?"

She shook her head from side to side, not able to say the words out loud. She didn't want him to leave. She didn't want to go back to her room just to stay up for hours thinking about their day. Just like she did every single night. She wanted to spend more time with him.

"Yeah. Me either. Um, do-do you want to do something?"

His words brought a wide smile to her lips. He didn't want their night to end either. That thought alone thrilled her, immensely, and she couldn't wait to spend the rest of the night with him. "What would you like to do?

He smiled over at her, hoping that she would want to do this. "I think I have an idea."

 _ **This chapter was a joy to write.**_

 _ **It was a lot of fun having Clois tease each other, especially when it came to The Stanley Hotel. I wanted to include that, mainly because I thought it be interesting and unique to have a realistic place in this story. Everything that happened in that one scene is what I actually experienced when I was there a few years back, but unlike our lovely dynamic duo I actually do believe in the supernatural, and I just thought it would be cool to bring that aspect into this chapter.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter nine**_


	11. Chapter Ten

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Ten:**_

 _ **A/N: A fair warning! I don't know anything, other than what I got from the internet and a little from what my father told me years ago, about motorcycles. So, I want to apologize ahead of time if the motorcycle scene is wrong.**_

Lois was completely and utterly shell-shocked at the brilliant idea the man standing in front of her had come up with, as she stared at him with wide eyes, like he had grown a second head or something, and couldn't help wondering, briefly if he had gone insane.

She didn't speak.

She didn't blink.

When she had told him that she wanted to do something with him, she had never in a million years expected him to suggest this.

It was crazy.

There was no way in hell that she was going to even consider doing this—that she could even attempt to do this.

What makes him think that this was going to be a good idea?

It definitely wasn't, she thought to herself, it was a horrible, horrendous idea, and she had no intention of going along with it.

Nope! No way in hell!

She wanted to spend more time with him, of course she did, but this?

This was just outrageous. She couldn't—wouldn't do it. She was an adventurous person at heart, and she enjoyed challenges, especially ones that made her do things she never expected doing, but this seemed more daunting than anything she has ever done in her entire life.

It was just something that has never crossed her mind, and honestly, she didn't believe she could actually do this.

Clark watched as the cogs inside of her head turned and turned, relentlessly, and couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping past his lips at the deer caught in headlights expression that was plastered across her face. He knew what she was doing. She was either attempting to grasp what he had suggested, or she was attempting to think of a way to get out of this. He had a feeling that it was the latter, but he wasn't going to allow her to wriggle her way out of this one.

He wanted to spend more time with her.

He wanted to do this with her.

He wanted to share this moment with her, and only her.

"Are you ready to do this?" he questioned her, as he took a small step towards her.

Lois heard the tone in his voice, like he was absolutely positive that she was going to do this—that she wanted to do this, and blinked a few times, clearing away her hazy thoughts, as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I never said that I was going to go along with this brilliant plan of yours!"

He smirked, widely, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh. You are definitely going to be doing this."

"Why should I? Why do you want to? Why do you want me to?" she questioned him, as she copied his movements.

Clark stood a little bit taller, not allowing her stance intimidate him, and even though he was stronger and smarter than most humans there was something about her that shook him to the core, but he would not let her win. She was going to do this. There was no question about that. "Oh, come on, Lois. It'll be fun, besides just think of this as a challenge. You wouldn't want to ruin your reputation by renegading on a challenge, would you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. He was playing with fire, and they both knew it. He knew that she never, ever denied a good challenge, and he was using that to his advantage.

Why was he pushing this so hard?

Her eyes traveled away from him, and down to the object—the object that was currently their subject of conversation before glaring at it, like that would make it disappear.

His motorcycle.

The same exact motorcycle that she had been nervous to even ride a few weeks ago, and now—now he wanted her to learn to drive it.

Was he freaking delusional? Has he completely lost his mind?

She couldn't—wouldn't do it.

If he would have offered to give her a ride she would have been all for it, but why in the hell did he want her to learn to drive it? What was the point of this crazy idea?

Normally, she wouldn't have even thought twice about doing something this adventurous—something this thrilling, but this was different. She was very, very accident prone, and he knew that, especially from the circumstances in which they met, so, again, why did he think this was going to be a good idea?

She knew what was going to happen. It was inevitable. She was going to crash, which wasn't what was making her hesitate.

No.

It was the fact that this wasn't one of her father's cars, tanks or Military jeeps. It was Clark' motorcycle, which he really didn't need since he could move faster than a speeding bullet, but it was his nonetheless, and she didn't want her recklessness to ruin such a beautiful piece of machinery.

"No. No. No. I can't do this," she told him, as she shook her head from side to side, vehemently.

Clark took another step towards her, and gently rested his hands on her shoulders. "Yes, you can. It's simple. I promise. It's just like learning to ride a bike."

"Yeah right," she scoffed at that before rolling her eyes. "It's like riding a bike without training wheels."

He laughed, softly. "You don't need training wheels. It's really, really simple and fun, besides you have me here."

Lois narrowed her eyes at him, slightly before sarcastically replying, "Oh. Like that makes me feel any better about this situation. You, my friend, are practically invincible. Me, on the other hand, not so much."

A frown took over his features, as he dropped his hands from her shoulders. "Lois, do you really believe that I would let anything bad happen to you? I would never let you get hurt."

She shook her head from side to side, knowing that for an absolute fact. He couldn't even hurt a fly let alone let anything happen to her. Honestly, she wasn't really worried about getting hurt. That was something that never, ever dissuaded her from doing things that she probably shouldn't have done. She was just trying to wriggle her way out of this. It wasn't that she didn't want to. It was the fact that she was a little nervous about this, more so than she was when she rode with him the first time around.

"What are you so worried about then?"

"I'm not worried exactly." She sighed, softly before taking a deep breath. "What if I crash?"

He smiled, softly at that. She would worry about something like that. "Don't worry about that, besides if you do I'll be there to catch you."

"And the motorcycle?"

His eyes stared at her in confusion.

She was more worried about what would happen to his motorcycle?

The smile reappeared on his face, as he shook his head from side to side. "You're seriously worrying about what could happen to my bike if you crashed?"

She nodded.

"Look, if you do crash the bike can be fixed, but you can't, so would you just stop worrying, and get on the damn bike?"

Lois narrowed her eyes at him once again. He was serious about this. He made sure to knock out every single one of her excuses, pathetic as they might be, and make her get on that damn motorcycle. She glanced between him and the bike a few times before sighing, in defeat, knowing that he wasn't going to let her get out of this one. "Okay. Okay. I'll do it."

A wide grin spread out across his face. She was actually going to go along with it. He had really, really hoped that she would want to, and even though he kind of pressured her to, if she really didn't want to than she wouldn't have agreed to it in the first place.

This was going to be so much fun!

Honestly, he didn't really know or understand why he wanted her to this so desperately, but figured that maybe he just wanted to do anything that allowed him to spend as much time with her as possible, besides this would be something that he has never, ever done with anyone else before, and it was nice knowing that he would only share this memory with her.

He slowly walked over to the motorcycle, and motioned with his hands for her to take a seat.

Lois hesitated, momentarily before making her way over to the motorcycle. She swung her leg over the seat before very slowly and very cautiously sitting down.

She was nervous, more so than she has ever felt in her entire life.

She knew it.

He knew it.

How the hell did she get herself into this damn situation?

Her eyes traveled over to him, and she groaned, silently, knowing the answer to that question. She could never resist that handsome face—that irresistible boyish smile—that overwhelming happiness that she could see lingering in his eyes. She just couldn't resist Clark Kent altogether.

Clark stifled a chuckle at her obvious nervousness, but he knew that as soon as she felt the wind whipping across her face she would realize that there was no reason to be nervous, and that it was going to be fun and exciting.

He made his way to the front of the bike before pointing out where the kickstand, ignition, clutch, front and back brakes were located. He explained that she needed to keep pressure on the brakes after starting the ignition before explaining that she would have to slowly and gently release the brakes, as she put pressure on the clutch, and then slowly twist the throttle to get the bike to move. He warned her that if she did it too fast it could jerk the bike forward, and also warned her not to press on the brakes too hard or she could flip the bike.

Lois nodded, listening, intently to everything he was explaining to her, and she could tell that this obviously meant a lot to him. He wanted her to learn this. He wanted to teach her. He wanted to experience this with her. She figured that maybe just maybe he wanted to share something with her that was uniquely them, and wouldn't put a damper on that, besides it was nice knowing that this was something only they shared together.

After he was positive that she had grasped everything he explained, he pointed towards the side of the motorcycle. "Okay. Now, I want you to push up the kickstand, and make sure to keep the bike level. Then, I want you to start the ignition."

She did.

He took a step back, watching her, carefully, but didn't venture too far away just in case she wasn't able to keep the bike upright. He wouldn't ever let her get hurt in any way.

As soon as it seemed like she had control over the weight of the bike, he pointed towards the handles. "Okay. I want you to slowly release the brakes, and press the clutch at the same time, but remember what I told you. Don't do it too fast."

Lois took a deep breath before doing as he instructed, but she did it way too fast, and the motorcycle jerked forward, causing her to yelp, as she clutched the brakes with her hands before snapping her eyes closed.

Her entire body froze.

Her heart was pounding inside of her chest.

She could feel her hands trembling.

Clark quickly jumped forward, effectively placing his body in front of the bike just in case it moved, and that's when he noticed the state she was currently in. He saw the terrified expression taking over her beautiful features. He noticed how her hands were trembling. He could see how tense her body had become. "Lois?"

Lois slowly opened her eyes, and looked up at him, her hazel orbs locking onto his aquamarine ones.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, even though she was feeling anything but okay.

"Do you want to try again?"

She wasn't too sure about this anymore. She was already nervous about this in the first place, and now, well now she was doubting herself. "I-I don't think I can do this."

He smiled, softly at her. "Yes, you can. Come on. Just try again."

"No. No. I can't do this, Clark," she told him, as she shook her head from side to side.

Clark heard the fear that was laced in the tone of her voice before noticing how her body still seemed tense, and knew that he needed to figure out a way to make her see that she could just this—figure out a way to make her calm down, so she would feel okay about all of this.

A smile graced his lips, as an idea came to him, and even though it wasn't exactly ideal on his part it just might help her out a little bit. "I have an idea."

Great!

Another one of his brilliant ideas, she thought to herself, as she rolled her eyes.

He slowly walked around the bike, tossed his leg over the seat, and sat down directly behind her.

Her entire body froze.

He was sitting behind her.

He was so close to her now.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Relax, Lois. I'm just going to help you out a little bit. It'll make it easier for you. I promise."

She nodded, but this was way more daunting than doing this by herself, especially since when he was too close to her he clouded everything.

Her mind.

Her heart.

Her senses.

This wasn't going to help.

Nope.

Not at all.

Clark moved closer to her, as he placed his hands on top of hers before tensing, immediately when he felt the heat of her skin underneath his own, and wondered if this was a good idea or not. Probably not, but it was too late to back out now. He guided her left hand over the brake and throttle before guiding her right hand over the clutch. "Let's try again, okay?"

Lois took a deep breath, allowing him to help her, and when the bike jolted forward once again she yelped, completely startled by the sudden movement before her entire body froze.

He felt her body tense even more so, and he knew that he needed her to calm down if they were going to get anywhere before he moved closer to her, his chest pressing against her back, while his hands squeezed her own, as he whispered in her ear, "Lois, just relax, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I've got you."

She nodded, and took a deep breath.

She could do this.

She would not back down from this challenge.

She was independent.

She was strong-willed.

She was going to do this; besides he was here with her, and that made her feel better, knowing that he wouldn't let anything happen to them.

She trusted him with her life.

After calming her racing nerves, she tried again, but this time the motorcycle gently and slowly glided forward, causing her to smile, widely.

She did it! She actually did it!

Of course, she knew that it was only because he was here with her. He made her feel like she could do anything as long as he was with her.

Clark grinned from ear to ear. He knew that she could do it. "Great job, Lois. Do you want to go faster?"

"Yes." She didn't hesitate on the answer.

He gently put pressure on her left hand, guiding her fingers to put a little more pressure on the throttle.

Lois giggled at the new speed, and relished in the feeling that consumed her insides. She could feel the wind whipping across her face. It was the most amazing and thrilling feeling she has ever experienced.

Clark was right.

This is fun.

Clark grinned at her obvious amusement. He knew that she was going to enjoy this. She just had to get over her nervousness about it.

Lois laughed like never before, as she accelerated, and sped down the darkened streets of Estes Park.

His grin only grew wider when he heard her laughing, and he knew that he always wanted to hear that beautiful sound coming from her lips.

After a few minutes, he slowly loosened his grip on her hands, but didn't remove them completely just in case she needed him, and honestly, he liked the feeling of her skin underneath his before he gently rested his chin on her shoulder, allowing her to guide them wherever she wanted them to go.

One hour later, Clark and Lois were still driving down a dark, isolated road, and they had smiles plastered across their faces, but it wasn't from the rush of the ride anymore.

Lois had never felt this amazing in her entire life. At first, the rush of driving a motorcycle for the first time was all she could think about, but now she was acutely aware of his presence behind her. She could feel his hard, muscular chest pressing into her back. She could feel the heat radiating from his hands, as they rested on top of hers, and it felt like fire was seeping into her veins. She could feel his breath lingering on the side of her neck, as he rested his chin on her shoulder. She was definitely aware of him now, more than ever before.

A few weeks ago, when she had first ridden with him it had felt good to have him so close, but now it felt incredible to have him this close to her. She wanted this feeling to last forever, but she knew that she would have to pull over sooner or later. They couldn't just drive all night.

Clark felt like he couldn't breathe, which wasn't normal for him, but ever since he met her she had a way of ripping the air from his lungs. It didn't matter if she was smiling at him—talking to him—spending time with him. She always made him feel like he was incapable of breathing, and right now that feeling was ten times stronger. He could feel her back pressed, tightly against his chest. He could feel a tingling sensation spreading throughout his entire body, as it consumed his insides thoroughly. He could smell her skin—her hair, as he rested his chin on her shoulder. It was sweet. Just like her, but he would never tell her that. The more time he spent with her the more he felt like this feeling was getting so, so much more intense, and he wasn't sure if he ever wanted it to stop. He liked the way she made him feel.

A few minutes later, she slowed down the motorcycle, pulled off to the side of the dirt road they were on, and killed the ignition.

As she pulled the bike to the side of the road, Clark wondered why she was stopping, not wanting to let go of her yet, and wished that they could just stay like this forever, but he knew that that wasn't possible before he slowly let go of her hands. He reluctantly moved away from her, and climbed off the bike, but stayed close just in case she needed his help with anything.

She felt the loss of his heat immediately, and momentarily regretted pulling over, but she needed a break from driving for a few minutes. She pushed the kickstand out, gently allowing the bike to rest on its side, and as soon as she felt like it was steady enough she slowly climbed off the bike before she turned around towards him grinning from ear to ear.

He grinned right back at her. She seemed really, really happy, and he wanted her to stay like that…forever.  
"So? How was it?"

Her grin grew even wider. "How was it? It was so much fun! I've never, ever felt anything like that before. We definitely have to do that again!"

Her enthusiasm only made him chuckle. "Well, if you want you can drive back to the hotel, and whenever you feel like it you can drive it. I don't mind."

"I'd love that." She started to take off the helmet that he had made her put on, but her fingers were trembling in utter excitement that she couldn't unclasp the straps.

Without saying a word, he stepped towards her, removed the helmet from her head, and rested it on the handlebars before he looked down at her, noticing that he hair was a little tussled. He swiftly brushed it away from her eyes, and tucked it behind her ears.

Their eyes locked together, hazel and aquamarine meshing together, and it was nearly impossible for them to look away from each other.

Clark took a small step towards her, and felt his heartbeat accelerating inside his chest, as she stepped closer to him before his eyes dropped down to her lips then back up to her eyes, immediately noticing that she had done the same thing. He really, really wanted to kiss her, god, he wanted to badly. He wanted to press his lips against hers softly, gently and sweetly. He wanted to wrap his arms around her waist, as he devoured the taste of her. He wanted to feel every single one of her curves melded into his body. He just wanted her in his arms.

Lois felt her heart begin to race inside of her chest, as she gazed into the swirling pools of his aquamarine eyes, and she wanted to kiss him, desperately. She knew that she shouldn't want to or even think about wanting to, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to feel his lips pressed firmly against hers. She wanted to run her fingers through his soft, dark hair, as she allowed him to take control of the kiss—of her body—of her. She wanted to wrap herself around him, and feel his body pressed against hers. She just wanted him.

She didn't care about right or wrong anymore. It felt right to her, and that's all that mattered. She just wished he would make the first move.

He blinked a few times, vanquishing his thoughts away, and took a step back from her, not able to believe the direction his thoughts were traveling. He had never in his entire life had this many tantalizing thoughts about one woman before, but somehow she made him think and do things that he never would have thought of doing with anyone else.

Why did she make him feel like this?

He knew that he wanted to kiss her and hold her, but that was a line he wasn't sure he was ready to cross.

Not yet.

Because if he did, he would never come back from it—he would never want to come back from it.

Lois sighed, silently when he stepped away from her, and couldn't stop herself from wondering if he was ever going to kiss her. She knew that he was running from a past he wouldn't talk about, and she was also running from her overbearing father, but honestly, she was tired of this.

For the past several days, they have grown incredibly closer, and she knew that it was only going to get more intense.

She wanted him more than anything, and it seemed that he did too, so what was he waiting for?

This was the third time that they have gotten so close that they could kiss—that they could hold each other—that they could just be with each other.

She quickly looked away from him, trying to hide the disappointment that she knew was spreading out across her face, and walked away from him before she started moving closer to the edge of the dirt road, as questions were running rampant through her befuddle mind.

Why wouldn't he just kiss her already? Did he not want to? Was there something wrong with her?

Her eyes stared into the darkened woods, which had more trees than she has ever seen before, hoping and praying that they would give her the answers she wanted—needed.

Clark watched as she turned away from him before walking closer to the edge of the road, and he swore that he saw a glimpse of disappointment cross over her features, but it was gone before he could analyze if he actually saw it or not.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Three times.

Three times since they met he has wanted to kiss her, hold her and mold her body to his, but he was always—always the first one to step away.

Why couldn't he just do it? Why couldn't he just accept and take what he wanted?

There were three things he knew for an absolute fact. Firstly, he liked her more than he has ever liked anyone. Secondly, he wanted her more than anything. Thirdly, he wanted to stay with her for as long as possible.

So, what the hell was he waiting for? Why hasn't he done what he's wanted to do since the moment he laid his eyes on her?

"Clark, come here and take a look at this." He was brought out of his thoughts by her voice, and slowly made his way over to her.

Lois looked up from the pathway she had spotted, and up to his face. "I think we should check it out."

He stared at her like she had completely lost her mind.

Was she crazy? They didn't even know where they were, and she wanted to walk into the darkened woods to investigate?

He wasn't too sure about that. He didn't want anything to happen to her, and even though he could—would protect her with his life he would hate himself if she somehow got hurt.

Without waiting for his reply, she slowly started walking towards the path, but felt his hand grab her wrist, and gently yank her back to him before she turned around towards him, frowning. "Clark? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Look, we should probably just get going. It's really late."

She studied him for a few seconds, instantly noticing the hesitation and slight fear etched onto his features before smirking, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What? Are you scared, Clark?"

"No!" he scoffed. "I'm not scared, but I just don't think this is a good idea."

"Well, I'm going whether you want to or not." She rolled her eyes before turning away from him, and started walking into the dark forest.

"Lois!" he yelled out before quickly chasing after her, not allowing her to go in there by herself, and instead of forcing her to leave with him he relegated to just going with her since he knew that he would never get her to change her mind about this.

After a few minutes of walking down the dirt pathway, she stopped dead in her tracks, mainly because she was literally surrounded in complete and utter darkness. She couldn't see anything in front of her or even the outlines from the trees.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, she thought to herself, she wasn't afraid of the dark, actually, she never has been, but this was a tad bit different since she really had no idea where they were.

"Clark?"

Clark heard the nervousness in her voice, and quickly made his way over to the sound of her voice. "It's okay, Lois. I'm right behind you."

Lois sighed in relief when she heard his voice. It made her feel better, knowing that he had followed her in here. "I can't see anything."

He glanced around his surroundings, feeling thankful for his abilities at this moment since he could still see the path and the trees surrounding him. He could have easily just grabbed her, and pulled her out of here, but he knew that she wanted to do this. He quickly grabbed her hand, enclosing it in his larger one, and squeezed it. "Come on."

They walked for a few minutes, but stopped dead in their tracks when they heard the sound of running water, and she attempted looking around, but she still couldn't see anything, luckily he still could. "What was that?"

"I don't know. Come on." He dragged her behind him towards the sound of rushing water, and they both stopped walking as soon as they entered a clearing, which was illuminated in light from the moon before they saw the most beautiful waterfall they have ever seen before.

Lois let go of his hand, slowly walked over to the waterfall, and brushed her fingertips across the cool water, loving how amazing it felt against her skin.

What was this place?

It was so beautiful here, but most of all, she could see everything around her.

"It's so beautiful here," she told him, as she turned around towards him with a smile on her face.

Clark slowly walked over to her, and noticed that the bright moonlight shining down on her face was making her look absolutely astonishing. He had never seen anything more perfect than she looked right now. "Yeah. It really is."

A blush crept over her features before she looked away from him, knowing that he wasn't talking about the waterfall or the wilderness that surrounded them.

He smiled, softly at her sudden shyness, and felt the urge to make her look at him again, but instead he walked closer to the waterfall. He had never seen anything like this before, albeit he had never actually seen one, but it was still breathtaking. He couldn't really understand why it was so hidden in the woods, but was grateful that they had found it, and knew that he would probably want to come here a lot.

Lois watched him for a few moments, and smiled at how happy he looked. She knew that he was still dealing with a part of his part that he wouldn't talk about, but over the past few days she had only seen pure and joy radiating from him, and she liked this side of him.

It made her happy to see him being so content.

She looked up into the night sky, and saw the bright stars twinkling down on them. "Wow. You can really see the stars from down here."

He looked away from the waterfall, noticing that she was standing in the middle of the clearing, staring up at the night sky, and made his way over to her before following her gaze. "Yeah. You really can."

As she swirled and twirled around in circles, enjoying everything that surrounded them, she knew that she wanted to stay here for a while, actually, she could stay here for hours is she wanted to. It was just so mesmerizing here.

A wide smile spread out across his features, as he watched her, and he knew what she was thinking—what she wanted to do. "You want to stay for a bit?"

She nodded, but never looked at him. She was too focused on the waterfall, stars and wilderness. It was nearly impossible to take her eyes off the beauty of this place.

He grinned, widely at how happy she seemed to be here, which is exactly how he felt, but honestly, it seemed like she felt more herself here, and if she wanted he would bring her every single day as long as he could continue to see her this peaceful.

After watching her for a few more moments, he slowly sat down on the green grass, looked up into the night sky, and stared up at the stars. Memories of his old life—of a time when he used to do this all the time came rushing back to him, but he wasn't going to let that ruin this moment. He wanted to remember the good times—the times where everything was so much simpler.

Lois watched him for a few seconds, immediately noticing a sadness creep over his features, but it was gone not even one second later, and she figured that he was probably remembering something that most likely used to mean a lot to him. "It's peaceful here, isn't it?"

He looked over at her with a soft smile gracing his lips. "Yeah. It really it. You know, I used to do this all the time."

"Do what?"

As more and more memories came back to him, the smile on his face only grew wider. "I used to stargaze all the time."

That made her smile. He was opening up to her. He was actually telling her something about his past without her having to ask him questions. He was doing it willingly, which surprised her since he has never done it until now. "I've never done it. I was always either too busy with whatever was going on in my life. I guess I just never had the time to sit down and actually enjoy it."

"Well, you are definitely missing out." He could tell that she highly doubted that she was missing much, but he was determined to prove her wrong before holding out his hand. "Come here."

As soon as she was situated next to him, comfortably, he laid down on his back, pulling her down with him, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, as she rested her head on his chest before he started pointing out all of the constellations that he could see from their angel, feeling more than good at the prospect of doing this again, especially with her.

She was never one for looking up into the stars, but figured that that had more to do with how crazy her father made her life, and wished that she would have at least took the time to do it once or twice because it felt nice. She was enjoying the astronomy lesson he was giving her, but she knew that if it was anyone else she wouldn't care less.

Everything just felt right with him.

Clark attempted pointing out a constellation called, 'Orion's Belt', but she couldn't see it. "Clark, I don't see three stars that look like a belt. Are you sure it's there?"

He laughed, softly , as he grabbed her hand, and raised it into the air before pointing it directly at the constellation he was talking about. "See? It's right there. There's three stars, which are right next to each other. That's Orion's Belt."

She smiled, and shook her head from side to side, softly. "How is that supposed to be a belt? It's just like looking at clouds and trying to guess the shape. Not everyone can see it. I can tell you that that doesn't look like a belt to me."

Another bubble of laughter escaped from him before he slowly dropped their hands, and rested them on his stomach, but didn't release her fingers from his own. "I don't know, Lois. Maybe some people are just better at this than others."

"Yeah. Someone like you."

For the next thirty minutes, he continued showing her constellations, and gave her detailed explanations behind every single one of them. It was something he had always enjoyed doing. Looking into the stars, hearing the stories about what the constellations meant and how they got there was something that always made him feel at peace.

It was even more fun doing it with her.

As they stared up into the night sky, he brushed his thumb, softly across the top of her hand. "You know, I used to sit up in my loft back at home and look up into the stars just wondering what else was out there."

Lois giggled, softly at that, as she squeezed his hand. "Clark, that's ridiculous. You already know what's out there."

A soft sigh escaped past his lips, as memories of the day he found out the truth of his origins came to the forefront of his mind. "I didn't at the time."

She looked up at him. "What?"

His eyes stared directly into her own. "I didn't actually know where I came from for most of my life. Not until two years ago."

A slight gasp escaped from her mouth. "Oh, Clark! I'm so sorry! It must have been so hard growing up and not knowing or understanding why you were so different from everyone else."

He nodded. "Yeah. It really was, but I had people that I loved who helped me get through it, and now, well, now I have you."

She swallowed the lump inside of her throat from the complete sincerity that was laced in his voice, and slowly pushed herself up a little, so she could see his face more clearly. "Clark, I want you to know that I will always be here for you."

His aquamarine eyes stared straight into her hazel ones, and felt himself starting to get lost in those beautiful pools of hers. "Do-do you mean that?"

"Yeah. I really do." She smiled, softly at him. "I'm glad I met you, Clark."

He smiled right back at her. "I'm glad I met you too."

Lois slowly laid back down, resting her head on his chest, and closed her eyes, softly, allowing the beat of his heart to lure her into sleep.

Clark wrapped both of his arms around her body, absently, his hands rubbing over every inch of her back, and before he knew what was happening he heard her breaths deepen, instantly realizing that she had fallen asleep.

His eyes traveled down to her, and couldn't stop himself from smiling at how peaceful she looked. He could stare at her beautiful face all night, and he wished that he could, but he knew that they should probably get going since it was really late or early.

He wasn't too sure which one it was.

When he was with her time didn't even matter or register to him.

It was always just him and her.

"Lois?"

Lois moaned, softly in her sleep, and slowly wrapped her arms around his waist, curling herself deeper into his side.

It was obvious that she was a heavy sleeper, he thought to himself, as he grinned down at her before shaking her shoulder, softly. "Lois. Lois, come on. You need to wake up."

She didn't.

He groaned, softly, and dropped his head back down onto the ground. He wasn't going to let her sleep out here even if it would nice to have her wrapped up in his arms all night and it would feel even nicer to wake up with her in the morning, but she could get sick.

After much contemplation, he very slowly and carefully sat up with her still on his chest, immediately noticing that she didn't even budge from his movements before he lifted her into his arms, as he rose from the ground, and started walking back towards the road, but stopped dead in his tracks when she mumbled his name.

His eyes traveled down to her, and he waited—waited for her to say something else, thinking that she was waking up, but she buried her face into the side of his neck, her breath lingering on his skin.

It was quite obvious that she was dreaming about him, and that caused him to smile like he's never smiled before, but what did it mean exactly?

He didn't know, but he did know that ever since they found each other again in this town they were getting closer and closer the more time they spent together, and he honestly never, ever wanted to stop feeling this way.

As he allowed all the things he was feeling—all the things he has felt since he first met her, he slowly tightened his arms around her body, hugging her to his chest, and breathed in her scent. She smelled like wild cherries. It was uniquely her, and as those feelings only grew stronger and stronger he allowed the scent of her to encompass every inch of his mind, heart and soul.

After a few more seconds, he slowly starting walking again, wishing and hoping that this moment would never end—that their time together would never end.

Twenty minutes later, he was completely and utterly frustrated with the beautiful woman in his arms. She refused to wake up. She didn't flinch, budge or even shift in the slightest when he tried to wake her up, and he had officially given up on the idea of getting her to wake up, as he made sure that her face was hidden in the crook of his neck before he super sped them back to the hotel.

As soon as he arrived at the hotel, he slowly walked into her room, laid her down on the bed, gently, and wrapped the blankets around her, snuggly before he stared down at her sleeping form. She was so beautiful. He really needed to figure out what he was supposed to do about these intense feelings he has for her.

At first, he thought that they would fade away just like so many other times in the past, but they weren't, actually, they were only getting stronger every second he spent with her. He would never push her away because of it, but he either needed to try ignoring them or do something about it.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what he should do.

When he realized that he has been staring down at her longer than necessary, he quickly shook his thoughts away, and started to walk away from her, but the touch of her hand grasping his stopped him before he glanced down at their intertwined hands then back up to her face, his eyes connecting with her hazel ones almost instantaneously, which were shining up at him.

Lois smiled, sleepily up at him. "Thank you for bringing me back here."

"It wasn't a problem, Lois, but you should really get some sleep." He started to turn away from her, but her hand tightened around his, causing him to look back down at her before slowly sitting down at the edge of the bed, brushing the hair away from her face, and smiled, softly. "Get some sleep, Lois."

"Clark?"

"Yes, Lois?"

She stared deeply into his beautiful orbs. "I had a great time tonight."

"Me too."

Lois yawned, and softly closed her eyes before mumbling, "Goodnight, Clark."

Clark watched her until he was sure she was in a deep sleep, and knew that he needed to figure out what he was supposed to do about his feelings before he lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her soft skin, as gingerly as possible. "Goodnight, Lois."

He dropped her hand, softly, stood up and walked out of her room, wondering when he was going to make a decision regarding his feelings for her.

Hopefully, it was soon.

 _ **When I was writing this chapter I had a lot of fun with it, especially when writing their thoughts, mainly because their feelings for each other are getting stronger. Their relationship will be moving along quite a bit, so the story can progress.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter ten**_


	12. Chapter Eleven

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Eleven:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'Kiss Me' by Sixpence None The Richer**_

Clark laughed, good-heartedly, as he opened the front door to the café for Lois, and followed her inside when she entered.

Lois narrowed her eyes at his amusement, and turned around towards him before placing her hands on her hips, effectively. "This isn't funny!"

He laughed even harder. "It's kind of funny."

"You cheated! You freaking cheated, and you know it!"

Clark shook his head from side to side from her little rant about this situation. They had went hiking, just like they did every day at one of the many trails in this small-town. The only difference about today was that she had challenged him to a race, which he won of course, and now—now she was complaining about it.

"I didn't cheat. You just can't get over the fact that I actually beat you."

"You cheated!" Her hazel eyes glared at him, as she stepped closer to him before leaning closer towards him, and whispered, "You used your superspeed or whatever, which by definition means that you cheated!"

A smirk spread out across his face. He knew that he probably shouldn't have used his abilities to purposefully beat her at a race, but he couldn't help himself, and it was priceless seeing the expression on her face when she realized that he had beat her.

An expression of feigned shock appeared on his face, as he gasped, slightly. "Me? What? I would never. Lois, I would never do such a thing to you."

"Yeah right," she scoffed, as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh, come on, Lois. Don't be such a sore loser. Just admit it. Your peeved at the fact that I actually beat you at something. You're not used to that, are you?"

She grew even more irritated at his nonchalant attitude. "I am not upset! You cheated, and we both know it. We will be having a rematch, mister!"

He grinned from ear to ear, liking that idea, immensely. If that meant beating her again, and then watching her rant and rave about it then he definitely wanted to race her again.

It was just so much fun.

"Okay. We will have a rematch, but whoever wins gets to choose what we do. So, when I win, which I will win I get to choose whatever I want to do, and you have to go along with it."

A smirk spread out across her face at his little idea, and the more she thought about it the more she was liking it. "Okay. You're on, but that goes both ways. If I win, you have to whatever I want you to."

Her teasing expression quickly transformed into a more serious one, as she stepped even closer to him, and jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "But, there will be no special advantages. Is that clear, farm boy?"

That was doable, he thought to himself, even if he did cheat this time, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"Okay. It's a deal, but like I've already said I didn't cheat, and it's going to be so much fun beating you…again."

"You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you deal with me anyways."

She glared before turning away from him, and stomping her way towards the service counter.

He chuckled, as he followed her, and couldn't stop himself from thinking how cute she was when she got all riled up before he caught up to her, patiently waiting for someone to come take their order, but from the corner of his eyes he noticed that she was skimming through the menu. "You hungry?"

"No. I was just looking; besides I only wanted a coffee, but it would be nice to have a maple donut while we walked around." She looked up at him with an innocent expression slowly spreading out across her face. "You know, since it's a nice day and everything."

"Why am I not surprised that you want a maple donut?" He rolled his eyes at her, playfully. "If you could, you would live off of those damn things."

"Yeah. That's true, but you can't deny that they're really good because every time I get one so do you."

He purposefully ignored that, knowing that he wasn't going to tell her that he actually liked him, but it wasn't just that he didn't want her to win this little squabble they were having. It was the fact that the only reason he ever ordered them was because she liked them, and he enjoyed doing and eating things that she liked.

"Hi, Clark! What can I get for you?"

Clark looked up at the familiar voice, and was completely shocked to see Joslyn standing in front of him, especially since the only time he ever saw her was in the mornings. "Joslyn? What are you doing here? I thought you only worked the morning shift?"

Lois, who was concentrating on the menu, looked up when she heard the tone of familiarity in his voice, her eyes immediately traveling to the woman he was speaking to. She was a tall, pretty red-haired woman, who had the bluest eyes she has ever seen in her entire life, and without realizing it her eyes narrowed at her, slightly, not liking how familiar they were with each other.

Who the hell was this girl? How does Clark know her?

Joslyn smiled up at him. "Oh. You know, one of the other waitresses was a no show, and since I was already here I'm covering for her until someone else can come in."

He nodded. "Oh, um, have you met Lois?"

No wonder he spent all his time with her, she thought to herself, as her eyes traveled over to the beautiful girl standing next to him before smiling, quite forcefully.

"Hi! I'm Joslyn! It's nice to finally meet you."

Lois quirked a brow at her. "Finally?"

"Yeah. Clark here talks about you all of the time."

She turned towards him with a smirk set in place. "Oh really?"

Clark blushed, profusely before looking away from her.

"Well, I hope it was all good things, and it's nice to meet you too."

As soon as he was positive that the blush had disappeared from his face, he spoke up, "Uh, so, can we get some coffees? And two maple donuts?"

Lois looked at him, the smirk reappearing on her face.

Clark felt her gaze on him, and rolled his eyes at her, but never looked at her, knowing that he would crumble underneath her teasing stare. "Shut it, Lane!"

"I wasn't going to say anything," she told him, while trying her hardest to stifle her laughter.

"Sure, you weren't."

Joslyn watched their bantering for a few seconds before turning away to make their coffees. It was obvious that they had a deep connection, but that didn't mean they were together, right?

She didn't know, but that thought wasn't going to stop her from hoping—wishing that she had a chance with the most gorgeous man she has ever eyes laid her eyes on.

As soon as their coffees were finished, she twirled back around, staring up at him with shining eyes, and flipped her long hair over her shoulder. "So, um, Clark, what are you doing later?"

Clark turned away from Lois when he heard her voice, and frowned at her question.

Why was she asking him that? She have never in the entire time that he has known her asked him that, so why was she doing it now?

Lois, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes at the girl. She could see right through that plastic smile. She was flirting with him. She had the hots for him. She didn't like that one bit.

Nope.

Not at all.

At first, the girl seemed sweet and nice, but now that she was trying to steal him away from her, even though he wasn't really hers, she really, really didn't like her.

As soon as the implication behind her question fully registered in her mind, she felt fear seep throughout every fiber in her being at the mere thought of him wanting to spend time with this girl, and slowly looked over at him before stifling a bubble of laughter from the perplexed expression that was plastered across his face.

The poor guy couldn't even tell that this girl was flirting with him, she thought to herself.

Clark looked over at Lois, and frowned even more so when he noticed that she was smiling.

Why was she smiling? Did she know something that he didn't?

"Uh, I think we were planning on going on a drive later, weren't we, Lois?"

She nodded, her smile growing ever wider. They were going to drive on his motorcycle back to the waterfall they had happened to find two days ago, or 'their' waterfall, as she had dubbed it. Ever since that night, they have gone back every single night just to stargaze, talk and lay in each other's arms, but the real reason they kept going back was because they both enjoyed it there so much. She couldn't wait to spend the night there with him…again.

It was like their nightly ritual before they back to their hotel, and it seemed that they kept staying later and later because neither of them wanted the night to end.

Joslyn glanced between the two of them with narrowed eyes. It seemed that whatever they had planned was something they only knew about, and it was like some big secret that only they shared together. She didn't like that.

Nope.

It irked her like nothing else ever has.

She wanted to be spending all that time with him.

She wanted to share memories with him.

What was so damn special about this Lois girl that Clark felt the need to spend all of his time with her? She was beautiful, of course she had noticed that, but what she have that she didn't?

She quickly pushed those thoughts aside for now. "Well, um, you can always do that later or another night, can't you?"

"Uh, I guess. Why?"

A wide smile spread out across her face. "Well, I'm throwing a little party at my house later tonight, and wanted to know if you would like to come. There will be boos and food for everyone. There's even a swimming pool and jacuzzi."

She batted her lashes at him. "So? Do you want to come?"

Lois stared at the girl in complete and utter shock. In a matter of seconds, she had managed to ruin their plans for the night, and now she was attempting to get him to go to her house for some party. She could feel the jealousy rising inside of her, and felt it burning throughout every single one of her veins.

What would he say? Would he want to go? Would he rather do that instead of going to their waterfall? What about her? Would he leave her to spend time with this girl?

Clark stared at her completely and utterly surprised by that. He wasn't really into the whole party scene, actually, he never has been unless he was under the influence of Red Kryptonite, and every single time he did something crazy happened.

His eyes traveled over to Lois, who was staring at Joslyn with a weird expression lingering on her face, and wondered, briefly what that was all about, but figured that it was nothing.

As he stared at her, his mind instantaneously went to 'their' waterfall, and how they had planned on going there tonight just like they usually did every night, and he really, really wanted to do that with her tonight, especially since he enjoyed it when they would stargaze—when they would talk about everything and nothing at the exact same time—when they would just lay down on the grass, holding each other.

He enjoyed that part…a lot.

Did he want to sacrifice that for a party? Did she want to go?

He knew that she was more adventurous than he was, and figured that it could be fun, but he would only go if she wanted to.

Clark looked back over at Joslyn, who was staring at him with expectation. "Uh, I'm not too sure, but um, if I do can I bring Lois?"

Lois looked over at him completely surprised and shocked by his response.

He wanted to go? He wanted her to come with him?

The simple thought of him wanting her with him whether it was going to 'their' waterfall or some party made her smile. She knew that he was going to ask her if she wanted to go because he wasn't into the whole drinking and partying scheme of things. She knew that for a fact, but if he wanted to go then she would too, besides it could be fun, as long as they did it together.

Joslyn glanced between the two of them, as they stared at each other with a glint lingering in their eyes, and smiles plastered across their faces. She really, really didn't want her to come along. It was an invitation for him, and for him alone, but figured that she should have known that was going to be his response. She could see their connection. She knew that they spent all of their time together. It was quite obvious that neither of them wanted to stray too far from the other.

Why was that? Why did he choose to spend so much of his time with her? What was so damn special about this girl?

There was a part of herself that just wanted tonight to be about them, and was hoping that after he spent some quality time with her he would finally see her the way that she sees him, but the other part of herself knew that he would only come if Lois was with him.

She sighed, silently. "Uh, yeah. That's fine I guess."

Lois smiled to herself when she saw the expression on her face from his answer, and even noticed how her eyes had darkened, slightly. She wasn't happy that he wanted to bring her along, but what was she supposed to do about that?

Clark liked spending time with her. Just as much as she did, and it wasn't her fault that he would rather spend time with her at this party then go by himself. She liked that more anyways. It meant that she couldn't get jealous just by simply wondering what he was doing and who he was doing it with.

Clark just simply smiled.

Lois rolled her eyes at him. They guy was completely oblivious to the girl's attraction towards him, but honestly that didn't surprise her at all, especially since he had absolutely no idea what his smiles—his gestures—even his damn voice did to her heart, mind and soul.

"Okay. Well, um, I'll just give you my address just in case you guys decide if you want to come, and if not that's okay too." She quickly wrote down her address on a piece of paper before handing it over to him.

Clark took the piece of paper and paid for their drinks before they both walked out of the café with their coffees and donuts in hand.

They walked in contented silence, as they enjoyed their maple donuts, and once they were both finished, Clark glanced over at her. "So, um, do you want to go to this party?"

Lois smiled, knowing that he was going to ask her that question. "Yeah. I mean, we can if you want to, but why do you want to go in the first place?"

She really didn't care if they went, but in all honesty, she just wanted to be alone with him just like they intended on doing. He might not be able to see it, but she just knew that Joslyn and all the other girls would want to get their grubby little hands all over him, and what would stop him from giving them the attention they want?

They weren't together even though she wished that they were, and it wasn't like she was anything special. She was just the girl he was currently spending his time with, so what would stop him from ditching her to go spend time with some other prettier girl?

"I don't know. I mean, it could be fun, but if you don't want to go then we don't have to."

"We don't have to do everything together, so if you want to go then go have some fun."

Clark frowned, immensely, as he looked over at her. He didn't like that sound of that at all. He wanted to spend time with her. He wanted to be with her.

Didn't she understand that? Didn't she see that he was completely and utterly taken by her? Didn't she notice the way he blushes or stammers every single time she teases him?

"No."

Lois looked over at him completely surprised by his answer. "What?"

"I said no. We either go together or we don't go at all. Lois, I want to go with you and nobody else, especially not by myself. So? Do you want to go or not?"

She was completely taken by the sincerity in his voice. He really wanted to spend time with her and only her. That thought alone filled her insides with happiness.

"We can if you want, but I thought you wanted to go to our waterfall—" She stopped mid-sentence, and groaned, loudly when she realized that she had just let it slip that she thought of the waterfall as 'theirs'.

Clark stopped dead in his tracks, as the meaning behind her words hit him, and he smiled, widely. "Did you just say that you think of the waterfall as ours?"

Lois blushed, profusely, and looked away from him. "Uh, yes. No. I mean, I, uh, that's not what I meant to say. What I meant to say—"

"Lois…" he attempted stopping her from mumbling past her words, but it was like she didn't even hear him, and couldn't stop himself from chuckling at her ramblings.

She was just so damn cute when she was nervous, he thought to himself.

"What I meant to say is that it's not ours, but something we found together, and technically it can't be ours. We don't own it. We just found it and—"

"Lois!" He interrupted her, and as soon as he had her full attention, he raised his hand before gripping her chin in his fingers, forcing her to look at him. "Lois, it's okay. I, um, I kind of think of it as ours too."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I do."

They smiled, widely at each other.

He dropped his hand from her face, and tilted his head to one side, slightly. "So? Are we going to this party or not?"

"Sure. I don't see why not, but you do realize that the only reason you were invited was because Joslyn has a crush on you, right?"

His brows furrowed in complete surprise and utter confusion. "What?"

Lois rolled her eyes. He was completely oblivious to the effect he had on women. "You seriously don't see it?"

He just stared wide-eyed at her.

"She's attracted to you, Clark! Just like every other girl will be as soon as we get to that party."

Joslyn liked him?

He just couldn't believe that this was happening.

It was confusing.

It was surprising.

But, most of all, it worried him.

He was more than a little concerned over the fact that Lois thought he liked her too because that couldn't be further from the truth. He didn't see her that way, and he never would. It wasn't that she wasn't pretty because she was, but he just didn't think of her in that way. The only time he ever thought about her was when he was in her presence. His eyes—his mind—his heart—his soul were completely taken by one person—one woman, and she was standing right in front of him.

He grabbed her hand, and gently rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because I don't see her like that, and at this party it still won't matter because I won't see anyone else in that way either."

Lois looked down to the ground.

What did that mean? Did it mean that he would never see anyone like that because he's already taken? Did that mean he wasn't interested in anyone? Did that mean he would never see her like that? Did that mean he wanted to just stay friends?

A soft groan escaped past his throat when she looked away from him, and he realized that she probably thought he meant that he would never see anyone like that, but he already did. She was standing right in front of him, and she had absolutely no idea what she did to him. She was jealous and that stirred something deep inside of himself—something that he couldn't exactly explain. She was jealous of him—jealous of him wanting other girls—jealous of him wanting girls that weren't her. She had absolutely no reason to be. He would only ever see her. No one shined a light as bright as Lois did in his eyes. He wanted her. He would never, ever want someone as much as he wanted to be with her.

He could tell that she was upset, probably thinking that he just wanted to be friends with her, which he did, but he wanted so, so much more as well before he placed his finger underneath her chin, and forced her to look at him. "Lois…"

Her eyes locked onto his, as he gently brushed his fingertips across her cheek. "It doesn't matter what they think or what they want. I want to go to this party with you, and I want to spend my time with you, okay?"

She nodded.

"Good. So, I'm going to ask you one more time. Do you want to go or not?"

"We can, but what about the waterfall? I thought you wanted to do that too?"

A soft smile graced his lips. It was obvious that she loved it there just as much as he did, but something told him that there was more to it that than, and he hoped that it was the fact that they could spend time together completely alone. "How about after the party we go there just like we planned to? How does that sound?"

"I'd love that." She smiled at him before a smirk spread out across her face. "You know, she did say that she had a swimming pool. You, Mr. Kent, are going swimming with me."

His hand fell from her face. "Yeah. That's not happening."

She pouted, which only made him chuckle at her attempt. "That's not gonna work, Miss Lane."

"Spoilsport," she growled at him, playfully.

A chuckle escaped past his lips before they continued their journey towards their hotel with their hands still intertwined together.

A few hours later, Clark and Lois walked up the wooden steps to Joslyn' house before knocking on the door, and after waiting for a few seconds Joslyn swung open the front door with a wide smile lingering on her face, but it was directed towards Clark more so than Lois. "You made it!"

Clark noticed the way she didn't even bother greeting Lois, and for some reason it irritated him that she didn't even acknowledge her.

Maybe Lois was right, he thought to himself.

"Yeah. We made it."

Lois smiled to herself. It was obvious that Clark had noticed the way she disregarded her like she wasn't even there, and she also noticed the way he made sure that she knew that he was here with her and no one else.

Joslyn glanced over at Lois, and her smile faded, slightly. She knew that she was there, of course, and a part of herself had hoped that he would come alone, but she had a feeling that she would be coming with him. She had big plans for tonight—tonight he would finally see her as something more than the girl, who serves him coffee and breakfast in the mornings, but in order for that to happen she needed to find a way to separate them so she could be alone with him. She wanted him more than she's wanted anyone in her entire life. If she could just get him alone, flirt with him a little, and maybe just maybe kiss him then she wouldn't have to worry about Lois anymore.

It had always worked in the past, she thought to herself, carelessly.

She looked Lois up and down. She was wearing black denim skinny jeans, which hugged her legs like a second skin, and a dark red tank top, which didn't reveal too much.

Did she not own anything else?

This was a party. The girls were supposed to wear dresses to impress the guys of course, but it seemed she didn't get that memo.

This could work to her advantage, she thought to herself, she was wearing a tight, beautiful pink dress, which flowed just above her knees, and it revealed just enough to give him a little sneak preview.

She hoped—prayed that it was enough to divert his attention from Lois onto her. "Well, come on in! What would you like to drink? We have beer, whiskey and even some fruity drinks."

Lois smiled a fake smile. She had noticed the way she sized her up like she was scrutinizing her, but of course, Clark didn't notice. It's not like it actually mattered though. He was here with her, and that's all that mattered.

"I think we'll wait on drinks. We were going to go for a swim. Isn't that right, Clark?"

Clark just nodded. He really, really didn't want to get involved in this. Ever since Lois had told him that Joslyn liked him he hadn't been able to stop thinking about all of the times he had seen her, and it only made him wonder how he could miss something like that, but figured that it was because he only cared about what Lois thought of him—wanted from him.

That's all that mattered.

Joslyn glared, slightly at the way she was talking for him, but smiled, nonetheless. "Uh, okay. Just let me know if I can get you anything."

They slowly walked up the steps, and looked around the quite large house. It wasn't what they were expecting. Not even in the slightest. The entire house was filled with people, actually, it was just filled with a bunch of drunken teenagers, and the music was extremely loud.

Yeah, they thought, simultaneously, this is definitely not what they were expecting when she had told them that it was going to be a small party.

Lois grabbed his arm, making him look over at her. "I'm going to go get changed. I'll meet you by the pool?"

Clark nodded again, and watched her walk away from him before making his way outside. She knew that he wasn't going to swim with her, but it made him happy that she still wanted him there with her.

Thirty minutes later, Lois stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, and was starting to wonder if this was a good idea or not.

She felt nervous.

She felt overwhelmed.

But, most of all, she felt exposed.

This wasn't something that was relatively new to her, especially since she had done this a million times when sneaking off to parties that she wasn't allowed to go to, but this was different. She had worn items such as this one several times in the past, but it just didn't feel the same, and there was one specific reason for her trepidation. It was bad enough that she would be strutting around in a bikini in front of people that she didn't even know, but to make matters worse she would be practically half naked in front of him.

In front of Clark.

She felt extremely exposed at the moment more so than ever before, and she wasn't too sure about this anymore—she wasn't feeling so confident about this anymore.

In any other circumstance, she would have walked out there like it was no big deal—like there was nothing stopping her from doing what she wanted when she wanted, but Clark was waiting for, and that was her problem.

She liked him…a lot.

She had very, very intense feelings for him.

She wanted him like nothing she has ever wanted in her entire life.

A soft sigh escaped past her lips before she closed her eyes. She really needed to figure out these feelings—emotions that he brings out in her because it was making everything so much more complicated than it should be. She's liked guys in the past. That wasn't new to her, but feeling this strongly about one guy was definitely new to her, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do.

There was a small part of herself that wanted him to make a move—do something since it would make everything so much easier for her, but it was obvious that he was either too scared or didn't feel the way she did.

Hopefully, it was the former.

She didn't know what she would do if he only wanted to be friends, honestly, that would crush her because she wanted to more than just friends. She wanted all of him.

A loud groan escaped from her. She needed to figure this out, and she needed to figure this out now because she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.

It was now or never, she thought to herself, as she took a deep breath, and walked out of the bathroom.

* * *

Clark was sitting on one of the wooden benches directly next to the very large swimming pool, and he was starting to become extremely worried since it had already been forty-five minutes.

Where the hell was she? Was she okay? Should he go looking for her? What was taking her so damn long? He contemplated on getting up to search for her, but what if she showed up and he wasn't here?

He wouldn't—couldn't do that to her.

As he waited, patiently for her, he was feeling way too many emotions at the moment to count, but the most profound one was nervousness. He was completely and utterly nervous over what was about to happen, and what he was about to witness.

Lois, the girl, who somehow couldn't leave his head or heart, would be with him wearing a swimsuit—would be swimming in the water by herself in that same swimsuit.

Was it a bikini? A one-piece? What color was it? Blue? Green? Red?

He really, really hoped that it was red. That was his favorite color, and he already knew that she looked amazing in red.

A loud groan escaped past his lips before he dropped his head into his hands.

What the hell was he thinking? Why would he suggest coming to a party, knowing full well that she would go swimming, and knowing that she would wear something that would practically reveal everything? What the hell is his problem?

Honestly, he wasn't too sure if he would be able to control himself if he saw her like that. He wanted her badly. He knew that much, and it had taken everything inside of himself to not do anything thus far, but if he saw her looking so beautiful, half-naked in front of him, he knew what he would do—what he would want to do. He wouldn't be able to stop the urge to grab her by the waist, and lay a searing kiss upon her perfect lips. He wanted to kiss her—hold her—do anything that made her his, and when he saw her he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by Joslyn, "Hey, Clark."

Clark looked up at her, feeling thankful for the interruption from his tantalizing thoughts, but also nervous since he was alone with her and Lois was nowhere in sight.

This wasn't good, he thought to himself.

"Hey, Joslyn."

She slowly sat down next to him. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

He frowned, slightly, instantly remembering that he had been waiting for Lois for almost one hour now. "I'm waiting for Lois. She went to go get changed."

This was her chance, she thought to herself, hopefully her plan would work—hopefully her brother would keep Lois occupied long enough, so she could make her move.

"Oh. I think I saw her inside talking to some guy."

His head snapped towards hers. "What?"

She was talking to another guy? She was spending time with another guy? Is that why she was taking so long? Why would she do that?

He couldn't—wouldn't believe that. She knew that he wanted to be here with her, and he also knew that she would never just ditch him for someone else. He knew that with certainty. She would be here. She wouldn't keep him waiting much longer.

Joslyn flipped her hair over her shoulder before running her hand, quite seductively down his arm. "I wouldn't worry about her too much. I think she's having a pretty great time, so I think it's time you start having some of your own."

Clark glanced down at her hand, the one that was currently stroking his bare arm, and willed himself not to outwardly cringe from her touch. He didn't want to be rude by telling her to get her grubby hands off of him, but he also didn't like the fact that she was touching him. He only wanted Lois to do that to him. He only wanted Lois altogether.

He was seconds away from telling her that he wasn't interested, but whatever he was going to say was lost in transition when he spotted the woman, who consumed his heart, mind and soul every single second of every single day, from the corner of his eyes.

His eyes widened.

His mouth dropped open.

Holy hell!

She looked so jaw-dropping gorgeous in her bright red bikini, of course, he knew that she looked amazing in that particular color, but dear lord, she looked absolutely breathtaking.

Lois smiled, softly, as she walked towards Clark, but that smile faded when she noticed that Joslyn was sitting next to him, and she had her grubby little hands all over him, which only made her fume with anger.

Who the hell did this girl think she was?

She just couldn't believe it.

Firstly, she had spent way too long in the bathroom, attempting to talk some sense into herself. Secondly, some random guy had stopped her from getting out here to Clark, where she wanted to be. And finally, she finds Joslyn hanging all over him. She didn't like that at all. She wanted to be the only one who could do that to him.

Clark quickly shot out of the chair, completely ignoring Joslyn' protests, and slowly walked over towards the most beautiful woman he has ever laid his eyes on, feeling like he couldn't breathe, which was becoming quite a normal everyday thing, especially when he was in her presence.

As soon as he was standing a few feet away from her, he stopped in his tracks, and roamed his eyes up and down her figure, loving how she looked even better up closely. "Wow! You look great!"

Lois smiled, softly, not only did he appreciate what he was seeing, but he had also disregarded Joslyn as soon as he had noticed her, which made her anger calm down, immensely. "Really? You think so?"

His eyes never left hers. "You look beautiful, Lois."

A bright red blush crept onto her features. She was not expecting him to be so blunt.

What happened to her shy farm boy? What happened to the guy who stammered every single time she flirted with him?

She didn't know, and she figured that she would find out eventually, but for now she was just going to focus on what she could control. "So? Are you going to go swimming with me?"

He shook his head from side to side, figuring that he should have known that she wouldn't have given up so easily.

She grumbled, miserably at that.

A wide grin spread out across his face. He wanted to, god, he wanted to, but he couldn't exactly explain to her why he wouldn't take his shirt off. He couldn't—wouldn't allow her to see the scar on his chest. She would have questions—questions that he wasn't ready to tell her yet, but maybe just maybe one day he would feel comfortable enough to let her know everything.

But…

That day wasn't today.

"You know, most people enjoy going swimming."

"Well, I'm not like most people."

She rolled her eyes at that, of course, she already knew that, but they weren't talking about his abilities here, and as she stared at him, pleading like, that's when something occurred to her.

It couldn't be true, could it?

"Don't tell me that you can't swim?"

He chuckled, softly at that. "Of course, I can. I just don't want to."

"So, then are you afraid of the water?"

Why wouldn't she just give up already? He questioned himself, as he shook his head from side to side.

"No. I'm not afraid of the water. I just don't want to go swimming."

"Whatever." She started taking off her shoes, and tossed her clothes on a nearby bench." I think you're just trying to find an excuse to not go swimming with me."

He ignored that. He wanted to, but aside from the scar on his chest, he wasn't sure what he would do if they were swimming together in the dark completely alone. "Well, maybe I wanna watch the competition. You know, for that rematch I was promised. It would be so great if I not only beat you on land, but in the water too."

"Did you seriously just say that? Are you really bringing this up again?"

A wide smirk appeared on his face, as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh. I seriously just did and I really am."

She placed her hands on her hips, as she glared at him. "Let's get something straight here buster! You cheated today! So, next time, whether it be on land or in the water you will not be using your superpowers! You got it, Clarkie?"

He frowned at the new nickname. "What did you just call me?"

That obviously caught him off guard, she thought to herself, as she grinned at him.

"Oh. You mean, Clarkie?"

A low sounding growl escaped past his throat. He didn't like that nickname whatsoever. She could call him farm boy, Mr. Kent or even space boy for all he cared, but definitely not Clarkie. "Don't call me that."

She couldn't help but laugh at the seriousness in the tone of his voice, and from the way he was looking at her. It was pretty apparent that he didn't like that nickname, which only made her want to tease him even more so. "Why not? I think I rather like that nickname, actually, I think I'll just call you that from now on."

"Don't you dare!"

"Don't dare what?" She taunted him.

He glared at her. "I'm serious, Lois. You can call me whatever you want except that."

This was going to be fun, she thought to herself, as she grinned ever wider.

"What? You mean…Clarkie?" When he just simply growled at her, she continued her endless teasing, "Clarkie. Clarkie. Clarkie. Clark—"

"That's it!" He interrupted her, feeling completely irritated with her incessant teasing, and picked her up from the waist, threw her over his shoulder before making his way over to the edge of the pool.

She yelped, completely startled when he picked her up, and started to kick and pound on his back with her fists. "Hey! What are you doing, you Neanderthal! Put me down!"

"You want down?"

"Yes!"

He lowered her from his shoulder, and held her above the water, so her feet were barely touching the cool liquid. "Okay. I'll put you down if you take it back."

Her eyes fell to the cold water before traveling back up to him. "You wouldn't!"

"Really? I wouldn't, would I?" He quirked a brow at her, as a smirk appeared on his face. "Say you're sorry. Tell me that you'll never, ever call me that stupid name again, and I won't drop you in the water."

She smirked right back at him, mentally challenging him. "Never gonna happen…Clarkie."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He quickly let her go, and watched as she began to fall into the cold water, but wasn't expecting her to grab his shirt, effectively pulling him in with her.

They both shot out of the water at the exact same time, laughing and wiping the water away from their faces before he looked over at her completely shocked. "You didn't just do that!"

A chuckle escaped past her throat from his surprise. "Oh. I did. You know, for being superfast you can actually be quite slow sometimes."

"You caught me off guard," he defended himself.

"Yeah. Well, props for me. Isn't that right, Clarkie?"

"That's it, Lane!" He growled out.

Lois yelped, as he lunged towards her, and quickly dove under the water. Clark chased after her, and as soon as she came up for air, he quickly grabbed one of her legs, pulling her back under the water.

They both shot out of the water, but Clark had a hold of her arms, and backed her up until she was pinned against the side of the pool. "Take it back!"

"Never!"

"Lois!"

"Clark!"

They both started laughing at the ridiculousness of their situation, but as soon as their eyes locked onto each other, all amusement died, and they instantly realized just how close they actually were. Clark was holding her arms down by her sides, his chest was pressed against hers, lightly, holding her in place, and their legs were molded together.

They stared into each other's eyes, feeling themselves get lost there. It felt like the entire world was disappearing from their views. Clark loosened his grip on her wrists, and slowly moved them to her waist, slightly squeezing. Lois slowly trailed her hands up his stomach, and rested them on his chest, gripping his soaking wet shirt into her fists.

He slowly brushed the wet hair away from her face, and dropped his eyes to her lips then back into her hazel eyes, like he was searching for permission. She moved closer to him, giving him the indication that she wanted him to do it—that she wanted him to kiss her. He slowly started leaning towards her, and tilted his head to one side before closing his eyes, softly. Her breath caught in her throat, as his mouth moved closer to hers, and softly closed her eyes when she could feel his breath lingering on her lips.

SPLASH!

They quickly pulled away from each other, as they were splashed with a wave of cold water, and realized once they opened their eyes that a group of drunken teenagers had jumped into the pool. They quickly looked away from each other, blushing, and didn't dare look into each other's eyes, scared—nervous—worried about what they would see there.

Clark removed his hands from her waist. "Uh, I-I think I should probably go get some dry clothes."

Lois nodded, knowing that her voice would be incapable of coherent sound, and watched him swim away from her before crawling out of the pool.

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips before she followed suite, and as she walked towards her pile of clothes, she wondered if they were ever going to get their chance—if they were ever going to kiss—if she would ever be able to call him hers.

Thirty minutes later, Clark had just returned from retrieving some dry clothes from his hotel, and walked through the house looking for Lois.

He was completely and utterly fed up! He was done with this!

He was tired of coming so close—so close to kissing her—so close to him being able to claim her as his. He needed to find her. He didn't know what he was going to say, but no matter what, by the end of the night he was going to have that kiss he wanted so desperately.

As he searched through the entire house, he realized that she wasn't there, and could feel the fear seeping deeply within himself.

What if she left? She wouldn't do that, would she?

When he walked outside, he noticed her leaning against the wooden railing, drinking a beer, and breathed a sigh of relief before slowly walking over to her. "Lois."

Lois turned around towards him with a shy smile on her face. "Hey. What took you so long? I was starting to get worried."

"No need for that. I was, um, just thinking about a few things."

"Yeah? Like what?" She questioned him, even though she knew exactly what he was thinking about, hell, it's all she could think about.

He moved closer to her, effectively closing the space between them. "Lois, I think we should talk about a few things."

Her heart started racing inside of her chest faster and faster, knowing that he was going to ask her about the almost kiss.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't speak.

"Lois, I-I don't know what's going on here, but—" His sentence was cut off when a drunk teenager came running out of the house, forcefully bumping into Lois on his way down the stairs, causing her to fall into his chest, and his hands quickly grabbed her waist, steading her. "Are you okay?"

Lois looked up at him, intending to give him an answer, but quickly realized that they were in the same situation they were in less than one hour ago, and hoped—prayed that this time they wouldn't get interrupted.

 _ **Kiss me out of the bearded barley**_

 _ **Nightly, beside the green, green grass**_

 _ **Swing, swing, swing the spinning step**_

 _ **You'll wear those shoes and I will wear that dress**_

They stared into each other's eyes, their unsteady and harsh breaths mingling together, while their hearts beat in synchrony, as a song playing on the radio inside the house filtered outside, encompassing every single part of themselves.

 _ **Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight**_

 _ **Lead me out on the moonlit floor**_

 _ **Lift your open hand**_

 _ **Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance**_

 _ **Silvermoon's sparkling**_

 _ **So kiss me**_

Clark' aquamarine eyes fell to her full, luscious lips, and he wanted to press his lips to hers so, so badly, but he also wanted to discuss this with her—he wanted to make sure that she wanted this just as much as he did.

 _ **Kiss me down by the broken tree house**_

 _ **Swing me, upon its hanging tire**_

 _ **Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat**_

 _ **We'll take the trail marked on your father's map**_

Lois watched him, and couldn't stop herself from doing the same exact thing. She felt anticipation and so many other emotions consume her.

Was he going to kiss her?

 _ **Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight**_

 _ **Lead me out on the moonlit floor**_

 _ **Lift your open hand**_

 _ **Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance**_

 _ **Silvermoon's sparkling**_

 _ **So kiss me**_

She moved even closer to him, which caused him to tighten his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer to his body.

Their breaths meshed together.

Their bodies were pressed together, and they could feel each other's heartbeats beating rapidly inside of their chests.

"Clark?" She whispered.

"Yes, Lois?" He breathed out.

"Are you ever going to kiss me?"

His mouth fell open, slightly before closing again. He got his answer. She wanted this just as bad as he wanted this. "Do you want me to?"

She sighed in complete and utter exasperation. "What do you mean, do I want you to? I'm the one who asked you! What kind of stupid question—"

Without hesitation, he quickly leaned forward, and gently pressed his lips against hers, stopping her ramblings.

Her eyes widened, slightly, and her entire body froze from his sudden and unexpected maneuver. She just couldn't believe it. He was actually kissing her. She was too shell-shocked to respond to him.

He pulled away from her with a smirk set in place. "You know, when someone kisses you you're supposed to kiss them back."

"Shut up!" She told him with a roll of her eyes before she quickly gripped the back of his head, and brought his head down to hers, their lips crashing together.

It was soft.

It was sweet.

It was heavenly.

Clark quickly wrapped his arms around her body, and pulled her into his chest, so there was absolutely no space between them . Lois slowly trailed her hands through his soft hair, twisting the strands around her fingers, and scraped her nails against his scalp, softly.

When he pulled away from her, he leaned his forehead against hers, gently. "God, Lois, I've wanted to do that for such a long time."

"Well, what took you so long?"

Instead of responding to her, he kissed her again before wrapping his arms around her body once again, his hands gripping her waist, as his fingers dug into her soft skin, slightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, and pressed her chest against his, tightly. He gently yanked her body even closer to his own, wanting absolutely no space between them, and smiled against her lips when she moaned, softly. He slowly walked her backwards until she was pressed up against the side of the house, and slowly trailed his hands underneath her shirt, touching the soft skin of her back. She smiled against his lips; the feel of his hands felt like fire burning on her skin.

They both pulled away, completely breathless, and stared into each other's eyes, as he removed his hands from her bare back before resting them on her waist, squeezing, slightly. "Lois, I want you to go out with me."

Lois smirked, not able to stop herself from teasing him. "We go out every night."

Clark rolled his eyes. "I mean, Lois, I-I want you to go on a date with me."

"Yes," she didn't hesitate on the answer.

A wide grin spread out across his face before he pulled her into his chest, lifting her off the ground, and swung her around a few times, causing both of them to chuckle, loudly.

After he set her back down on the ground, he kissed her, slowly, and as their lips were pressed together—as their arms wrapped around each other—as their bodies were pressed together, they just knew that this was going to be the start of something great.

 _ **So kiss me**_

 _ **So kiss me**_

 _ **So kiss me**_

 _ **This was a fun chapter to write from Clois constantly teasing each other to their first kiss. I've known for quite some time how I wanted it to go, so hopefully it didn't disappoint.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter eleven**_


	13. Chapter Twelve

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twelve:**_

The General sighed in complete and utter frustration, and glared, heatedly at Wes, as he once again reverberated the same damn thing he's told him a million times.

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since his daughter disappeared in the middle of the night, and they have yet to find a single trace of her whereabouts. It was like she had vanished from Earth entirely, but he knew that that wasn't possible. What was possible was the simple fact that she was almost an expert at covering her tracks.

She is independent.

She is strong-willed.

But, most of all, she is smart.

It was blatantly obvious that she had been planning this for quite a long time. If she hadn't then he was positive that he would have found her by now, but he hasn't, and that made it perfectly clear that she had been wanting to run away for who knows how long.

She wasn't naïve enough to leave a trail of her previous whereabouts or where she even was now, and that pissed him off not because she so good at staying hidden, but because he knew where she had learned all her little tricks from. She wouldn't be his daughter if she hadn't picked up a few Military tactics along the way.

He honestly didn't know where to go from here, especially since he had tried practically everything to find her. When she first disappeared, he had traced her phone only to realize that she had turned off her GPS and taken out the SD card, knowing he couldn't track her that way. He tried tracking down all of her credit cards, but of course, she hadn't even touched those for months let alone use them to help her escape.

Thousands and thousands of questions were running through his mind every second of every day, the most profound one being how she getting by without any money, but when he checked her savings account—an account she was putting money in for her college tuition, he realized that it had been wiped clean.

She had enough money in that account to last her a year maybe even two at most if she was careful, which she was, and he had a feeling that she was spending it wisely, especially if she wanted to stay away for as long as possible.

He wasn't having that.

Nope.

He needed to find her. He needed her back at the base. He just needed his daughter back where she belonged, and he needed it…now.

"So, what you're telling me is that you have no new information? You have no new leads? You have nothing that can help me find my daughter?"

Wes nodded.

"What about Cassie? Has she done anything-said anything that could lead us to Lois?"

He hesitated, slightly, knowing that his answer was only going to piss off The General even more than he already was, and as usual, he was the one he took it out on.

How the hell was this his fault?

For three weeks now, he's been following Cassie, and just like he predicted she hasn't done anything or said anything that could lead them to his best friend in one way of another. "Sir, Cassie hasn't made any moves to contact Lois."

"You've been watching her for three weeks!" He shot up from his chair in complete and utter rage. "How is it possible that she hasn't even tried contacting my daughter yet?"

Wes had a feeling that the only reason she wasn't trying to contact Lois was either because she had seen her right before she left, or she knew someone was following her. Either way, what they were doing to track her down wasn't working, and honestly, he really, really didn't want to continue following her. It was hard enough being around her before, but now that he was practically stalking her it made things so much more complicated.

"Sir, I believe we should think about this a different way. Its quite obvious that Cassie isn't going to lead us to Lois."

The General highly doubted that. They were best friends, and they did practically everything together. She would lead them to his daughter someway—somehow whether she knew she was doing it or not, and that's when a particular idea occurred to him.

It would work.

It had to.

"I want you to stop following her, effective immediately."

Wes sighed in relief, but it was short lived at his next words.

"I want you to bug her phone."

"What?"

"You heard me, soldier! I want you to bug her phone. It's the only way to track who she contacts without her even realizing that she's being monitored."

He didn't like that.

Nope.

Not one bit.

"How is that supposed to lead us to Lois? Cassie hasn't even tried contacting her, so how is that supposed to help us?"

"She will be contacting Lois sooner or later, and I know just what to do to make sure that happens. As soon as she does we will know within twenty four hours where my daughter is."

"Sir, if I may, those devices only work if the GPS is turned on, and Lois turned hers off."

"We have newer, better and stronger technology now. As soon as she makes the call, my daughter' GPS will be turned on, and we can track her location."

It could work, actually, it would work, but there was only one problem. "Sir, how do you suggest we get Cassie to make that call if she hasn't showed any desire to thus far?"

He mustered a small smile, which didn't even look like a smile coming from a Four Star General before informing Wes of his brilliant plan.

Wes stared at his boss.

Was he fucking serious?

There was no way in hell this was going to work, but it's not like he could object, especially since it could cost him his job.

"It'll be done by the end of the day, sir."

The General nodded.

Wes walked out of the office. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to be a part of this anymore, but he knew that this would be his life until his best friend came back albeit, forcefully.

He sighed, heavily, his shoulders slumping, slightly, and walked towards his quarters. He had to figure out a way to do this properly without anyone, especially Cassie catching him. He needed—wanted his life back, and it seemed that this was the only way he could bring normalcy back into his life.

It was quite obvious what was going to happen.

He would lose his best friend.

He would lose the girl that he was slowly falling in love with.

He would lose everything, and he wasn't sure he was ready for that yet, but it's not like he had much of a say in the matter either.

It had to be done.

* * *

Clark stood, nervously outside of Lois' hotel room with a huge smile plastered across his face, and felt a multitude of emotions consume him.

He was extremely nervous—nervous because he has a date with her.

He has a date with Lois Lane!

He just couldn't believe it. He had wanted this day to happen for awhile now, and now it was actually happening. He wasn't sure when he started dreaming about this, but knew that he has felt a connection to her from the moment he met her, and he knew that this is what he wanted—what he needed.

He was uncontrollably excited—excited about what he had planned for them today. He had stayed up most of the night last night, searching for all sorts of things they could do together, and he really, really hoped that she would enjoy what he had decided upon.

After taking several deep breaths, he knocked on her door, tentatively, and waited for the moment she opened that door.

Lois stared down at the bed, and glared at every single piece of clothing that was sprawled out across the sheets. If this was just some normal outing she would have picked a damn outfit already, but this wasn't a normal outing.

She had a date with Clark Kent!

She was feeling anxious at what he had planned for them today.

She was feeling enthusiastic at the mere thought that this was actually happening.

She was feeling giddy since she has dreamed about this moment for quite some time now.

Her hazel eyes studied the different pieces of clothing very, very carefully. She needed the perfect outfit. She wanted to take his breath away, literally. She desperately wanted this to be the best day of their lives.

After much consideration, she picked up the deep, violet dress, knowing that this was the perfect dress for what she hoped to be a perfect day, and as soon as it was on, she turned this way and that way in front of the mirror, checking her appearance. She looked amazing, and hoped that Clark would approve. She was never one of those girls that got all dolled up, especially for a guy, but this was different.

It was different because she would be with Clark.

A knock at the door caused her to smile.

It was Clark.

She quickly smoothed down her outfit, making sure that everything was in place before walking over to the door, and slowly opened it, feeling like she had lost all ability to breathe—to speak, as her eyes landed on him. He was wearing casual clothes. A pair of dark blue jeans, and a light blue button up shirt, which revealed his taut muscles. He was ten times more handsome than she had ever seen him.

As soon as she opened the door, his heart stopped beating for a few seconds before thundering like a jackhammer inside of his chest. She was wearing a deep, violet dress, which clung to her curves, perfectly. It flowed just above her knees, and he couldn't stop himself from roaming his eyes over her long, fair-skinned legs. It showed just enough cleavage. Not enough to be indecent, but it certainly got his heart racing even more than it already was.

She was gorgeous!

He had never seen her looking as beautiful as she did right now.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't breathe.

Lois smiled at the deer caught in headlights expression lingering on his face, and how his eyes continuously roamed up and down her figure. "What do you think?"

Clark forced his eyes up to her face before smiling, widely. "Lois…just wow. You look-you look absolutely beautiful."

"You look pretty handsome yourself."

They smiled, widely at each other.

He wanted to grab her, kiss her and just forget everything, but he couldn't do that.

Not yet.

"Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, quickly grabbing her shawl and purse before turning back around towards him, and slipped her hand into his when he held it out to her, as they walked out of her hotel room.

A little while later, Clark and Lois were driving down the narrow streets of a small-town, which was only a few hours away from Estes Park.

Clark was feeling apprehensive about this, as they got closer and closer to their destination. He wasn't too sure if she would appreciate this—if she would want to do this, but he personally believed that this would be the perfect place for their first date. He wanted to do this with her, and he hoped she would like this just as much as he knew he was going to.

Lois was sitting next to him, as he drove her car, which she had protested against, but he was adamant about driving. She just couldn't stop moving around in her seat, as she glanced out the windows, hoping that would give her a clue to where he was taking her, and she could admit to herself that she was more than just a little curious. He had refused to tell her where they were going, which is why he was the one driving, and that just drove her insane. She wanted—needed to know what he had planned.

She glanced over at him. "Where are we going, Clark?"

He rolled his eyes. She had already asked that question about one thousand times since they've been driving. He smirked, as he looked over at her, briefly before returning his eyes back to the road. "It's a surprise."

Why was he doing this to her when he knew she hated surprises?

"Can you please tell me where you are taking me?"

"No." When she pouted at him, he chuckled before continuing, "That isn't going to work on me."

She sighed, heavily, knowing that he wasn't going to tell her anything, but she really, really wanted to know, and didn't want to wait a second longer to find out. "Can you at least tell me how long until we get there?"

Why was she so relentless? He questioned himself, as he shook his head from side to side.

"We're already here."

Lois glanced out the window, enthusiastically, as a small carnival came into view before she eyed everything that was surrounding them, and smiled to herself.

How did he know that this would be a perfect place for a first date?

Clark looked over at her, cautiously, and desperately wanted to know what was running through that mind of hers.

Did she hate this idea? Did she want to do something else?

"Well? What do you think?"

She returned her gaze to him, grinning from ear to ear, which calmed his nerves, immensely. "I think this is a great idea, Clark. I've always wanted to go to a carnival, but never had the chance to."

He quickly got out of the car, opened her door for her, and held out his hand, which she eagerly took before they began walking towards the main entrance. "Are you sure you're okay with this? We could always do something else if you want."

"No, I think this is perfect," she told him, as she squeezed his hand, and when he simply smiled at her, she loudly exclaimed, "We are going to have so much fun!"

A few hours later, Clark and Lois were walking around the park hand in hand. They had ridden almost every single ride, all except one, which is where she was dragging him to.

The Ferris Wheel.

As they stood in line, Clark glanced up, instantly realizing just how high this ride went, and felt fear grip every single part of him. "Uh, Lois, I-I don't think this is such a good idea."

"Why not?" She questioned him, but when he didn't respond she looked over at him, and followed his gaze to the top of the ride before she chuckled from the realization of his panicked words. "Clark, are you seriously telling me that you're afraid of heights?"

A slight blush crept over his features, as he looked over at her, but he didn't say anything.

"Come on. It won't be that bad," she told him, as she squeezed his hand.

He wasn't too sure about that, especially when they were sitting at the very, very top, where they could see everything around them, and when he looked down towards the ground he felt his heart drop down to his stomach.

Yeah, he thought to himself, this was an absolutely horrible idea.

"Isn't it beautiful, Clark?"

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't breathe.

When he didn't respond to her once again she looked over at him, and realized just how terrified he actually was. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. He didn't want her to know just how freaked out he really was. He didn't want her to see how terrified he really was.

She knew that he wasn't fine. He was clenching his hands around the seat so tight that his knuckles were beginning to turn white, and he had the most terrified expression lingering on his face, which reminded her of the first day they had met.

"It's going to be okay, Clark," she told him, as she grabbed his hand.

He nodded again, not believing that for a damn second, and felt pure terror consume every fiber within his being, as he looked down towards the ground.

As she stared at him, she noticed that he was literally trembling, and knew that she needed to do something to distract him. "Clark, look at me."

He didn't.

She gripped his face in her hands, and turned him towards her, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me, okay?"

His aquamarine eyes stared deeply into her beautiful hazel ones.

"Do you remember the first day we met?"

"How could I forget? You almost hit me with your car."

"Not like you could have actually been hurt," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

He smiled, briefly, but it quickly faded.

"Did you know that even though we had just met that was the first time I wanted to kiss you?"

His brows rose from that. "Really?"

She nodded with a soft smile.

"Lois, I know what you're trying to do, but it's not going to work."

A soft sigh escaped past her lips. She had hoped that telling him something that she never intended on telling him would distract him, but it seemed like she needed to up the ante, and she knew exactly what she had to do.

She quickly leaned forward, capturing his lips in a sweet and tender kiss.

His eyes widened in complete and utter surprise before he closed them, quickly responding to her.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer to him, and rested his other hand on the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. She wrapped both of her arms around his neck, and rested her hands on the nape of his neck. He tilted his head to one side, slightly, pressing his lips against hers a little harder, and deepened their kiss. She moved closer to him before straddling his lap, which wasn't all that comfortable on this ride, but she was too caught up in the moment to care, and ran her fingers through his thick, black hair, as she softly bit his lower lip.

Clark moaned, softly, his hands trailing down her body until they rested on her waist, and squeezed, gently.

Lois smiled against his lips.

As they were practically wrapped around each other, he gently traced her lips with the tip of his tongue, coaxing her to open up to him, and gasped, slightly when her taste consumed him. She pressed her body closer to his, moaning, softly at the sensation, and enjoyed the sweet taste that was purely him.

"AHEM!"

They quickly pulled away from each other at the sound coming from directly behind them, blushing, profusely when they noticed that the ride attendant was staring at them with a scornful glare before Clark stood up with her still on his lap and lowered her to the ground before rushing off the ride.

They walked hand in hand with smiles plastered across their faces for a few seconds before he turned around towards her, grabbed both sides of her face, and pressed his lips against hers, softly.

Lois was a little dazed after he pulled away from her. "What was that for?"

"That was for what you did back there," he told her, as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear with a soft smile gracing his lips. "Thank you, Lois."

"It wasn't a problem, farm boy." She grabbed his hand before pulling him towards their next destination.

Lois laughed, loudly, as she clung onto the very large, dark brown bear, and held it against her chest. "I can't believe you actually won this."

Clark chuckled at her pure excitement.

"Even though you did cheat." She glanced up at him with a teasing glint lingering in her eyes. "You know, you're really good at that."

"I did not cheat."

"Did too."

"Did not." She glared at him, playfully, her expression saying, 'don't pull that crap on me', making him sigh, softly before succumbing to the truth, "Okay. I did, but you really wanted that one."

"So?"

"So, you wanted it, and I want to give you whatever you want."

She blushed, profusely from his words.

Why was he always able to make her do that?

He smiled down at her. She was so adorable when she did that. He loved seeing that bright pink tint flush her cheeks every single time he flirted with her or made flattering comments to her. He just couldn't help himself.

Lois practically jumped up and down in joy when she spotted a photo booth before she dragged him over towards it, and once they were sitting down inside, they wrapped their arms around each other, their head touching, slightly, as they smiled at the camera.

CLICK!

Clark turned towards her, placing a sloppy kiss on her cheek, causing her to scrunch up her nose, and grin like a maniac.

CLICK!

Lois turned towards him, doing the same exact thing to him, and he chuckled, loudly.

CLICK!

They both looked at the camera, making funny faces. He widened his eyes as large as possible, scrunched up his face, and hollowed out his cheeks. She furrowed her brows, crinkling her nose, and stuck out her tongue.

CLICK!

They slowly turned towards each other, their smiles falling, as they stared into each other's eyes before he rested his hand on the side of her face, lowering his head to hers, and kissed her, passionately.

CLICK!

They climbed out of the photo booth, patiently waiting for the pictures to print, and as soon as they did, she quickly grabbed them, studying them for a few seconds before she carefully ripped them in half, handing him his copy.

Clark smiled down at them for a few seconds before pulling out his wallet, and securely placed the strip of pictures inside. "I'll always keep them there that way I can always remember our first date."

Lois smiled over at him. She wanted to call him sappy, especially since that's exactly what it was, but she couldn't because she wanted to do the same exact thing. She would never, ever forget this day, and would hold onto these pictures…forever.

It was starting to get dark outside, as the cool breeze brushed across the trees that surrounded them, while they were sitting down on a nearby bench.

Clark slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into his side, and leaned back against the metal bench, pulling her with him.

Lois rested her head on his shoulder with one of her hands playing with the lapels on his shirt, while the other traced invisible designs over his fingers. "I had a great time today, Clark. It was the perfect first date."

He rested his chin on the top of her head before squeezing her, gently. "I had a great time too, Lois."

They sat in comfortable silence just holding each other, as they watched more and more people scurry around, rushing to get to rides or concession stands.

Clark felt her shuffle even closer to him, and looked down at her, realizing that her eyes were closed before he nudged her, slightly, making her eyes open. "Are you tired? Do you wanna go?"

She just mumbled something completely incoherent before closing her eyes again.

He chuckled, softly. "Come on. Let's get going."

When she didn't even budge, he rolled his eyes.

What was it with her and falling asleep on him?

After contemplating what he should do for a few seconds, he slowly placed an arm underneath her legs, lifting her into his arms, as he stood up, and carried her to the car.

As he was driving them back to their hotel, he looked over at her sleeping form, and noticed just how beautiful she looked when she was peacefully sleeping. He slowly brushed the hair away from her face, so he could see her more clearly. She wasn't just beautiful. She was exquisite. She was nothing like he had previously wanted from a woman before, but she was everything he needed—everything he wanted now.

He had been so nervous about their first date, but he should have known that there was nothing to be nervous about since it had been the best day of his life. He knew that if he would have done this with any other woman he wouldn't have enjoyed himself as he did today. He had fun. He had enjoyed riding all the rides with her, except for that damn Ferris Wheel.

A wide smile graced his lips, as he remembered the mind-blowing kiss they had shared. That was also something that was new to him. He had never, ever kissed anyone so passionately whether it was in privacy or in public, but he figured that she brought out the passion inside of himself. He had a feeling that it would always be like this with her.

At least he hoped it was.

When he pulled up to their hotel, he turned towards her, and gently shook her shoulder. "Lois, we're here."

She made a cute little noise before burying herself further into the seat, which made him smile, and supposed that he should have known better since he's already been through this once before with her.

He got out of the car, moved to her side, opened the door, and lifted her into his arms before he carried her through the hotel, smiling at the receptionist, who had already seen him do this once before, as he took her to her room.

As soon as he gently laid her in bed, covered her up, making sure that she was tucked in nice and tight, he watched her sleep for a few minutes. He wished he could crawl into bed with her—he wished he could wrap his arms around her—he wished he could fall asleep with her locked in his embrace.

But…

He couldn't since he didn't know how she would react to waking up with him sleeping next to her.

Would she be happy? Thrilled? Pissed?

There was no way in hell he was going to tempt the last one. He never, ever wanted her to be mad, especially not at him. He always wanted her to smile—laugh with him, and hoped that it would always stay that way between them.

Clark turned away from her, intending on leaving just like he had done last time, but was stopped when she grabbed his hand, and turned back around, looking down at her, as she stared up at him with those dazzling hazel eyes of hers. "Stay with me."

He hesitated, slightly. He wanted to, god, he really wanted to, but he knew she was barely even awake, and probably wouldn't remember this in the morning. There was no way he was going to risk it.

Lois noticed the questions lingering in his aquamarine pools, and knew what was running through that mind of his. He was worried—he was worried that she wasn't thinking clearly, and would regret her decision in the morning, but that wasn't the case.

She wanted him to stay.

She wanted him to hold her in his arms.

She wanted to fall asleep in his tight and comforting embrace.

"Please." She softly squeezed his hand. "Please, Clark. Stay with me."

Screw it, he thought to himself, as he slowly lifted the blankets, crawling in beside her, and wrapped his arms around her.

Lois rolled over, resting her head on his chest, and wrapped her arms around his waist before mumbling, "Goodnight."

Clark watched her close her eyes, softly before falling asleep almost instantaneously, as he held her close to his body, burying his nose into her hair, and breathed in her sweet, sweet scent. She smelt amazing, but that wasn't new to him. She always smelt so good. He had wanted this. He had wanted to hold her in his arms, as they slept, and couldn't stop himself from smiling at the thought of it actually happening.

He stared down at her beautiful face, his fingers brushing across her soft skin, and watched as she slept so peacefully before he gently kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Lois."

Of course, he knew that she couldn't hear him, but it didn't matter, and as he gazed down at her, he wondered if it would always be like this between them.

Would they always be this happy? Would they always be this content? Would they always be in each other's lives?

He didn't know, but he was going to do everything in his power to keep her with him.

She made him happy.

She made him feel alive.

She made him feel so, so many things, and he never wanted this or their connection to go away.

His eyes closed, softly, as he tightened his arms around her, and allowed memories of her—of them lure him into a deep, peaceful sleep.

 _ **Clark and Lois finally had their first date.**_

 _ **Things are going to start speeding up in the next few chapters. As much as I enjoy writing what Clois are doing almost every single chapter, it's time to speed things up just a little bit, as well as heating up their relationship.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter twelve**_


	14. Chapter Thirteen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirteen:**_

 _ **July 4**_ _ **th**_

Cassie grinned from ear to ear, as she walked alongside the several housing units on the Military base, and basked in the way the scorching sun felt on her olive-tones skin.

She felt completely and utterly amazing—she felt like this huge chip was lifted off of her shoulders—she felt like everything was right in her life again—everything except the fact that her best friend was still gone, but she had a feeling that she would be gone for quite some time.

A little over two weeks ago, she had an epiphany of sorts. She had realized that The General was having her followed—having her every movement watched, but for some unknown reason that had all stopped, and she couldn't be happier about that. She didn't know why or even who had been tasked into following her. She had even tried finding out who it was, but it was useless no since she was obviously not an interest to The General any longer, and she was exceptionally glad about that.

She didn't have to worry about anything anymore.

She didn't have to feel that uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach anymore.

She didn't have to look over her shoulder anymore.

She could just go on with her life without a single problem—without a single hassle like nothing had changed, but something had changed, and that one specific question kept crossing her mind on a daily basis.

Where the hell was her best friend?

There was a part of herself that wished she could know where her best friend was—wished she could talk to her about everything and nothing—wished she could see her, even if was just to gossip about either her problems with Wes or Lois' problems with her father, but the other part of herself knew it would be a while before any of those things happened.

Lois wanted this.

Lois needed this.

Eventually, she would see her best friend again, and when she did, she wanted to know everything she did, everyone she met, and everywhere she went.

Hopefully, she was enjoying her newfound freedom.

She slowly made her into the main corridor of one of the buildings, but stopped dead in her tracks when she overheard loud, booming voices coming out of The General's office before she moved a little closer to the slightly cracked door, her curiosity getting the better of her, and listened to them, even though she knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping.

" _What do you have for me?" The General spoke gruffly._

There was a part of herself that knew she should walk away since he could be dealing with Military business, and she really didn't want to know about some of the stuff that goes on behind closed doors, but the other part of herself couldn't help wanting to know what was going on.

" _I don't have much, sir, but I was able to find something of great importance."_

A soft gasp escaped past her lips before she slapped her hands over her mouth to stop anymore sounds from coming out when she heard a very, very familiar voice responding to The General, and in that moment, she knew the truth—the truth she have been searching for, but never actually found.

It was Wes.

He had been the one that was following her.

She wished she could be mad—upset—pissed at him, but she couldn't because she understood that he was only following orders, and to defy The General's orders was not a very pretty or exciting thing to witness, actually, it was a crime in his eyes. She had seen the outcome of that many, many times in the past, mainly when Lois defied his strict orders.

After reclaiming her sense, she quickly shuffled closer to the door, wanting—needing to know what they were talking about, not only because she was curious, but also because she had a feeling that this little meeting was about her best friend.

Everything was about Lois when it came to The General these days.

" _Well? What did you find, soldier?"_

" _I think we have found something that could lead us to Lois' location, sir."_

Her eyes widened.

Her mouth dropped open.

" _Are you telling me that you have found my daughter?"_

" _If our calculations are correct then by the end of the week Lois should be back on base."_

Her heart dropped down to her stomach.

No, she thought to herself, this couldn't be happening.

They knew where she was? They found her? They were going to force her to come back?

Nope!

There was no way in hell was she allowing that happen, especially not when this what Lois wanted—needed so desperately.

She quickly rushed away from the door, ran through the corridor hallways, and made her way to her quarters before grabbing her phone. She needed to warn Lois, and she needed to do it now.

* * *

The General waited, quite impatiently, as Wes slowly crept over to the purposefully cracked open door, scanned his surroundings, and closed the door before turning around to face him. "She's gone, sir."

He clapped his hands together, loudly, as he leaned back in his chair. "Good. By tomorrow we should know whether Cassie does what is expected of her, and if she does then we will have y daughter's location."

Wes despised himself at this moment in time. He hated doing that to Cassie. He hated tricking her into believing that they actually knew where Lois was, but it had all been part of the plan, and tomorrow they would find out if it actually worked. Not only would she most likely call her to warn her, but she would also be undoubtedly leading them straight to his wayward best friend.

Two weeks ago, The General had revealed his brilliant plan of forcing Cassie to somehow call Lois, and at the time he had thought it was absolutely ridiculous, but after two weeks of carefully devising and hatching the perfect plan, it seemed that it wasn't so absurd after all.

It was dirty.

It was wrong.

It was sinful.

But…

It's not like he could refuse to do it. That would mean either the end of his career or being on The General's bad side, and really, really didn't want to be on his bad side…ever.

"I want good news by the end of the day tomorrow, soldier."

"Sir, yes, sir," he saluted before leaving his office.

He didn't just despise himself. He was completely and utterly disgusted with himself. He had just done the one thing that was the worst possible thing he has ever done in his entire life. He tricked the woman he was falling in love with, and he would be forcing his best friend to come back to the base.

When all of this began, there was a small part of himself that believed he could keep his relationships with the two closest—two most important people in his life, but now he knew that that hope was just shattered into a million pieces, especially when they found out the truth.

Lois would probably find out the moment he found her, mainly because she would question him, and he would tell her the truth. He would never, ever lie to her or to Cassie for that matter. Cassie, on the other hand, would probably find out either from him or from Lois.

He was betting on the latter.

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips, as he made his way to his quarters.

It was almost over.

He wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.

He wanted—needed his life back, and that would happen within the next day or so, even at the cost of losing his friendships with both Cassie and Lois.

* * *

Lois felt the warm, morning breeze whipping across her face, and felt the sun beaming down on her, as she jogged through the dirt path of the trail she was on.

It was so beautiful here, she thought to herself, especially this early in the morning.

Over the past week, she had started jogging every single morning, and frequented many different trails, but this is the one she preferred over all of the others, mainly because of how clear the mountains were from here.

It wasn't just beautiful.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

This was something she used to do all of the time, but ever since she left Arizona a little over one month ago she hadn't even contemplating doing it again. It was ten times better doing it here then on the base, where all there was, was dry sand and plain housing units, besides here she was free to go wherever she wanted, whereas at the base she felt confined and smothered.

She slowly came to a complete stop, rested her hands on her knees, as she attempted to catch her breath, and gulped down some cool, refreshing water before a wide smile graced her lips when memories of the past two weeks with him—with Clark flashed behind her eyes.

It made her insides hum with anticipation for what was to come.

After their first date, she didn't think anything could be more blissful than that day, but the past two weeks with him has been ten times better, and she couldn't wait to make even more memories with him.

It had definitely been the best two weeks of her life.

They had done everything that they had already done time and time again, except now things were a little different. They were different because they could do or say whatever they want to each other. They flirted more openly with each other—they touched each other more so now that they were together, and not just friends.

But, more importantly, they could kiss each other whenever they wanted to.

She enjoyed that part…immensely.

She loved kissing him—touching him—holding him.

It was the greatest feeling in the entire world.

Every single time he touched her, held her close to him, and especially when he kissed her, she would feel every single part of her body hum with excitement, as a tingling sensation spread from the top of her head all the way down to her toes, and it filled her heart completely.

Aside from their affections for each other, she had even begun to notice a completely different side to him—a side that he obviously kept hidden within himself until he was comfortable enough to let it shine through.

He was more carefree.

He teased her even more than he already did.

He was more open with her, except for that pesky little detail about his past that he was running from, but if he didn't want her to know then that was okay, besides she hasn't told him a single thing about her past either.

Even though they were still hiding things, she completely believed that he was showing her the real Clark Kent—the part of himself that he never showed anyone, and she was more than a little glad at the idea of him revealing those parts of himself to her.

It made her happy, excited, but most of all, hopeful.

Clark wasn't the only one who was revealing the real parts of himself. She was too. She was able to show him sides of herself that not even her closest friends knew about, and it felt like he knew her better than anyone else. She liked that feeling, especially since it seemed like she knew him better than anyone else as well. She was still very opinionated, brash and never, ever shut up, but like he had told her many times he liked those things about her the most. She was able to express her feelings for him more clearly, and that was something that she had never, ever experienced.

It felt amazing that she could do all of that with him, and he could do the same with her.

"Ah!" She yelped, completely startled when she was pulled from behind, and pressed against a large granite rock, her water bottle falling to the ground in the process.

After taking several deep calming breaths, attempting to return her racing heart to normal, she glared at the man who was responsible for scaring the living shit out of her…again.

Clark.

He was smirking at her, and had the biggest grin plastered across his face.

If he wasn't invulnerable, she would strangle him—beat him for once again startling her again. He had made it an almost daily routine to surprise her beyond belief, and he was always amused by it, but it was much to her disdain.

She opened her mouth to berate him like she had done so many other times in the past, but whatever she was about to say was cut off by him gently pressing his lips against hers, effectively shutting her up, and just like that she felt like she was in heaven. He kissed her just like he has kissed her so many times, and she could feel her heart beginning to race inside of her chest—could feel her skin tingling from head to toe—could feel her entire body trembling from his touch.

It was soft.

It was sweet.

It was filled with passion.

It was filled with the longing—the desire they both felt, and it was only getting stronger and more intense the more time they spend together.

Clark wrapped his strong, muscular arms around her body, his hands slowly trailing down her perfect curves until they were resting on her slim waist, and squeezed, softly, loving the feeling of her body pressed against his—loving the way she responded to him with fervor.

Lois quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands going to her favorite place when they were kissing like this, his hair, and tangled her fingers through his soft locks, enjoying the way he moaned against her lips from the sensation.

Obviously, he liked it when she did that.

Clark grinned against her lips when he felt her nails scraping against his scalp before he pressed his body firmly against hers, leaving absolutely no space between them, and softly nibbled on her lower lips, coaxing her lips to open up to him.

Lois fought back the urge to make him wait for what he so clearly wanted before she tilted her head to one side, slightly, deepening their kiss, as she parted her lips, and gasped, loudly when his tongue darted inside her mouth, but quickly regained her composure, as she started swirling her own around his.

After feeling quite satisfied with their first kiss of the day, he slowly pulled away from her, but kept his body firmly pressed against hers, and gently rested his forehead against hers. It felt like he couldn't breathe, which wasn't exactly possible, but with her it always felt like that. He lost all ability to breathe after kissing her, and he never, ever wanted that feeling to stop.

He only wanted more—more of her.

"Good morning, beautiful."

She smiled, widely, as she also attempted catching her breath from his powerful and mind-blowing kiss. "That was one hell of a good morning kiss, Mr. Kent."

He grinned from ear to ear, as he stared deeply into her hazel eyes. "I can't help myself. I love kissing you."

"Well, the feeling is mutual," she told him, as she rubbed his nose against his own, affectionately.

A wide smirk spread out across his face. "I think you need to prove it, Miss Lane."

"You asked for it," she told him with a smirk before kissing him…hard.

After allowing him to get caught up in their moment, she pushed him backwards, slightly before turning them around, so now he was the one pushed up against the rock, and basked in the feeling that she had the upper hand in their dueling affections for each other.

Lois pulled away from with a smirk set in place. "Is that proof enough for you?"

Clark rolled his eyes at her, but couldn't stop himself from smiling at their antics. He loved holding her—kissing her—feeling her body pressed against his own. He loved it all so god damn much.

"So, mind telling me why your late?"

That questioned caused him to smile. He was supposed to meet her a little over one hour ago, but instead of coming up to her like he did every single morning, he had opted for watching her as she jogged until he found the perfect moment to sneak up on her.

Which he did rather well, he thought to himself.

It was so, so much fun scaring the daylights out of her.

"If you must know, I was preparing myself for our little rematch race."

"You mean, preparing to get your ass kicked," she corrected him.

"On the contrary, I was preparing myself to win today because that's exactly what is going to happen just like last time, and I'm going to revel in having you do whatever I want you to do."

She growled, playfully at the reminder of their bet before she effectively pushed him away from her. "That goes both ways, farm boy, so, are you ready or not?"

He nodded.

"No cheating this time, mister," she told him, as she pointed her finger at him.

"I promise."

They quickly positioned themselves into their racing stances, as they grinned like Cheshire cats at each other, and counted down, simultaneously before taking off in a free for all sprint.

Several minutes later, Clark was standing at the end of the trail with his arms crossed over his chest, as he watched the beautiful woman in front of him practically jump up and down in utter excitement before she exclaimed, "Yes! Yes! Yes! I win! That means you have to do whatever I want you to do!"

He shook his head from side to side with a soft smile gracing his lips. He could have easily won without the use of his abilities, but he wanted to see her excitement when she beat him, and if he was being honest, he was more than a little thrilled at the thought of what she was going to make him do, actually, he was very, very curious about that.

"Okay, Lane. You've had your fun. Now, tell me what am I expected to do?"

Lois wrapped her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body flush against his own before she kissed him, softly. "You are taking me to the Fourth of July Celebration at the park today."

A soft sigh escaped past his lips when she pulled away from him before he smirked over at her. "My, my, Miss Lane. Are you asking me out on a date?"

"What would you if I was?"

Instead of responding to her, he kissed her again, and when he pulled away from her, he stared deeply into those beautiful eyes of hers. "I would love to take you to the park tonight."

She grinned, widely at him before practically throwing herself into his arms, and hugged him, tightly. He tightened his arms around her, hugging her back just as tightly, and buried his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent that was purely her.

He slowly started dragging her down the dirt pathway with their arms still wrapped around each other. He had already planned on asking her to be his date tonight, and he could feel excitement surge through every inch of his body at the prospect of what tonight would bring.

It was going to be great watching the fireworks with her.

Several hours later, they were walking through the slightly crowded park, searching for the best place to sit down and relax, so they could enjoy the fireworks together. They walked in complete silence for a few minutes before they found a relatively isolated spot near the back of the ark, which happened to be surrounded by trees, bushes, and wasn't too crowded.

Lois softly laid out the dark red plush blanket on the green grass, while he set down the two large picnic baskets he had packed earlier before they sat down on the ground together.

She glanced around her surroundings, admiring the beautiful greenery that surrounded them, and enjoyed how isolated it seemed to be. She didn't want too many people to be crowding them. She wanted this to be just about them.

"I think this is the perfect spot. We will still be able to see the fireworks, and hopefully it won't be too crowded with people."

Clark just smiled at her. He wanted that too. He wanted to be alone with her tonight. He wanted this moment to just be about them.

But…

Just because he wanted all of those things that didn't mean he wasn't going to tease her a little.

"Are you trying to keep me all to yourself?"

"Is that such a bad thing?" She asked him with a grin slowly spreading out across her face.

"That depends." He grinned right back at her. "Does that mean I get you all to myself?"

"I think that can be arranged."

The grin never left his face. He absolutely loved it when they teased each other. It was so easy for them, and if felt so right, especially doing it with her.

She eyed the two picnic baskets, suspiciously since he had refused to tell her what he was bringing, which caused her to become even more curious about what he had planned for tonight before she slowly grabbed them, and pulled them closer to her. "So, what did you bring us?"

Before he even had a chance to respond to her, she was rummaging through the baskets, completely oblivious to the way he was smiling at her. He was more than just a little excited at the idea of spending the night with her. He had never watched fireworks in such an intimate way before, and could admit that he was very, very intrigued about this.

Lois pulled out all the different assortments of food, making sure that every single item was splayed out in front of them. There was a variety of six different kinds of cold sandwiches, two large tubs of potato salad, and several varieties of drinks.

They enjoyed their meals in comfortable silence, and as soon as they were finished, they both laid down on their backs, their eyes trained on the slightly darkened sky.

"It's so peaceful here. I'm glad we found this spot before anybody else."

Clark slowly rolled onto his side, so he was facing her, and rested his head in the palm of his hand. "It is, but why do I get the feeling that the only reason you like it here so much is because we are all alone?"

She copied his movements, and smirked over at him. "I think that is a very likely possibility."

He shook his head from side to side with a soft smile gracing his lips. "Well, in that case, I think I'm liking that possibility…a lot."

"Now that you have me here all alone…" she trailed off, as she moved a little closer to him. "What are you going to do with me?"

"This," he said before he leaned forward, and captured her lips in a sweet and tender kiss.

When he pulled away from her, he stared into her eyes, and brushed his fingers down her cheeks. "I have a surprise for you."

"Clark…I've told you a million times that I hate surprises."

"You'll like this one. I promise." He kissed her one more time. "Don't go anywhere."

Lois watched him walk away from her before plopping back down onto the ground, and as she stared up at the night sky, she couldn't help wondering what he had planned. He was just full of surprises today. If she didn't know any better, she would assume that he already had this whole day planned before she even asked him to take her, which didn't really surprise her. He was such a sappy, romantic, but that was one of the things she liked about him the most.

Not even five minutes later, he returned with another basket, and set it down directly in front of her before sitting down across from her.

Her hazel eyes glanced between him and the basket a few times, as she sat up. "What's that?"

He gestured his hands towards it. "Open it."

A wide smile graced her lips when she opened the basket, and saw the contents inside. It was two maple donuts and two large thermo cups obviously filled with coffee.

"How did you know that this would be perfect before we watch the fireworks?"

"Maybe because I know how much you love having desert and coffee in the evenings, and since we can't really go to the café tonight, I think it would be a great idea before we watch the fireworks together."

"You can't fool me, mister. I know you enjoy it just as much as I do."

He just smiled at her. He really, really did enjoy it as much as she did, but truth be told, he just wanted to see her smile, and would do everything in his power to see that heart-stopping smile cross over her beautiful face.

They had just finished off their donuts and coffee when Clark noticed that she had some maple smeared on her upper lip, and softly chuckled before pointing towards her lips. "You have a little something there."

Lois quickly grabbed a napkin, intending to clean herself up, but was stopped by him grabbing her hands, stopping her movements.

"Let me." He slowly leaned forward, and licked off the maple before pulling away from her with a goofy grin plastered across his face.

She grinned right back at him before leaning forward, and pressing her lips against, sweetly and tenderly.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The fireworks blasted brightly in the night sky. The different colors looked brilliantly contrasting against the darkened skyline.

It was so beautiful.

Clark sat behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist, as his hands rested on her stomach, while Lois sat in between his legs, her back leaning against his chest, and traced invisible designs on his hands with her fingertips.

"This was a great idea." She looked up at him. "I'm glad I thought of this."

"You already knew that I was going to ask you anyways," he told her with a smirk, and when she nodded at him, he rested his hand on the side of her face, smiling, softly when her eyes closed from his touch. "Happy Fourth, Lois."

She opened her eyes. "Happy Fourth, Clark."

They both leaned towards each other, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss, as the bright moonlight shined down on them and the colorful fireworks blasted around them.

A few hours later, they were cuddled up on the bed together with their arms wrapped around each other, as they finished her favorite movie of all time, 'Die Hard'. Ever since their first date, they had opted for cuddling together before falling asleep in each other's arms, and they enjoyed it way that either of them would admit.

As soon as the movie credits rolled, she looked over at him. "So? What did you think?"

Clark hesitated.

How could he tell her that he didn't really care for all the fighting, action and blood?

He wasn't really into action movies, actually, he never has been, but he did enjoy a nice love story every once in a while.

No wonder she calls you a sap, he thought to himself.

"Uh…I liked it."

Lois smacked his chest, playfully. "You're lying!"

"No, I'm not. I really did enjoy it, Lois."

She quickly sat up, and stared at him, intimidatingly. "Really? What was your favorite part?"

GULP!

He was definitely in trouble and he knew it. He wasn't really paying attention to the movie, not only because he didn't care for that genre, but also because he was too focused on her. He would watch, secretively, as she would laugh, sigh and even sniffle at certain scenes during the movie, but of course, he would never call her out on it. He knew how much she tried to hide her true emotions.

Lois stared at him, waiting for him to respond, but his silence told her a hell of lot more than actual words would. "You weren't even paying attention, were you?"

"Uh…no?" He looked over at her with a shy smile gracing his lips before he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry, Lois. It's just that, um, I don't really watch horror movies."

That made her laugh, loudly. "Horror? You call that horror? You have a lot to learn about movies, mister. If you want to watch a good horror movie, there's Jaws, Saw—"

"Uh, no," he interrupted what was probably going to turn into a long rant, as he sat up. "I think I'm good."

Her eyes narrowed at him, slightly, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Aw! What's wrong Clark? Can't deal with a good horror movie? Is it the blood you don't like, or would you prefer to watch a plain, boring chick flick?"

He quickly looked away from her, even though he knew that it was useless. If there was one thing she was really, really good at, it was reading the truth off him like he was an open book, and he knew that the truth was literally written all over his face.

"Oh my god!" She gasped, slightly. "It's true, isn't it? You would rather watch chick flicks! My boyfriend is such a sap! What the hell am I going to do with you?"

His head snapped towards her before a smirk spread out across his face, as one word she had used in particular echoed in his mind over and over again. "Boyfriend? Is that what I am? Your boyfriend?"

Her mouth fell open, as soon as the words came out of his mouth, and then closed it again, not really sure how to react at this moment, actually, she didn't even know how to respond. She didn't mean to let that come out. They had never called each other boyfriend or girlfriend before, but if she was being honest with herself, she kind of liked the way it sounded.

"You know, I think I like being called your boyfriend."

She smirked over at him. "Oh really? Well, if you're my boyfriend then that makes me your girlfriend."

He shuffled closer to her. "I think I like the sound of that."

"Yeah?" She questioned, as she moved closer to him.

"Yeah," he breathed out.

They stared deeply into each other's eyes, as their lips were breaths width apart, and it felt like they were sucking in each other's air supply. His eyes dropped down to her soft, luscious lips before he gently gripped the back of her head, and pulled her down towards him, their lips crashing and molding together, passionately.

Clark slowly wrapped his arms around her body before tightening them around her, as he pulled her tightly against his chest, and roamed his hands gingerly up and down her back. Lois quickly flung her arms around his neck, crossing them behind his head, effectively pulling her body firmly against his, and tangled her fingers in his hair, gently scraping her nails across his scalp.

A soft moan escaped past his lips from the sensation that spread throughout his entire body.

God, he thought to himself, he loved it when she did that.

"You like that?" She questioned him, as she pulled away from him with a smirk plastered across her face.

Instead of responding to her, he leaned forward, and captured her lips with his once again. He wasn't in the mood for talking, actually, he didn't want to talk at all. He just wanted to kiss her—he just wanted to touch her—he just wanted to hold her.

He traced the outline of her lips with the tip of his tongue until she opened up to him, and their tongues met halfway, clashing together before swirling around each other's over and over again. She draped her leg over his waist, straddling him, and slowly sucked on his bottom lip, scraping it between her teeth before plunging her tongue back into his mouth, massaging his with her own.

His hands slowly trailed down her slender body, gripping her waist, and tugged her closer to him, as his fingers slipped underneath her thin shirt before grazing across her soft, smooth skin.

A loud gasp escaped from her before she ripped her mouth away from his, as she felt her skin burning in desire from the sensation of his hands on her.

Clark didn't give her much time to reclaim her breath, as he kissed her again, slowly and tentatively before making his way across her jawline down to the juncture between her neck and shoulder, and softly bit down on her flesh.

Lois moaned again from all the sensations he was stirring inside of her, and moved her head to one side to give him better access.

God, she thought to herself, she loved it when he kissed her like this.

His tongue flicked out, soothing her raised skin, and latched his lips around her pulse point, sucking slowly and softly at first, but then harder and harder. She tasted so sweet—so good, and her skin smelt like wildflowers, consuming every single one of his senses.

How the hell did he already know her most favorite and erogenous spots on her body? She questioned herself, as she allowed him to do whatever his little heart desired, and couldn't stop herself from moaning and panting, loudly at everything he was doing to her.

Clark smiled against her skin, loving all the little sounds she was making before he kissed his way back up her neck, finding her lips once again, and kissed her with fervor.

Lois could feel herself getting extremely hot and very, very aroused. His kisses were claiming her—his scent was overpowering every single one of her senses—his hands felt like fire scorching her bare skin, and she wanted him…badly.

With that thought in mind, she gently pressed her throbbing mound against the very apparent bulge in his jeans, and the sensation of it nearly sent her over the edge, as she tightened her arms around him, while their mouths claimed each other.

Clark moaned, loudly into her mouth, as he felt her pressed up against his growing erection. It was only for a split second, but it felt so damn good, and he needed—wanted to feel her again. His hands gripped her waist a little bit tighter, as he lifted his hips, slightly, and the second he could feel her again, he locked her there, not wanting to feel anything but friction between their bodies.

Lois grinned against his lips when he practically locked her into place before she pressed herself even harder against him, the sensation sending pleasurable waves throughout every single part of her body before she started moving her hips in slow circles.

His eyes snapped open, as he felt himself growing harder and harder from her ministrations before he clenched her hips in his hands, stopping her movements, and ripped his mouth away from hers. He had been so caught up in kissing her—touching her—feeling her that he had allowed his body to take over everything else, and even though he wanted her more than anything right now, they couldn't do this.

He stared into her confused eyes, breathing, harshly. "Lois, I-I want to, but um, we can't."

"Why not?"

A soft sigh escaped past his lips from the look in her eyes. He really, really wanted to do this—wanted to be intimate with her, but he couldn't. "Lois, if we do I-I could hurt you."

"Ego much?" She told him with a teasing smirk slowly spreading out across her face.

"Lois, I'm being serious. I could really hurt you. I'm not like other men. I have abilities, and if I get too lost in the moment like I just did I could hurt you. I don't want to do that…ever."

She gripped both sides of his face. "Clark, look at me. You could never hurt me."

He wasn't too sure about that. "Lois, but I have—"

"Clark, do you want me?" She interrupted him by pressing her finger to his lips, effectively shushing him.

Clark stared at her like she had lost her mind. "Of course, I do, but that's not the point. I'm stronger than most men, and I could hurt you."

"You won't hurt me."

"How do you know?"

"It's simple," she told him with a smile. "I trust you."

Lois kissed him again, softly, as she pressed every inch of her body against his before she started moving her hips in circles again against his erection. Clark moaned into her mouth from the sensation before kissing her back, his hands tentatively gripping her waist, but she could tell that he was holding back.

"Just let go, Clark," she whispered against his lips. "Feel me—feel us—just feel."

Her words were slowly breaking down his doubts—his worries, but he needed her to promise him something before he even contemplated doing this—being this intimate with her.

He pulled away from her, making her frown, slightly. "Lois, I need you to promise me something. I-if I hurt you we stop, okay?"

"You won't hurt me," she told him, as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Lois, please! I need you to promise me. I don't want to hurt you."

"I promise."

After staring into her eyes for a few seconds, making sure that she was going to keep that promise, he kissed her, as his arms tightened around her body, and his hands slipped underneath her shirt, feeling the soft skin of her back before he pulled her closer to his chest.

She slowly and gently pressed herself directly against his hard erection, the sensation stimulating her core, and sending vibrating chills up and down her entire body. He moaned, loudly against her lips, his fingers grazing across her skin, roughly, as he felt his already hard erection growing harder and harder, and instinctively lifted his hips over and over again, loving the feel of her against him. He's never wanted someone as much as he wanted her right now.

Lois smiled at the way he reacted to her, as she pressed herself harder and harder against him over and over again before she started rotating her hips in slow, circular motions, and she could feel herself growing wetter and wetter from their ministrations. She's never, ever wanted someone as much as she wanted him right now.

Clark ripped his mouth away from hers before his head fell back against the headboard. "God, Lois. You're driving me crazy."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?" She taunted him with a smirk.

A low sounding growl emitted from him at her teasing words, as he slipped his hands out from underneath her shirt, trailed them past her waist, resting them on her firm ass, and squeezed, softly before pushing her wet mound hard against his erection. He grinned, victoriously when she moaned out some incoherent words from his ministrations before he did it over and over again, and every single time he slammed her down on top of him, he lifted his hips, wanting—needing to feel that pleasurable friction between them, causing both of them to moan in complete and utter pleasure.

They stared deeply into each other's eyes, their breaths were rapid and uneven, as their lower bodies rubbed together slowly at first, but then faster and harder.

"Oh god," she moaned, loudly before gripping his shoulders in her hands, and rested her forehead against his, as she whispered, "Clark…I want you."

"Mhmm," he hummed before dropping his head onto her shoulder, and nuzzling her neck. "I want you too, baby."

She smiled, widely before leaning away from him, grabbing the hem of her shirt, and slowly pulling it off her body, throwing it carelessly to the floor. He stared wide-eyed at her large, sumptuous breasts for several lingering seconds before he raised his slightly trembling hands, rested them over her black satin bra, and softly squeezed.

Lois chuckled, softly at his apparent nervousness and the expression of amazement that was plastered across his handsome face before grabbing the hem of his shirt, and slowly lifted it off his muscular body, throwing it directly on top of her own shirt.

A soft gasp escaped from her when she noticed the large scar on his chest before she cautiously traced her fingers over the raised skin. "Oh my god! Clark, what happened to you?"

Clark frowned before glancing down at his chest then back up to her, wondering how he could have possibly forgotten about that, hell, it was the sole reason he didn't want to go swimming with her, but figured that it had a lot to do with the beautiful girls in his arms. "I-I, um, I can't really talk about it."

Lois nodded in understanding. It obviously had to deal with something in his past—the very past that he refused to talk about. "Is this why you wouldn't go swimming with me?"

He nodded.

He was nervous.

He was worried.

But, most of all, he was terrified.

"Lois, I-I understand if you don't want to anymore. I know it's not appealing, and I—"

She pressed her lips against his, effectively stopping his ramblings. "Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." She pulled away from him completely with a soft smile gracing her lips, and climbed off his body before she slowly stripped off her jeans, allowing them to fall to the ground.

His breath caught in his throat—his mouth salivated from the sight of her, as his eyes roamed up and down her slender body, and officially lost the ability to breath or even speak. He could feel himself growing hotter and hotter, the sensations rushing straight to his painfully hardened dick, as she stood clad in her undergarments.

She was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen in his entire life.

She grinned from ear to ear. "Take off your pants."

He quickly stood up, kicked off his boots and socks before unbuttoning his jeans, and pushing them down to the ground, kicking them away from him with his foot.

Lois eyed him up and down, grinning, widely at how incredibly sexy this man was before she slowly pushed him back down onto the bed. She slowly crawled on top of him, straddled his waist, immediately feeling his erection pressing against her wet heat, and gingerly kissed her way across his taut, muscular stomach, up his chest, over his bulging shoulders, and to the crevasses of his neck. She slowly sucked on his pulse point, as she scraped her nails down his chest before resting them on his stomach.

Clark groaned, loudly, as his head fell back against the bed, and closed his eyes in complete and utter bliss. He wrapped his arms around her body, slowly trailing his hands down her back until they cupped her firm cheeks, and squeezed, softly before shoving their hips together again and again and again. It had felt good before, but now that there was less clothing between them it felt amazing, and he never wanted this feeling to go away.

The sensations he was stimulating throughout her entire body caused her to moan, loudly before she quickly sat up, removed her bra, and allowed it to fall to the floor.

He stared awe-struck at her very large breasts for several seconds before quickly sitting up, crashing his lips against hers, hungrily, and cupped her soft mounds into his hands, squeezing, softly. He lifted his hips, wanting—needing to feel that friction between them, and groaned when he could feel her wetness leaking through her panties.

He wanted her and he wanted her now.

With that thought in mind, he quickly flipped them over, hovering above her, and kissed down the side of her neck to the tops of her breasts before he pulled away, slightly, as he stared down at her in utter fascination. "You're so beautiful, Lo."

His hand fondled one of her breasts, his fingers rubbing, pulling and squeezing the nippel, as his mouth lowered down to her other breast, his tongue flicking out over her nipple before licking, sucking and softly nibbling it into a hardened bud.

"Mhmm…Clark!" She rasped out.

The sound of her pleasure only made him even more aroused, as he kissed his way up her chest to her neck, and slightly tilted her head to one side before he licked, sucked and bit her flesh.

He was driving her absolutely crazy!

Lois slowly slipped her hand between their bodies, palming his dick through his boxers, and slowly rubbed her hand up and down. Clark growled in her ear, as he ripped his mouth from her skin, and stared down at her with such intensity before he slowly trailed his hand down her stomach until he reached her mound, his fingers rubbing her slowly through her panties.

They stared into each other's eyes, their breaths becoming harsher and harsher, as they pleasured each other slowly and softly at first, but the longer they stared at each other the faster and harder they started moving their hands until they both felt like they were going to come undone right there.

"Take off your boxers."

Clark smiled down at her, feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement rush throughout every single part of his body before he rolled over, removed his boxers, and breathed a sigh of relief when his erection sprung free from the confinement of his clothes.

She eyed his member, as her mouth watered in anticipation before she absently licked her lips. He smirked down at her, as he slowly removed her panties, spread her legs with his hands, and stroked her labia with the lightest of touches before he pressed down on her little bundle of nerves, while shoving two fingers inside of her.

Lois squirmed beneath him, loving the feel of him inside of her, and cried out, "Clark!"

Clark grinned from ear to ear before he pressed down a little harder on her clit with his thumb, and started rotating it in small circles, as his fingers moved in and out of her faster and faster.

Her eyes widened, as she felt the tell-tell signs of her orgasm approaching, and it felt absolutely amazing, but she didn't want to let go. Not Yet. She wanted him inside her when she broke. She quickly slipped her hand in between their bodies, grabbing his cock, and rubbed him up and down a few times, letting him know exactly what she wanted.

His eyes snapped shut from the sensations her hand was stirring in the pit of his stomach, as he slowly removed his hand from her, licking her succulent juices from his fingers before he dropped his hands next to her head, and stared down at her, intensely. "Lois, I-I don't have a condom. I didn't think that we'd—"

"It's okay, Clark," she interrupted him, as she smiled up at him. "I'm on the pill."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

Lois spread her legs wider, and wrapped them around his waist, feeling his leaking tip press against her entrance. Clark grabbed his cock, and slowly entered her, moaning, loudly when he bottomed out inside of her.

He stopped, and stared down at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

She tightened her legs around him. "I'm ready, Clark."

He kissed her, softly, as he started moving in and out of her slowly, and could feel her slick juices rolling over his hardened dick. He had never felt anything more amazing than this, and he wanted so, so much more.

She gasped, loudly at the feel of him moving so slowly and smoothly within her before she ripped her mouth away from his. "Oh god!"

Clark clenched the bed sheets in his hands, his breath growing even more rapid, as he felt her tight cavern fit him like a glove almost like she was made for him, and cried out, "Lois! Oh god! Lois!"

Lois pushed her hips up, wanting him to go deeper—harder—faster before she gripped his shoulders, tightly, her nails seeping into his skin, as she begged, "Yes! Yes! Clark! Faster baby faster!"

Her words stirred him forward, as he unlatched her legs from him, pulled out of her, and wrapped them higher around his waist before he slammed back inside of her, pumping in and out of her faster and faster. She scraped her nails down his back, as their new position and pace sent her into a higher bliss, and felt that fire pooling deep inside of her abdomen.

She was so close.

She needed—wanted more.

"Don't stop! Oh god! Clark! Harder baby harder!"

He pounded his hips into hers harder and harder, as her words sprung him into action before he grunted out, "Oh fuck! Oh Jesus! Baby, you're so tight! Jesus Christ! You feel so damn good!"

Her hands gripped his ass, firmly squeezing, as he pounded in and out of her with fervor, and she could feel his pelvis bone rubbing against her clit. "Yes! Yes! Oh fuck! That's it, baby! Right there! Oh god!"

His eyes snapped closed, as he felt her nails digging into his flesh, and rocked his pelvis harder and harder, faster and faster into hers. "Lois! Oh god! Fuck yes! Lois!"

Her head rolled from side to side, as he filled her completely, and dropped her hands from his body, clenching the sheets in her hands. He glided his hands down her smooth arms, finding her hands, and intertwined them with hers.

Her eyes snapped open, as the power and strength of his thrusts spurred on the most jaw-dropping, earth-shattering orgasm she has ever experienced in her entire life. He felt her pulsating around his cock, causing him to pound harder and faster in and out of her before his entire body tensed, his back arched, and he spilled inside of her. He jerked, uneasily and a little more slowly, as he rode out both of their orgasms to the finish line.

Clark slowly collapsed on top of her, holding himself up with his hands, as not to crush her, and nuzzled her neck. Lois wrapped her arounds around his slick, sweaty body, breathing, heavily before she pulled his head towards him, and kissed him.

It was messy.

It was sloppy.

But neither of them cared at this moment.

After enjoying the sweet taste of her lips for a few seconds, he pulled out of her, rolled onto his back, and stared up at the ceiling, as he felt breathless, dizzy and very, very intoxicated. That was the most mind-blowing thing he has ever experienced in his entire life.

Lois rolled over onto her side, her head still feeling a little hazy, and stared down at him, as her hands rested on his chest.

He glanced up at her with the largest grin plastered across his face before he wrapped his arms around her slick, slippery body. "Holy shit, Lois! That was amazing!"

"I know, baby. I know."

His eyes closed in utter bliss, but not even two seconds later they snapped open, and he pushed her down onto the bed, his eyes roaming over her entire body. "Oh god! Did I hurt you?"

Lois grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her, and softly shook her head from side to side. "Clark, you didn't hurt me. I knew you wouldn't."

That caused him to smile, as he sighed in relief, and softly kissed her before laying back down beside her.

She rested her head on his chest, as his arms wrapped around her, and they both fell asleep to the sounds of their beating hearts.

 _ **This was the hardest chapter to write thus far. I've never written smut, so hopefully it wasn't too dreadful to read. I've read some pretty bad smut and some really good ones, so I attempted creating a balance.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirteen**_


	15. Chapter Fourteen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fourteen:**_

* * *

The bright sun shined directly into Clark's eyes, as it filtered into the room.

He groaned, not wanting to wake up yet—not wanting to drift away from his dreams yet, and buried his face deeper into the pillows. He scrunched up his face, his nose crinkling when he heard the early morning birds chirping, loudly outside the windows, and knew he wasn't going to get anymore sleep. He breathed in deeply through his nose, a sweet, sweet scent consuming his senses, and slowly opened his eyes.

He blinked several times, clearing away the sleepiness, and rested his aquamarine eyes on her beautiful face. She was facing him, her hands wrapped around his torso, and the sheet was pulled up to her neck.

He grinned from ear to ear before tightening his arms around her, effectively pulling her closer to him, and watched, intently, as she slept peacefully next to him.

His grin grew wider, as memories of last night filtered through his mind, and replayed it over and over again. It was blissfully amazing. He never would have imagined that making love would feel so incredible, but it wasn't just the pleasure he felt, it was the way his heart filled with affection as he made love to her. He didn't even think it was physically possible for him to be so intimate with a woman before, ever since he turned fourteen years old, he had wanted to…desperately, but was always worried—nervous—terrified that he would hurt the woman he was with.

He shook his head, softly chuckling. He should have known—he should have known that he could and would never hurt her, especially her.

He stifled his laughter, when she scrunched up her cute little nose, and buried her face further into the pillows. It was obvious that the sun, and noises outside were interrupting her beauty sleep.

He slowly raised his hand, brushing away the stray hairs away from her face, tucking them behind her ear, and as he gazed down at her, he realized something—something that he has been questioning for the past two weeks.

He was completely—utterly—and irrevocably in love with her.

He was in love with Lois Lane!

He couldn't wipe the smile off his face, and the way his heart filled with happiness at his revelation. He loved her so, god damn much, and he was never, ever going to stop. She was everything to him.

He was broken from his thoughts when she grabbed the pillow from behind her head, and slapped it over her face, groaning, loudly into it.

He laughed, and poked her in the ribs, making her squirm, "What are you doing?"

It was muffled from the pillow, but he heard her loud and clear, "I'm hiding from you."

"Why?"

She lifted the pillow, placing it on her chest, and glared, playfully over at him, "Your staring."

"I was gazing, there's a difference."

"It's creepy."

"It's romantic."

She shook her head at him, smiling, "You're such a sap!"

He brushed his nose against hers, "I'm your sap!"

She laughed, good-heartedly before grabbing the pillow and pummeling him with it. He ripped the pillow from her grasp, and threw it across the room before pinning her wrists to the bed above her head. He swooped down, pressing his lips against hers softly, sweetly, and tenderly.

He pulled away, "Good morning."

"Good morning."

She stared up at him, smiling. She wanted to reach out, grab him and kiss him again, but realized that he still had her hands pinned to the bed. She huffed, narrowing her eyes at him, "Are you going to let me go anytime soon?"

His eyebrows creased together, as he pretended to think about that for a few seconds, and smirked down at her, "Actually, I'm kind of comfortable right where I am."

"Cla-rk!" She whined, dragging the words out.

He chuckled before releasing her wrists, and plopped down beside her, "Are you happy now?"

"Mhmm, almost," she scooted closer to him, curling her body into his, "now I'm happy."

He grinned, wrapped his arms around her, and softly kissed the top of her head.

They laid in comfortable silence with their eyes closed, their minds replaying their night together, and basked in the utter happiness they felt in each other's embrace.

"Lois?"

She opened her eyes, and looked up at him. "Hmm?"

He stared deeply into her eyes, and brushed his fingertips lightly down her cheeks. "Thank you."

She frowned. "For what?"

"Thank you for last night."

She grinned from ear to ear, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, "What part? We did lots of things last night."

He chuckled, a glint in his eyes, "That's not what I meant, but that part was pretty amazing. I want to thank you for trusting me, and not judging or ridiculing me for the way my body looks."

She looked down at his chest, studying it, and slowly traced her fingers over the edges of the large diamond shield, making him shiver from her touch. "Clark, I would never, ever judge you because of this. I don't care about what your body looks like, of course, it helps that you are incredibly sexy, but I care about you—about what's in your heart not what's on the outside." She looked up into his eyes, "Clark, I know you don't want to talk about it or can't talk about it, but if you ever feel like you want to tell me what it is and how you got it then I will be here to listen."

He nodded. He wanted to tell her. He made that decision the first night he kissed her, but right now, right now he just wanted to continue feeling content with her in his arms—in his life. He didn't want to ruin their moment by bringing up his past—a past he would rather not think about or even talk about, at least for now.

He slowly glided his fingers up and down her spine, "Lois, are you sure I didn't hurt you last night?"

She rolled her eyes. She should've known that he would ask her that…again. She tossed the blankets off of her, and lifted herself up on her knees, showing him her body, proving that he didn't hurt her and that there wasn't a single mark on her body.

He roamed his eyes up and down every inch of her skin, and was incredibly thankful that there wasn't a single scratch or blemish on her.

"Like I told you last night I trust you, and I knew that you would never, ever hurt me."

"Your amazing, you know that?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I try."

He trailed his hand up her body, gripping the back of her head, and brought her lips down to his own, kissing her, passionately.

She placed her hands on his chest feeling his muscles underneath her fingertips, and slightly tilted her head, deepening their kiss.

He wrapped one of his arms around her body, his fingers digging into her flesh, as his other hand cupped the back of her head, and tangled his fingers into her hair. He softly bit her lower lip, making her gasp, and plunged his tongue deep inside her mouth.

She rolled her tongue over his several times, tasting him before she hitched her leg over his waist, straddling him, and could feel his morning wood pressing against her stomach. She released his lips, kissing across his jawline down to his neck, and latched her lips around his skin, sucking softly.

He moaned, softly, and tilted his head to one side giving her the room she needed, and rested his hands on her back, tracing invisible designs with his fingertips.

She scraped her nails down his chest before kissing her way across his collarbone, down his chest, and stomach, making him softly close his eyes in absolute pleasure. She lifted her head from him, slightly, and eyed his semi-hardened erection, hungrily before grasping it in her small hand, and pumped him up and down a few times.

His eyes snapped open, at her touch, and looked down at her. He knew what she was about to do, and couldn't help but feel excitement rush through his body, at the thought.

She smirked up at him before softly blowing a breath of cool air against him, and flicked her tongue across his tip.

He groaned. He had never, even been given head before, albeit he didn't have sex until last night either, but if just one flick of her tongue felt that amazing, he didn't want the pleasure he was feeling to ever stop. He wanted more.

She was feeling a little nervous about what she was about to do, especially since she had never done this before, but she wanted to do this for him—she wanted to please him. She grasped the base of his cock, softly squeezing before she slowly licked from the base of his shaft to the tip. She grinned, when he grunted and pushed his hips upwards. He was obviously enjoying what she was doing.

Must be doing something right, she thought.

She lowered her lips to him, taking his tip into her mouth, sucking softly, as she twirled and swirled her tongue around, dipping it into his slit, tasting his precum. She frowned, slightly at the taste, but kept pleasing him.

He softly moaned her name before his hands fell into her hair, tangling his fingertips around her soft, blonde strands.

She took him fully into her mouth, fighting off her gag reflex when she felt his tip brush against the back of her throat, and slowly started to move up and down on him.

He panted, breathlessly, "Lois…More…Baby…Please!"

She moved faster and faster, feeling him harden in her mouth. She never thought that giving a man head would arouse her, but it was…immensely. She could feel the heat pooling in her stomach shooting straight to her core.

He grunted over and over again, as he watched his cock appear and disappear within her mouth, and it was making him harder and harder. He curled his hands into her hair, and gently pushed her head down a little forcefully, as he lifted his hips, but was careful not to hurt her with his thrusts.

She hollowed out her cheeks, softly scraping her teeth against him, as she felt him thrust into her mouth. He was close, she could feel it—sense it—taste it.

His stomach coiled in pleasure, and he knew his orgasm was close. He rasped out, "Mhmm…Lois…Yes…Baby…Yes…More…Oh god…I'm close…Yes…Yes…Baby!"

She heard his warning, and moved her lips up to his tip, sucking, as she worked him the rest of the way with her hand, putting slight pressure on his bulging vein on the underside of his cock.

His entire body stilled, his back arching, and thrusted his hips into her mouth, as he came with a shout, "Oh, god! Lois!"

She felt him explode into her mouth, and swallowed every single drop before releasing him with a 'pop' and slithered her way up his body. "How was that, baby?"

He grinned, widely, "That was amazing!" He pulled her down to him, kissing her with fervor. He could taste himself on her lips, but didn't care at that moment, and continued kissing her. He flipped them over, smirking down at her, "You've had your fun, now it's my turn."

He dropped his head to her neck, kissing his way down until he found her pulse point, and sucked…hard, making her gasp, loudly. He slowly moved down her chest, peppering soft, gentle kisses all over her breasts before he pulled away, and fondled them in his hands. He dropped his head to one of her breasts, latching his lips around her nipple, and swirled his tongue around her areola before sucking it into a hardened bud. He softly squeezed her other breast in his hand, and rolled his fingers over her nipple, slightly pinching and squeezing it.

She moaned, loudly, her back arching, at every single thing he was doing to her body, and felt shockwaves shoot straight to her pussy. She bucked her hips up, wanting to feel him—needing to feel him.

He pulled away from her, "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! There will be none of that, Miss Lane, you need to be patient." He dropped his head back down to her other breast giving it the same attention he had with the other. He kissed his way down her body, swirling his tongue around her belly button, and dipped it inside a few times, loving the way she moaned his name over and over again.

He moved down her body, pushing her legs open with his hands, and stared down at her glistening heat. He had never seen anything sexier than the way she looked right now. He slowly opened her folds, and traced his fingers down her drenching labia, teasing her entrance with the slightest of touches before shoving one finger inside of her.

She grunted, spreading her legs wider, pushing her hips up into his hand wanting more, oh god, she wanted so, so much more.

He knew she was getting all hot and bothered, which is what he wanted before slipping another finger inside of her, and rubbed her clit with his thumb. He moved in and out of her painfully slow, rubbing her clit in agonizing slow circles.

She panted, breathlessly, begging, "Clark…More…Baby…More…Please!"

He slipped a third finger inside of her, pounding them in and out of her, while his thumb pressed harder against her clit, rubbing it faster and faster. He watched her writhe, and felt his cock growing hard from her noises—her scent of arousal—the way his name fell from her lips, but pushed it down. This was about her. He wanted to please her, just as she had pleased him.

She clenched the sheets in her hands, her head rolling from one side to the other, and could feel her stomach tightening, but she needed more. She pleaded, "Clark…Baby…Please!"

He smirked, his thrusts slowing down dramatically. He knew what she wanted, but he wanted to hear her say it. "Please what?"

She glared down at him, and pushed her hips into his hand. He was teasing her, and they both knew it. "Stop teasing me! You know what I want!"

He removed his hand from her, making her growl in frustration, and licked her juices off his fingers. "Tell me what you want, baby."

She groaned. He was going to actually make her say it. "I want your mouth on me!"

He grinned from ear to ear before sliding further down the bed, hiking her legs over his shoulders, and slowly dragged his tongue from her entrance to her swollen clit.

She gasped, loudly, at the sensation of his tongue on her. She had never been eaten out before, but Jesus Christ, what he was doing felt absolutely amazing.

He swiped his tongue back and forth several times, putting pressure on her clit before shoving his tongue deep inside of her, and relished in her sweet, sweet, flavor, as it consumed his senses She tasted amazing.

Her eyes widened, and curled his hair into her fists before pressing his face into her, rasping out, "Oh god…Clark…Yes…Yes…Mhmm…Baby…Yes…oh fuck!"

He gripped her waist, tightly, stopping her from bucking into him, as he moved in and out of her slowly before picking up his speed, using a tad bit of his super speed, and intentionally rubbed his nose against her clit. He knew she was close. He could feel it—taste it. He removed his tongue, replacing it with three of his fingers, and pounded them in and out of her, fast and hard. He lapped up her juices, as he licked up her labia, and latched his lips around her clit, sucking…hard, while swirling his tongue around in circles.

She snapped her eyes closed, tightly, the shockwaves sending electricity through her entire body, as her orgasm made her vision fade to black. She cried out, "Oh god…Yes…Clark!"

He rode out her orgasm, licking, sucking and lapping up all her juices, as they poured out of her pussy, and slowly kissed his way up her body before laying a searing kiss upon her lips.

She wrapped her arms around him, slipped her hand in between their bodies, and was quite surprised to find that he was already hard. She smirked, as he pulled away from her, "Someone's got a fast-rebound time."

He stared down into her beautiful eyes, growling when she squeezed him, and grabbed her hands intertwining them with his before slamming his cock deep inside of her. He moaned, loudly, as he buried himself to the hilt within her, and started moving in and out of her, slowly at first, but quickly began moving faster and harder.

She knew she wouldn't last long, especially after that mind-blowing orgasm she just had, but she needed more—she needed him to go deeper, harder, faster. She quickly rolled them over, straddling him, and bounced up and down on him, hard and fast.

He gripped her waist, tightly, digging his fingers into her skin, and helped her move up and down on him harder and faster. He felt the familiar shocks spreading throughout his abdomen, and knew he was close, but needed—wanted to take her deeper, harder, faster. He quickly sat up, lifting her by the hips, and off of him completely before impaling her down onto his cock.

She gripped his shoulders, roughly, as this new angle took him deeper and deeper inside of her, and she bounced harder and faster. She mewled out, "Yes…Yes…Oh god…That's it, baby…Right there…Feels so good…Don't…Stop…Baby!"

He squeezed her waist, slamming her harder and faster down onto his cock, as he thrusted deeper and deeper inside of her, loving the way she met him thrust for thrust. His head fell to her shoulder, and softly bit her skin before he growled, "Never…Gonna…Stop…Oh fuck…Yes, baby…Yes…Oh god…Baby!"

He was so, so close, and knew that she was too. He reached in between their bodies, finding her clit drenched in her juices, and circled it with his fingers over and over again before pressing harder and harder, rubbing her, vigorously.

They rested their foreheads together, staring into each other's eyes before their lips crashed together, drowning out their moans of absolute pleasure. They moved faster and faster, harder and harder, as their skin slapped together, relentlessly, and both exploded in a blast of ecstasy at the same time.

He screamed out, "Oh fuck! Lois!" At the exact same time she screamed out, "Oh…Oh…Fuck! Clark!"

They rode out their orgasms together, their movements slowing down until they completely stopped, and collapsed onto the bed together.

She pulled off of him, plopping down beside him, and rested her head on his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her, "That was amazing!"

She kissed his collarbone, "That was ten times better than last night."

He chuckled, pulling her closer to his chest.

They laid in complete silence for several minutes, as they tried to catch their breaths and calm their racing hearts.

She pulled away from him, and started to get out of bed.

He frowned, "Where are you going?"

"I'm taking a shower."

He nodded. He definitely needed one too.

She started walking away from him, but before she went into the bathroom she turned around, smirking, "You know, you could always join me."

He watched her disappear. He wanted to, god did he want to, but he knew that if he went into that shower with her he would want to do a hell of a lot more than just bathe. He heard the water running, and softly closed his eyes, his mind conjuring up images of her standing under the warm water, naked, washing every single part of her body.

He snapped his eyes open, feeling the blood rush to his cock, and groaned before muttering, "Screw it!" He jumped out of bed, and rushed to the bathroom, knowing it would be hours before they got anything done.

* * *

Clark stood with his arms crossed over his chest, as he stood next to his motorcycle, and grinned from ear to ear at Lois, who was anything but thrilled at the moment.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Where the hell are you taking me?"

He shook his head at her. She was completely and utterly incorrigible. "Lois, you can ask that question a million more times if you want, but the answer is going to remain the same."

She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, and glared at him. "Why can't you just tell me? Where is this mysterious place your taking me?" She grinned, wriggling her eyebrows, suggestively, "Why can't we just stay here?"

He grinned, even wider, as memories of last night and this morning's activities flooded his mind, but quickly shook those thoughts away. He would not let her distract him. "As much as I would enjoy that, I have other plans for us."

"Like what?"

"It's a surprise."

She glared. That is the same damn answer he has given her for the past thirty minutes. He knew how much she hates them so, why in god's name would he continue trying to surprise her?

He took a step towards her, trailing his hands down her arms until he found hers, and engulfed them into his larger ones. "What is so wrong with me wanting to surprise my beautiful girlfriend?"

She sighed, softening at that. He could be so sweet and romantic, and it always filled her heart with joy—happiness, and excitement. "I don't know, maybe since your said girlfriend doesn't like surprises."

He slightly tilted his head to one side, "Point taken, but let me ask you this, when have I ever steered you wrong with one of my surprises?"

He knew she was going to spill some type of barb at that, but pressed his finger to her lips before she got the chance. "Just listen to me, okay? Our first date, I surprised you with the carnival. Yesterday at the park, I surprised you with donuts and coffee. Now, can you honestly stand there and tell me that you didn't like or appreciate either one of those surprises?"

She was completely and utterly speechless. There was no way she could rebuke that. He was right. She really did enjoy those surprises, but that didn't mean she wanted him to continue doing it, once in a while, sure, but not all the time.

He grinned, victoriously. He had proven his point. He walked over to the motorcycle, and climbed onto it. "Now, that, that's settled, will you please get on the bike?"

She walked over to the bike, knowing that he had won…this time, but then an idea popped into her mind. "Clark? Can I drive?"

"You can on the way back."

"Why not now? You promised me that I could drive it whenever I wanted to."

He knew what she was doing, and no matter how beautiful she was or how much he loved her, he wouldn't fall for it. "How do you expect to do that? You don't even know where we're going."

"You could tell me where we're going so I can."

He laughed, tipping his head back, at her antics before looking over at her. "Nice try, Lane, but it's not going to work. Just get on the damn bike."

She grumbled, as she crawled onto the motorcycle, and wrapped her arms around him.

It was worth a shot, she thought, before they sped off to their unknown location.

* * *

He slowly brought his motorcycle to a complete stop on the gravel parking lot, shut off the engine, and pushed down the kickstand before getting off the bike. He quickly unclasped her helmet, taking it off her head, and hung it on the handle bars.

She shook her head at him. "You know, you don't have to do that every single time."

He brushed the hair out of her eyes, smoothing down the strands that were sticking up, "Yeah, I really do."

"Why?"

He brushed his fingers, soothingly down her cheeks, "So I can do this," and with that he leaned forward capturing her lips in a sweet and tender kiss.

She smiled up at him, "Such flattery, Mr. Kent."

He grinned, "Only for you, my love."

They intertwined their fingers together, squeezing softly, as they crossed the street, and began walking down the steep dirt pathway.

As they walked, she looked around her surroundings. They were walking in what looked like a trench, as there were rocks surrounding them on both sides. There were tons and tons of trees and climbing rocks, which didn't really surprise her since they were in Colorado, and that's all there was here. She spotted a fast-flowing river, more like creek, she thought, directly next to them, and wondered, briefly where it led to.

She looked up at him, "What is this place?"

He smiled down at her, "This isn't where I'm taking you, but it is quite beautiful, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Don't you think you can tell me now since we're almost there, and I did wait four very long hours to get here."

He rolled his eyes. She just wouldn't stop, but admittedly, that was one of the qualities he loved most about her. "Paradise Cove, that's the name of this place."

She frowned, "I've never heard of it."

He figured that much. He hadn't either until a few days ago when he was ordering food for them Joslyn had made it a point to tell him about it, probably thinking he would want to go with her, but of course, he would never tell Lois that. It would just upset her, even though Joslyn hadn't tried to pull any more stunts like she did a few weeks ago, he knew it still bothered Lois. She tried denying it, but he knew the truth, she was jealous, which was completely and totally insane because she has absolutely no reason to be. He wants to be with her, and only her. He only sees her, and it would stay that way for the foreseeable future.

As they grew closer and closer to their destination, they both could hear rushing water, people talking, laughing and screaming.

She could feel the excitement bubbling up inside of her, where the hell did he take her?

She gasped, slightly once they hoofed it up the last hill, and rounded the corner, only to see a cliff dwelling come into view. There was a very large, and very beautiful waterfall. It was surrounded by humongous cliffs, which had a watering hole right in the center of it. It was absolutely magnificent.

He watched her look around, a look of astonishment plastered on her face, and grinned, knowing she appreciated, and loved where he had taken her.

She looked up at him, "How did you know that I've always wanted to go cliff jumping?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I just had a feeling, but you might have mentioned it a few times before."

She wrapped her hands around his arm, "Did you know that you are the best boyfriend in the entire world?"

He grinned from ear to ear, "I try."

He pulled them over to a more secluded spot on top of some granite rocks, laid out the blanket they had used yesterday at the park, and sat down.

She slowly sat down next to him, reached into her bag she had packed because he had told her what she would need today, and pulled out some sunscreen. She took off her shirt, revealing a red bikini top, and handed him the lotion. "Can you? Please?"

He grabbed the bottle, squirting a good amount into his hands before rubbing it on her legs and arms, but when he got to her back he purposefully lightened his touch, and went a little slower.

She shivered, involuntarily, at his touch, and tried to dampen down her raging hormones. She had always been aware of his touches from the first moment they met, but ever since they had made love, she had become even more aware of what his touches—kisses did to her, and it clouded everything, especially her mind.

He felt her shiver underneath his touch, and grinned, excitedly. He knew he shouldn't be teasing her like this, but he couldn't help it, honestly, he just enjoyed touching her. He put a little more pressure on her lower back, and kneaded his fingers around her sides, sliding them up and down.

"You better watch where you put those hands, farm boy."

He moved his hands lower, slipping his fingers underneath the hem of her shorts, and dug his fingers into the skin of her ass. He leaned close to her, whispering in her ear, "Why? Am I making you nervous, Miss Lane?"

She shook her head. She couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. He was seriously turning her on right now, and of course, he knew exactly what he was doing to her. She could feel her body temperature rise, at his touch, and felt her heart pounding violently in her chest. Why did she get the feeling that he was doing this on purpose?

He grinned. He knew he was getting to her. He felt how hot her skin had turned, and heard her breaths become short and rapid. He loved that he could get to her like this. "I think I got my answer." He nuzzled her neck, and softly nibbled at her flesh with his teeth.

She softly closed her eyes, at the sensation, and couldn't stop the soft moan that escaped past her lips.

He licked her pulse point before biting into it, softly, knowing that would unravel her completely.

She snapped her eyes open, turned around, and narrowed her eyes at him. "You're being very bad."

He grinned from ear to ear, "Am I? Well, what are you going to do about it?"

She kissed him…hard, but pulled away before he could try to grab her. "Now, if you don't mind I'm going to enjoy the sun." She pointed her finger at him, "Keep your hands to yourself, mister."

He put his hands up in surrender, as he leaned up against a tree, grinning at her, "I promise, I'll behave."

"Good."

She laid down on the towel, pulled down her sunglasses, softly closed her eyes, and relished in the feeling of the sun beating down on her.

As she laid there, she couldn't help but think about the past several weeks with Clark, from the moment they met to this morning. They had been through quite a lot together, and even though they were still keeping secrets from each other, she wanted to continue making memories with him…forever. She felt her heart flutter in her chest, at the thought of spending the rest of her life with him. She knew she shouldn't be thinking like that, especially since they were so young, but that's how she felt, and she hoped that they would be together…always. She opened her eyes, sneaking a peek at him, and wanted to grin at what she saw, but didn't. He was watching her with a smile plastered on his face. Any other guy would have taken the opportunity when his girl wasn't looking to check out other girls, but not Clark, he really did only have eyes for her, and she wanted it to stay that way. She didn't know the true depth of his feelings or how deep they really ran, but she knew what she felt for him, and had a feeling she would always feel this way about him.

She was completely and utterly in love with him.

She had never been in love before, of course, she had had several boyfriends before, but they didn't really mean anything to her, not like the way Clark means to her, and besides, she only dated those guys to get her father's attention. She was with Clark because she wanted to be, and he would be the first man that she had trusted completely, and loved irrevocably. She was in love with Clark Kent, and knew that she would never, ever stop loving him.

* * *

Later that night, they were leaning up against a tree, staring up at the night sky, as Clark had his arms wrapped around her, and she leaned back against his chest, their hands intertwined. It was even more beautiful here at night, especially with the bright moon and twinkling stars shining down on the water.

They had spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company, as they breathed in the fresh mountain air, and felt the sun beaming down on their skin. Clark had kept his hands to himself as promised, but that didn't mean he didn't steal a kiss here and there between their relentless teasing of each other. A few hours ago, Lois had decided to go cliff jumping, which she tried to get him to do, but of course, he had refused. She knew that one part of it was because he didn't want to reveal the large scar on his chest. He was embarrassed—ashamed—disgusted by it, even if he didn't actually say the words. She saw it on his face this morning and last night. But the main reason was because of his fear of heights, which she had teased him about non-stop, much to his disdain. The cliff dwelling technically closed over two hours ago, but they had snuck back in, albeit using his superspeed to do so. They knew they should leave, but were both too content relaxing in each other's embrace, and enjoying the cool breeze brushing across their skin.

He felt incredibly happy, as he hugged her into his chest, but that happiness fell short when she started to pull away from him, and stand up. He frowned, "What are you doing?"

She smirked down at him. "I'm going for a swim, what does it look like I'm doing?"

He looked up at her, and groaned, silently, at how beautiful she looked underneath the moonlight. It reminded him of the night they found 'their' waterfall. He felt himself starting to get all hot and bothered, and took a deep breath. He had controlled himself all day long. He knew that he had longings—desires for her long before they slept together, but it seemed that it was only getting more and more intense.

He grabbed her hand, and pulled her down into his lap, kissing her, passionately. "I think I have a better idea," he murmured before pressing his lips against hers again.

She kissed him back with fervor, a little surprised by his actions, but figured that he had been holding himself together for most of the day.

He slowly trailed his hands down her back, and slipped them underneath her shorts, cupping her cheeks, as his tongue dueled with hers for dominance.

She moaned, softly before pulling away from his powerful kisses, and smirked. "Someone's a little frisky."

He grinned, wickedly before tilting her head to one side, and placing hot, open mouthed kisses down her neck, softly sucking and biting her skin. He felt his erection straining against the confines of his pants, and wanted nothing more than to strip them of their clothes, and make love to her…again. He squeezed her cheeks before pushing her pussy down onto him, hard.

She softly, moaned, "Clark…"

He slowly lowered her to the ground, hovering above her, and kissed her, as he pressed himself into her over and over again.

She panted, breathlessly, as she felt his apparent erection pressing into her, and felt herself getting wetter from his ministrations. Her stomach was flipping with desire, and it was sending shockwaves straight to her core. She bucked her hips into his, moaning, loudly, at what he was doing to her.

He smiled against her lips, and trailed his hands down to her breasts, cupping them through her bathing suit, squeezing softly.

He was driving her completely and utterly crazy!

She rolled them over, straddling his lap, and pinned his hands to the ground, as she started to roll her hips in slow circular motions before picking up her speed.

He gripped her waist, squeezing roughly before lifting her off him and slamming her back down against him. He growled, at the sensation, and stared deep into her hazel eyes, "Lois…I want you."

She smiled, leaning down, and kissed him. "I know, baby," she whispered against his lips before crawling off his body.

He frowned at her.

She slowly unbuttoned her shorts, sliding them down her long legs, and kicked them away from her. "I'm going for a swim. If you want me to finish what you started then you better join me, hot stuff."

She very slowly untied her bikini top, and slipped the bottoms down her legs, her eyes never leaving his. She winked at him before turning away, and making a dash for the cool, refreshing water.

He watched her run away from him, just the thought of kissing her—touching her—making love to her got him all hot and bothered, but that strip tease she just did was the final straw. He quickly stood up, stripping off his clothes in lightning fast speed, and chased after her.

As soon as they were both in the water, they swam towards each other. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him, and could feel her hard, taut nipples pressing against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers through his hair, mussing it, and felt his erection pressing against her stomach.

She smirked, "Now, why does this feel so familiar?"

He grinned from ear to ear, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Well, I can guarantee that under no circumstances will we be getting interrupted this time."

He gently pressed his lips against hers, his hands cupping her ass, as she wrapped her legs around his waist, and they reenacted last night and this morning's activities. The only sounds that could be heard was the rushing water from the waterfall, their soft moans trickling through the air, and splashing of water, as their bodies joined as one once again.

* * *

Wes rushed down the main corridor, heading straight for The General's office. He had been sitting in his quarter's thinking about the mess that was now his life when he got the phone call from Mark, the technician on base, and got the confirmation he needed.

It worked. It actually worked.

When The General had told him that he wanted to coax Cassie into calling Lois by forcing her to overhear a conversation, in which they made it clear that they already knew where Lois was, he didn't think she would actually do it. But she had.

He didn't know if she answered or not, he hoped she didn't because she could have just as easily escaped from them, as soon as she realized her father was onto her location. He wanted—needed this to be over. He wanted his life back.

He knocked on the door to his office, loudly, and entered upon hearing his gruff voice.

He saluted, and stood at attention.

"At ease, soldier."

The General stood up, walked around the table, and stared directly into his eyes. "Did it work? Did Cassie call her? Do we know where my daughter is?"

He nodded.

He waited—waited for him to speak further, and when he didn't he grew frustrated, and practically yelled, "Well? What do you have? Where the hell is my daughter?"

"Sir, she's in Estes Park, Colorado and has been there for the past several weeks, three to be exact."

He clapped his hand down on his shoulder, hard, and squeezed, roughly, "Good work, soldier."

Wes smiled, slightly, not sure if this was the right situation to do such a thing, but couldn't help himself.

"What the hell are you doing? Go and find my daughter, and bring her back to base!"

"Now?"

He growled, "Yes, now. Go!"

"Sir, yes, sir," he saluted before rushing out of his office. He walked, hurriedly towards his quarter' where his personal car was stashed. He couldn't be seen driving one of the military vehicles, she would spot it from a million miles away, and be gone before he even entered the city limits of this small town.

He felt one and a million emotions consuming him, but there was one that was affecting him immensely. Excitement. He felt excited because he knew that this would finally be over. He would finally get his life back. The only problems he was facing was the fact that he would be physically forcing Lois to come back to base with him, and he didn't even want to think about how this was going to affect his relationships with both Cassie and Lois.

He practically jumped into his 1999 Subaru, started the ignition, and quickly drove off base. He was less than forty-eight hours away from getting his life back. He would be in Estes Park, Colorado by tomorrow night, and by the following day he would be free.

He couldn't wait.

* * *

 _ **I hoped you liked the smut scene! I don't plan on incorporating it too much into the story because I don't want to take away the ambience of this love story, but there are certain points where it's just simply needed. Funny story, I actually visited Paradise Cove a few years back, and saved a guy's life, which is also why I wanted to incorporate it into my story. So, The General and Wes know where Lois is, and that only means trouble for Lois and Clark.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter fourteen!**_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fifteen:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter, 'The Way' By Clay Aiken**_

 _ **NOT MINE. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.**_

* * *

Clark had his arms wrapped around Lois, his fingers tracing soothing circles over her back, as she rested her head on his shoulder, and glided her fingers across his chest. They were laying underneath the sparkling stars at 'their' waterfall, staring up into the night sky, enjoying the beauty surrounding them—the smells of wilderness, and the soothing sound of rushing water.

He had never felt happier than he was in this moment. In all the time he had spent with her, he had never felt this happy—this content—this peaceful. He loved sharing moments like this with her, moments where they could just be together with no words coming from either of them. It seemed that every day they spent together, their feelings, or his at least were only growing stronger and stronger, and he never wanted this to stop. He wanted to spend all his time with her. He wanted her to stay in his life for as long as possible.

She made his heart skips beats and race like no other.

She teased him constantly, making him blush…a lot.

She made him nervous, joyful and excited all at the same time.

She filled his heart with complete and utter admiration, and love.

He was falling in even more in love with her with each new adventure they experienced together. He loved her more than he's ever loved anything or anybody before, and he never wanted the way he was feeling to end. He never wanted them to separate or part ways. He wanted to stay with her forever.

He tightened his arms around her, pulling her closer to his chest, and closed his eyes, as he breathed in her scent. He definitely never wanted this or them to ever end.

Her soft, soothing voice broke him from his thoughts. "I'm glad we decided to come here tonight, especially since we haven't been able to in the past couple days."

He opened his eyes, looking down at her, and subconsciously rubbed his hands up and down her back. "Yeah, but we have been a little preoccupied the past few days."

She raised her head, and swatted his chest when she saw him wiggling his eyebrows at her, suggestively. "Is sex all you think about?"

He grinned from ear to ear, "When it comes to you, baby, hell yes."

She laughed. She laughed so hard that her head fell onto his shoulder, and her entire body trembled, as tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

He rolled his eyes at her before rolling onto his side, facing her, and waited until she managed to calm herself down. He stared into her eyes, "Do you remember the first time we found this place?"

She smirked, "You mean, the night you were going to kiss me for the first time, but chickened out last minute?"

He groaned. He never should have told her about that, besides it wasn't like she had to wait too long for that kiss. "First of all, I did not chicken out, and secondly, how long are you going to keep holding that over my head?"

She grinned. She was going to hold that over his head for as long as possible, especially since he made her wait so damn long, and truth be told, she just liked teasing him about it. It was fun. "For as long as possible. Now, the answer to your question is yes, I do remember that night, and I remember it being one of the happiest nights of my life."

"Yeah, me too, you know, that was the first night you fell asleep on me." He smirked, "You do that a lot."

She shrugged her shoulders, "How could I not? You're just so warm and comfortable, almost like a big teddy bear."

"What? So, I've been relegated from boyfriend to comfy teddy bear?"

She nodded before leaning forward, kissing him, softly.

They stared deeply into each other' eyes after they pulled away from the kiss, and could see their feelings—emotions—love for each other shining, brightly back at them.

"Do you remember what you promised me that night?"

She smiled. "I promised you that I would always be here for you."

He brushed his fingertips down her smooth cheeks, "Do you still mean it?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, wondering why he was asking her such a question, and slowly sat up, making him do the same. "How could you even ask me that? Clark, I meant every word then, and I mean it now. I will always be here for you, and I will always be with you forever and—"

"Always," he finished for her, "Do you really mean it?"

She nodded.

He grinned from ear to ear before leaning forward, capturing her lips in a soft, sweet and tender kiss. He poured all the love he felt for her into that one kiss before wrapping his arms around her, and pulling her into his lap.

She pulled away from him, pressing her hands against his chest, and leaned back in his arms. "I have an idea."

He winked at her, "Yeah? So, do I."

He tried pulling her into another kiss, but she pushed him away, and stood up. She knew what he was thinking, hell she was thinking it to, but she had a better idea. "Down boy, there's time for that later."

He pouted.

She chuckled, "Nice try, but it's not going to work."

She held out her hand to him, which he took greedily, and stood up with her. "I want you to dance with me, Clark."

He stared at her, wide-eyed, and his mouth fell open, slightly. "Um, Lois, I-I can't, I can't dance."

She rolled her eyes, "I don't care."

"Lois, I-I don't know, I mean, I-I'm just going to step on your feet the whole time."

She stepped closer to him. "It doesn't matter. I just want to dance with you. Dance with me? Please?"

He groaned, silently. How the hell was he supposed to say no to that? She had asked so sweetly—so nicely, but it was also because she was staring up at him with sparkling, hopeful eyes, and was even pouting, slightly. "Okay. Okay. Fine. I'll dance with you."

She grinned, practically jumping up and down in excitement before rushing over to her bag, and pulled out her mp3 player. She picked a song, as she walked over to him, and handed him one ear piece before she put hers in.

She pressed play before she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

 _ **Something about the way you look tonight,**_

 _ **Something about the way that I can't take my eyes off you.**_

 _ **Something about the way your lips invite. Maybe it's the way**_

 _ **That I get nervous when you're around, and I want you to be mine.**_

 _ **And if you need a reason why.**_

They pulled each other closer, their eyes locked onto each other, as they swayed softly to the music, and let the words consume their minds, hearts, and souls.

 _ **It's in the way that you move me,**_

 _ **And the way you tease me,**_

 _ **The way that I want you tonight.**_

 _ **It's in the way that you hold me**_

 _ **And the way that you know me**_

 _ **When I can't find the right words to say.**_

He pulled her even closer so, her body was pressed up against his, and she tightened her arms around his neck, running her fingers softly through his hair.

 _ **You feel it in the way. Oh, you feel it in the way**_

After the song's music and words slowly faded into silence, they rested their foreheads together, and continued to sway to only the music they could hear. They tightened their arms around each other, pulling each other even closer than they already were, and in that moment, knew that they would never, ever want to be anywhere else except in each other' embraces.

They stared into each other's eyes before they leaned forward, and pressed their lips together, softly. He rested one hand on her lower back, and trailed the other one behind her head before tracing her lips with his tongue coaxing her to open up to him, and massaged hers with his gingerly—lovingly when she parted her lips. She pressed her body closer to his, feeling every part of him against her, and slowly ran her fingers through his hair before pressing her lips harder against his, deepening their kiss.

He slowly pulled away from her, and stared into her beautiful eyes, as his breath became rapid and uneven. It happened every single time—every single time they kissed he felt like he couldn't breathe, and it always turned him into a pile of mush. "Lois, I—"

She placed a finger over his lips, stopping him from speaking, and saw the want—the longing—the desire—the love shining in his aquamarine orbs. "I know. I know, baby, me too."

He kissed her again before swooping her up into his arms, making her giggle, "I think it's time I take my beautiful girlfriend away from here."

She snuggled against him, "How about you super speed us out of here."

He grinned, "With pleasure."

As he sped them back to their hotel, he couldn't help, but be thankful that he didn't drive them here tonight because he wasn't sure how long he could have waited to make love to his jaw-dropping beautiful and gorgeous woman.

* * *

Wes walked down the darkened streets of Estes park, his eyes scanning the many bystanders, as he searched for her. He had arrived here a lot sooner than he originally planned, which he was thankful for, except that he had been searching for over an hour now, and there was still no sign of her. He was hoping—praying that she was still here. He needed her to be here. He wanted this to be over—he wanted his life back.

He noticed a small café across the street, and started walking over to it. He needed a major caffeine fix, and a fresh mind set before he even contemplated searching for her again. He wasn't leaving this beautiful small town unless he found her, no matter how long it took. He couldn't—wouldn't go back to the base empty handed.

He made his way up to the service counter. "Hey, can I get a coffee, black, no sugar or cream?"

A good-looking, petite red-head spun around at his voice, and smiled sweetly at him, and began to make his coffee. She was actually kind of beautiful, but not nearly as beautiful as Lois, and especially not Cassie.

"I'm Joslyn, by the way, are you new in town or just visiting like half the other people in this town?"

He looked up at her, slightly frowning. He wasn't in the mood for small talk. He just wanted his damn coffee, and to continue searching for his best friend. His job—his life depended on it. "Neither. I'm looking for someone."

She raised her eyebrows. That was definitely a new one for her. "Hmm. Interesting. Why are you searching for them? Did they do something to you? Are they wanted by the police? FBI? Is it a male or female? Are they blonde? Brunette? What about their eyes?"

He stared at her, wide-eyed. His head was beginning to hurt from her rampage of questions. He thought Lois was inquisitive, but this girl was ten time worse than her. He cleared his throat, "Um, no. I'm looking for someone who means a lot to me, and has been MIA for over a month now."

"Well, maybe I can help you out. I pretty much know everybody here, perks of working at a coffee shop, and I happen to know quite a few of the tourists as well."

He raised his brows at that, maybe this girl could be of some use to him, he thought, before reaching into his back pocket for his wallet, pulled out a picture of him, Lois, and Cassie, and handed it over to her. It was a day in their lives where everything was right, and he desperately wanted those days back.

She looked down at the picture, and instantly scowled when she saw Lois Lane's bubbly face looking back up at her, but quickly hid it. She knew instantly that, that was who he was looking for, and she would definitely be glad to help him find her. The sooner she got out of this town, the better, especially if that meant she got Clark all too herself.

"I'm looking for the girl in the middle."

She nodded. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

He coughed, slightly choking on his own saliva, at her words, "Um, no. Definitely not. She's my best friend. So? Have you seen her around?"

She smiled, an evil glint in her eyes. "Yeah, I've seen her around. That's Lois Lane, and she's been coming in here a lot the past couple of weeks."

He sighed, in relief. "Really? Is she still here?"

"Yeah, at least she was not even a couple of hours ago."

"Where is she now?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Beats me. She was here getting her normal coffee and donuts, and I haven't seen her since then."

He groaned. That was not what he wanted to hear. He wanted to find out where the hell she was. "Do you know where she might be?"

"I don't know, but if I had to guess, I would say that they were probably roaming around town somewhere."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "They?"

"Oh, yeah. She's probably with her boyfriend."

His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open for a few seconds before he managed to close it again. "I'm sorry, did you just say that Lois, my best friend, was with her boyfriend?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. Why was he so shocked by that? "Uh, yeah. They do practically everything together, and are always all over each other. It's actually quite sickening."

He couldn't believe it. She was dating someone? Who? How the hell did this even happen? If what she was saying was true, when the hell did his best friend become so clingy? So dependent on one man? He didn't know, but he was sure in hell going to find out. "Do you know where they might be? It's important that I find her."

She didn't know what they did or where they went, and she'd rather not see their coupling all the damn time, but she did know where Clark was staying. "Uh, I'm not too sure, but you could try the hotel a few blocks down the street. It's the one with the large, wooden oval sign, and they're a beige—light brown color."

"Thank you!" He muttered before walking away, without his coffee, but he could care less at this point. He just got a lead on Lois' whereabouts, and he needed to get there as fast as possible.

He walked towards the hotel with a pep in his step. He couldn't believe it. Was it just a coincidence that he walked into the very same café that she had been frequenting? He didn't think so. He just hoped that she was there. He couldn't wait to find her, and bring her back to base. He knew he shouldn't feel so enlightened by this, but he couldn't help it. He was about to get his life back, and he would not feel bad about feeling this way.

As he got closer to the hotel, he heard familiar laughter coming from behind him, and quickly ducked behind a car when he recognized it as Lois'. He peeked from behind it, and his mouth nearly dropped down to the ground at what he saw. She was in some guy's arms with her legs wrapped around his waist, laughing, wildly, as he held her, and smothered her neck with extravagant kisses.

He just couldn't believe it. It was true. His best friend, Lois freaking Lane was actually romantically involved with someone. He had seen her with past boyfriends before, and never had she ever acted like that around them. Normally, she would be with a guy just to annoy the shit of her father, but it seemed that this was the complete opposite, she was with him because she wanted to be, and she looked extremely happy.

He stood up from his hiding spot, as they disappeared into the hotel, and groaned, loudly, knowing what he was about to do was going to ruin his best friend's happiness. She looked happier than he has ever seen her before, and figured that some of it had to deal with her being away from her father, but had a feeling that it was mainly because of the guy she was spending time with.

He leaned up against the brick wall, slid down to the ground, and dropped his head into his hands. He didn't know what he was supposed to do in a situation like this. At first, he thought it would be just as simple as finding her, and bringing her back, but now that she was quite obviously smitten with some guy, it was going to be so, so much harder. He didn't want to do this, but he really didn't have a choice. He would have to rip her away from her utter happiness, and most likely lose her in the process.

He slowly lifted his head. He would wait for the moment she walked outside of that hotel, even if that meant he was sitting here all night. He would give her this last piece of happiness before he dragged her away from this town—her boyfriend—her freedom, and back to Arizona.

* * *

Clark and Lois panted, breathlessly with their arms wrapped around each other, as they laid on the bed. Their eyes were trained on the ceiling, their chests were heaving up and down, especially Lois', their hearts were pounding ferociously in their chests, and they had the biggest grins plastered on their flushed faces.

She rolled onto her side, facing him, and rested her head onto the palm of her hand, as she looked down at him. "What was that? Two? Three times?"

He chuckled, as he copied her movements, and rested his hand on her hip. "I believe that was the third time since we got back to the hotel."

She smirked, "You mean, since you practically devoured me before we even made it to the bed?"

He grinned, as flashes of him crashing into his hotel room with her wrapped around him, him pressing her against the wall, and how he had them stripped of their confining clothing before they even made it to the bed. He scooted closer to her, and squeezed her hip. "I just couldn't help myself. You're just so sexy, and I didn't hear you complaining, besides who was the one who attacked me not even twenty minutes after our first go around?"

She grinned from ear to ear. She had never been one for an overzealous sex life, of course, she enjoyed it, but didn't need it all the time, but with Clark it was like they couldn't get enough of each other. She figured that it probably had a lot to do with their connection—a connection they've had from the moment they met, and for some reason every time they made love it only grew stronger and stronger. "I'm not denying or admitting anything; besides I think we leveled out the playing field just a few minutes ago."

He nodded. She had a point. He loved how in touch they seemed to be with each other, it was unimaginably incredible. Their kisses revealed their longing—their desire for each other. Their love making was passionate, and quite unforgettable. He would never, ever get enough of her loving touches—her searing kisses—her undeniable passion.

God, he loved her so damn much, he thought, and had a feeling that there would never be a day where he wasn't in love with her.

She rested her hands on his chest, "How about we watch a movie or something?"

He groaned, loudly, plopping onto his back, and softly closed his eyes.

She chuckled, "Come on, baby, it won't be that bad."

He opened his eyes, and glared at her, "Yeah, that's exactly what you said last time."

She patted his chest, "Aw! Poor baby! Well, get over it because we're watching a movie, and not some chick flick either." She quickly got out of bed, put on 'Mystic River' before climbing back into bed, snuggled up to him, and sighed in utter content when he wrapped his arms around her. "You'll like this one, I promise."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Yeah. Whatever you say, Lane."

She slapped his chest, making him chuckle, "Shut up and watch the movie, Kent!"

He softly kissed her forehead, pulled her closer to his chest, and turned his attention to the movie she wanted him to watch.

An hour later, his eyes were trained on the tv screen, unblinking, as he was completely engrossed in the movie. She had actually picked a good movie, and he was enjoying it…immensely.

He softly chuckled, shaking his head, "Okay, I admit it, you were right. This is a pretty good movie."

Silence.

He looked down at her when she didn't respond to him, and realized that she had fallen asleep on him…again. "I guess she was right about the whole teddy bear thing." He grabbed the remote, shutting off the tv, and pulled the sheet over their bodies. He stared down at her for a few seconds before gently brushing the hair away from her face, and kissed her cheek.

He got comfortable next to her, and softly closed his eyes, but before he fell asleep he whispered, "I love you, Lois."

* * *

She shot out of bed into a sitting position, her entire body was drenched in sweat, and her heart was racing a mile a minute. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and slightly jumped when she felt Clark shift next to her, effectively tightening his arms around her waist. She smiled down at him. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, like he was dead to the world—like he didn't have a single care in the world.

She slowly untangled herself from him, grabbed his red and gold plaid t-shirt, and pulled it over her head, as she walked over to the windows. She scanned her eyes across the darkened, and empty streets, wondering what had woken her up. She didn't know, but she did know that it wasn't the first time that, that's happened, and that meant only one thing…something bad was going to happen.

It happened the night her mom passed away in the hospital.

It happened the night her father was deployed to Russia for two years.

It happened every single time they were going to move to a different base.

It was like she had a sixth sense or something, and she knew something—something very bad was going to happen. She could sense it—feel it—hear it—taste it.

It made her feel anxious.

It made her feel worried.

But, most of all, she felt absolutely terrified, which didn't happen very often, and for some reason it felt like her entire world was going to turn upside down. Just like when she met Clark, except this time it wouldn't be for the better.

She looked over at him. She really, really hoped that whatever she was sensing didn't have anything to do with her and Clark. She was happy. He was happy. They were at a place where they were content with each other—where they were blissful in their own lives. She didn't want anything to destroy that.

She grabbed her jogging pants off the floor, slipped them on, and headed outside. She needed some fresh air. She needed to feel the cool breeze on her skin. She needed some time to clear away her hazy thoughts.

As soon as she stepped outside, she basked in the cool air brushing across her heated skin, and knew this is exactly what she needed. She stood there with her eyes closed for several minutes, and let the fresh air clear away her mind. It felt great.

 _You're just tired. You're overreacting. Nothing bad is going to happen. Everything is fine. I'm with Clark, and he's with me. The world couldn't be any better than it is right now._

She repeated this mantra over and over again in her mind before turning around to head back inside.

"Hello, Lois."

Her entire body froze, as she heard the voice of someone she never thought she would ever hear again, at least not for much, much longer. She clamped her eyes shut, as her heart pounded in her chest, and in that moment knew why she had woken up so fearful.

He had found her. He knew where she was. He had sent her best friend after her.

She slowly turned around, and came face to face with her best friend, Wes Keenan. "W-Wes, what are you doing here?"

He took a step towards her, "What am I doing here? I should be asking you the same question."

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm enjoying some fresh air."

He shook his head. It was always like Lois to state the obvious, and easily maneuver herself out of questions that she didn't want to answer. "I don't mean right now, I mean, what are you doing in Colorado? In this small-town?"

She stared him dead straight in the eyes. "I'm living my life. I'm enjoying myself. I'm being free for once in my god forsaken life."

He sighed, "Lois, look, your father has been spending the past month looking for you, and I—"

"And you what? You came all this way to drag me back to Arizona? Well, that's not happening, and you can tell The General that yourself when you go back…alone."

"He misses you, Lo."

She scoffed, "Yeah right. He misses his little soldier. He misses his errand girl. He misses his fucking assistant! He doesn't miss me! He doesn't need me! He doesn't even care about me!"

He knew that she had some major problems with her father, but he had no idea that it was this bad. He wasn't the one she talked to about these things, it was Cassie, and he knew that she understood more than he ever would about why she left in the first place. "Lois, I need you to come back to Arizona with me."

"No."

"Lois, Please!"

She shook her head, vehemently. "No! I'm not going back! I'm happy now, okay? I'm happier than I've ever been, and I will continue to live this way for as long as I possibly can!"

He knew she was happy. He could sense that. "Let me ask you something, are you happy because you're finally free from your father or because of the guy I saw you with earlier?"

She paled, slightly, but recovered quickly. "W-What are you talking about?"

He smiled. "Don't pull that on me, Lane. I know you better than practically anyone, even Cassie, even if you two won't admit it. I saw you laughing, as he carried you into the hotel."

She blushed, slightly.

He grinned from ear to ear. She could never hide her true feelings from him. "You looked really happy."

"I am. Wes, I'm happier than I've felt in my entire life, and that's because of him. He makes me feel things I've never felt before. He makes me feel happy, excited and nervous all at the same time. I-I'm in love with him."

He took a step back, completely surprised by the depth of her emotions. "Wow! I never thought I'd see the day where Lois Lane actually fell in love with someone."

She smiled, but if faded quickly. "You see? You understand that so, please, I'm begging you, Wes, just leave, and pretend you never found me."

He really, really wished he didn't have to do this. "Lois, I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Why not?"

He took a deep breath, "You don't understand. I'm not doing this because I want to, trust me if it was up to me, I would just leave you be, and let you come back when you were ready to, but it's not up to me. It's your father. He has made me and Cassie' lives utter hell. He has questioned and questioned Cassie. He had me follow her, and report back to him daily. He had me do so, so many other things, and I just can't take it anymore. Lois, I need my life back."

She wanted to strangle her father for everything that she has put her friends through, especially Wes, and felt incredible sympathy for him.

"Please! Lois, Please! I need you to come back with me right now."

She sighed. She knew what she should do. She should go back with Wes, and help reassemble her friends lives, even if that meant ruining her own in the process, but she just couldn't do it. She couldn't—wouldn't go back to her horrid life, but of course, he didn't need to know that. "I'm going to need a little bit of time, a few hours, I need to pack my things, and I-I need to say goodbye to C-Clark."

He smiled. "Clark? So that's prince charming's name? You know, I've known you for a very, very long time, and not once have I ever seen you so smitten before so, what is it about him? What is so special about him? How did he knock down those all too famous Lane walls?"

She didn't want to talk about that, especially knowing what she had to do, and besides he didn't need to know anything about her love life. "I'll tell you later, but can you promise me something? Can you promise me that you won't tell my father about him?"

He simply nodded. He knew what her father was like when it came to her past boyfriends, and figured that she didn't want the same thing happening to him.

"Thank you, just wait here, I'll be out in about two hours."

She turned away from him, and calmly walked inside, but as soon as she was out of his sights she rushed to her hotel room, and started packing her things, ferociously.

 _How the hell did this happen? How did her father find her?_

She gasped, loudly, and rushed over to her bedside table when a horrible thought came to her. She grabbed her phone, checked the call log, and fell onto the bed when all the pieces finally clicked together. A few days ago, she had gotten a missed call from Cassie, but never called her back since she was afraid that he could find her if she made any calls, but it seems that he had, had Cassie' phone bugged, and somehow tricked her into making the call. She knew Cassie would never jeopardize her freedom, she understood, a hell of a lot more than Wes did.

It seems that Wes wasn't being a hundred percent truthful to her, she thought.

She felt completely and utterly stupid. She should have known better. She should have been more careful. She should have disposed of her phone the minute she left the base. She should have known that her father would stoop to as low as tricking her best friend just to get her back under his thumb.

She shot up off the bed, and quickly finished packing her things. She would never, ever let this happen again. It was for her safety—her desire to be free, even if it meant her friends had to remain in hell because of it. She loved them, she did, but she couldn't—wouldn't go back, and the only way to sidetrack Wes was to pretend like she was going with him, but she wouldn't be going anywhere with him. She was leaving, and she was leaving tonight.

After packing her things into her car, she solemnly made her way back up to Clark's room, and tried to find the strength to do what she had to do. It was for her, but most of all it was for his safety.

She slowly walked over to him, sat down, and gently brushed her fingers across his forehead, as she stared down at his handsome face. She knew what she had to do. She knew it the moment she set eyes on Wes. She knew that what she was feeling earlier was going to turn her world upside down, and she was right, it was for the worse. She felt the tears build up behind her eyes, and let them fall down her cheeks, not caring about holding in her emotions right now.

She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave this beautiful state—this beautiful town. She didn't want to leave Clark, the man she was completely in love with, but she had no choice in the matter.

She wished, oh god, she wished she could just wake him up tell him to pack his things, and leave with him—escape with him—run away with him. But, she couldn't. She couldn't—wouldn't bring him into this mess that she had made of her life.

If she brought him with her, she knew what was going to happen, it was inevitable. He would find her again, and as soon as he found out about Clark, he would investigate him, and everything he has done to keep his life—his origins a secret would become public.

She loved him. She loved him so god damn much, but she wouldn't be the reason that his secret became unveiled—she wouldn't be the reason why the world finds out about him—she wouldn't be the reason he became a living, breathing lab rat, and if he was to come with her that's exactly what would happen. She would protect him till she took her last breath, even if that meant they couldn't be together.

She slowly walked over to the table, grabbed a piece of paper and pen, and proceeded to write the hardest thing she had ever written in her entire life.

Her goodbye letter to Clark.

She placed it on the pillow next to him, her pillow, the tears now streaming down her cheeks, and quietly sat down next to him. She leaned forward, kissed his forehead, and whispered, "I love you, Clark Kent. I love you so god damn much. I'm sorry."

She grabbed the rest of her belongings from his room before leaving, and out the back doors of the hotel towards her car.

She didn't know where she was going, but she knew it couldn't be in Colorado. She needed to get out of this town—out of this state as soon as possible. If her father found her here once, he would find her again if she stayed. She needed to be states away from Arizona and Colorado.

She needed a game plan, and from this moment forward she wouldn't be staying longer than two weeks in any town she stopped in. She wanted to remain free for as long as possible, and in order for that to become a reality she needed to be more careful.

As she sped down the highway, away from the love of her life, she felt the tears cascade down her cheeks, blurring her vision, but she didn't care. She had just lost the one thing that meant absolutely everything to her. She wanted to believe that he would be alright, but she knew he wouldn't be. He was a wreck when she found him. She had seen a change in him ever since they became closer, like he was healing, and she had just ruined that by leaving him. She knew he would hate her—he would despise her, even though she left that note, he wouldn't understand, not fully. He would believe that she never cared about him. He would believe that she wanted to leave him. He would never, ever forgive her.

She knew that this was it. She knew that she had just ruined everything. She knew that she would never see him again. Her body trembled, uncontrollably, as more tears rocked her to the core, and sent sharp, aching pains straight to her broken heart.

* * *

A few hours later, Clark shifted slightly in bed, and felt like something was missing—like something very, very important was gone. He slowly reached across the bed, searching for her, and snapped his eyes open when all he felt was a cold spot next to him.

He slowly lifted his head, and scanned the room with his eyes in the darkness, but couldn't see her or even hear her. He dropped his head onto the pillow, smiling, sleepily, as he thought about all of the times she would leave the comfort of bed for some fresh air or food. She did that quite a lot, almost as much as she fell asleep on him.

He softly closed his eyes, but they snapped open once again when he felt a piece of paper underneath his fingers. He quickly sat up, turned on the light, and picked up the piece of paper on her pillow.

 _Clark,_

 _I know this isn't the best way to do this, but I couldn't look you in the eyes when I said the words. I couldn't even try to say the words out loud so, I'm writing them down._

 _I need you to know that I never wanted to do this. I never planned on doing this, but nevertheless I have to do this, no matter how hard this is for me._

 _I know you know that I've been keeping things from you, and tonight something from my past came back, and I had no choice, but to leave._

 _I wanted to bring you with me. I really did. I didn't have much time to think about this, but I know that this was what I had to do because it's the only way I can keep you safe. The only way I can protect you._

 _I know you won't understand, but I need you to trust that what I did was right for both of us. I won't allow myself to be the reason why your life gets ruined because that is what would happen if you were to stay with me._

 _I want you to know that I have cherished every single moment that we have spent together. I will cherish those memories for the rest of my life, and I will never, ever forget you or the love we shared._

 _I'm sorry._

 _Goodbye, Clark._

 _Love, Lois._

He chuckled, not believing the words that he had just read, "Lois?"

Silence.

"Lois? Lois, come on, stop messing around."

Silence.

"Lois, seriously, this isn't funny."

Silence.

He reread the note over and over again. He noticed how her penmanship was sloppier than it normally was, like she was in a hurry. He noticed the several tear strains that were spread across the paper, blotting out some of the ink. His heart dropped to his stomach, at the mere thought, that she actually left—that she left without telling him—without saying goodbye to him.

He scanned the room, and noticed that all of her belongings were gone, even his favorite plaid shirt was gone. He shot out of bed, threw on his clothes, and rushed towards her hotel room. He crashed through the door, not caring if it was locked or if he even broke it, and walked around her room, searching for her, but realized that everything was gone.

He reread the note again, his heart breaking, and his eyes began to water, as he realized that it was true.

She had left.

She had left without saying goodbye.

She had left him.

She didn't want to be with him anymore.

She was gone.

He clutched the paper into his fist before collapsing to the ground, as tears streamed down his cheeks, and screamed out, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Wes paced up and down the front entrance of the hotel.

He was growing irritable.

He was becoming impatient.

He was feeling a million emotions wash over him all at once.

 _What the hell was taking her so damn long?_

He lifted his wrist, checking the time, and realized that she had been gone for about four hours now. He paled, as a thought entered his mind, and felt fear consume his very being. He rushed into the hotel, and straight to the receptionist, "Where is Lois Lane?"

She looked up at him, frowning, "Excuse me?"

He gripped the counter so tight that his knuckles began to turn white. "Lois Joanne Lane. I know she was staying here. Where is she?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't give away client information."

He growled, impatiently, "Look, lady, I don't got time for this. I need to know where she is. I'm a military officer, and her father, a four-star General is searching for her."

"I'll need to see your credentials, sir."

He quickly pulled out his badge, and handed it over to her. "Now, if you would kindly tell me where she went."

"Sir, she checked out about three hours ago."

He couldn't believe it. She tricked him. She had only told him it would take her that long, knowing he would believe it, just so she could have enough time to escape. She left. She actually left. "Okay, Ma'am, what about a man named Clark? He's her boyfriend."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you looking for him too?"

"Yes." He lied.

"He checked out about one hour ago, sir."

This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. "Do you happen to know which way she left because I was waiting outside, and she didn't come out the front, neither did Clark."

"They both left out the back door, that's where their vehicles were parked, sir."

"Thank you." He quickly rushed outside, and scanned his eyes around, searching for anything that could lead him in the direction that she could have went, but looked down when he heard crunching underneath his feet.

He sighed, heavily, when he realized that it was the remains of her cellphone. She must have figured out that they have bugged Cassie' phone, he thought.

He hurriedly walked back towards his car.

She left.

She had escaped from him.

She had even left her boyfriend behind, who she loved more than anything, and he could see that from the look in her eyes when she talked about him.

He got back into his car, and rested his head against the steering wheel, groaning, loudly. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

* * *

Pain.

Guilt.

Shame.

Heartbreak.

It all came rushing back to him—everything that he had been able to overcome—everything that he had been able to not think about or even dream about came rushing back, hitting him like a freight train.

He felt that all-consuming pain.

He felt that unbearable guilt.

He felt that unforgettable shame.

But, most of all he felt his heart twisting in agonizing pain.

Three weeks.

For three blissful weeks, he hadn't thought about his past—about what he's done—about what he's caused, and it was all because of her, because of all the time they spent together, because of his powerful love for her. She had been there for him. She had understood him. She had begun to heal him.

But, it had all been a lie. She lied to him. She promised him that she would always be there. She promised him that they would be together for always and forever. She promised him that they would never part ways.

He collapsed onto his knees in front of 'their' waterfall, as tears streamed down his cheeks, and could feel the rain pelting down on him, mixing with his salty tears and drenching his clothes.

He replayed every single moment they shared together, from the first moment they laid eyes on each other to the moment he fell asleep with her in his arms.

She was gone.

She left him.

She didn't want to be with him anymore.

He would never see her beautiful face again. He would never feel her tender touch again. He would never feel her soft lips pressed up against his, as they kissed again. He would never feel the passion when he made love to the woman who he was completely and utterly in love with again.

He was all alone.

He would always be alone…forever.

He quickly stood up, staring at the waterfall, the memories of all the times they had spent here together washed over him, and he couldn't stop the tears from falling even harder because he knew they would never share another moment here or anywhere else ever again.

He super sped through the pathway, jumped onto his motorcycle, revved the engine, and sped off into the night.

He didn't know where he was going, but he knew one thing for an absolute fact, he couldn't stay here in this town—in this state. He couldn't stay in the place where he reunited with her—where he spent time with her—where he made memories with her—where he first kissed her—where he had his first date with her—where he made love to her—where he had fallen in love with her—where she had had begun to heal his broken heart and state of mind.

He couldn't—wouldn't stay in a place where such happy memories existed because he wasn't happy anymore, and never would be ever again.

He accelerated his speed, the tears now cascading down his cheeks, causing his vision to become blurry, and his entire body to tremble.

He was in pain from everything that he's done.

He was feeling guilty for everything that he's caused.

He was feeling shame for all the mistakes that he had made.

He was heartbroken from the loss of the only person he's ever loved so completely, and knew she would be the only woman he would ever love so intensely.

His heart was shattered into a million and one pieces, and his broken heart would never, ever heal.

* * *

 _ **I had such a hard time writing this chapter. I loved writing the happy, romantic scenes, but it wouldn't be a story if there wasn't a little sadness and heartbreak mixed in. So, Clois has moved on from Colorado and onto their next journey, albeit separately, but things will definitely start moving a little faster now.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter fifteen!**_


	17. Chapter Sixteen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Sixteen:**_

* * *

The General sat in his office chair, rigidly, an angry scowl plastered on his gruff features, and stared at the plain, white wall opposite of him.

Three weeks.

Exactly three weeks ago, he had found out that his daughter had been gallivanting around Estes Park, Colorado, and had ordered Wes to find her and bring her back to base—bring her back to him.

He had been hopeful that he wouldn't have to deal with this any longer. He had been hopeful that his daughter would be back where she belonged. He had been hopeful that Wes was going to be successful, but of course, that hope had died when he returned without his daughter in tow.

He was furious as hell, and blamed Wes for his incapability to follow one simple order, but that anger had died, as soon as he heard the entire long-winded story.

He had found her in Estes Park, like they had anticipated, and she had promised him that she would leave with him, but had snuck out the back, running away…again.

He wanted to put all the blame on Wes, but truth be told, he knew his strong-willed daughter would never be forced into doing something that she didn't want to do.

She wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what she was doing. She was one hell of a smart cookie, a little too smart for her own good, but he only had himself to blame for that.

After hearing the events of what happened that night, he understood how she managed to escape, but there was only one thing he couldn't grasp his mind around. Why the hell did she stay in that town for as long as she had?

He had raised her to be cautious, but for some unknown reason she had decided to stay, and that confused the living hell out of him. She was more careful than that, hell, sometimes she was more cautious than he was, and that was saying a lot. So, why did she stay?

He had wondered, briefly, if maybe she was with someone—a man perhaps, which would explain why she had stayed as long as she had, but Wes assured him that when he found her she was completely alone.

He just couldn't understand it—understand her reasonings, and he knew he wouldn't until he found her and brought her back.

Over those excruciatingly long three weeks, he had tried absolutely everything—everything he could think of to find her, but it had gotten him nowhere. He had no idea where she was. He had no idea where she was planning to go.

He couldn't track her phone through Cassie since she had conventionally destroyed it.

He couldn't keep following Cassie, since it was apparently obvious that she wasn't going to do anything to lead him to his daughter, especially since she had no way of contacting her now.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know where to go from here.

He needed to find her, but how the hell was he supposed to do that when she was being twice as cautious as she had been before?

She knew he was on to her, and if he knew his daughter, he knew that she wouldn't do anything that would lead him to her in any way. She wouldn't leave a trail. She wouldn't do anything that could compromise her location. She wouldn't stay in one place for too long, especially after being caught once already.

He was starting to wonder if he would ever find his brave, brash, and opinionated daughter.

He growled low in in his throat.

No.

He would be finding her, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

He would be bringing her back, no matter the cost.

He would ensure that something like this would never, ever happen again.

He needed to figure out what his next step would be. For almost two months, he had been very rational about this, but maybe it was time to think outside the box.

He smiled, as much of a smile he could muster when an impractical idea came to him.

There was only one possible option left, one he had thought of several times, but never thought it would be necessary, especially since it wasn't ideal for him or anyone else involved.

"WES!" He bellowed.

Wes, who had been standing outside his office hurried into the room, stood at attention, and saluted. "Yes, sir?"

"I need you to go down to archives, and retrieve all the phone numbers of current Generals at all the army bases in the Unites States, don't bother with other countries."

He stared at him, a confused expression on his face. Why the hell did he need those?

They never, ever used that protocol unless imminent danger was directed towards all of the United States. What the hell was going on?

"Sir, may I ask what this is all about?"

"It's our only remaining option."

He frowned, slightly, and then realization dawned on him. "Is this about Lois?"

"Of course, this is about Lois. I need those numbers as soon as possible. I will have eyes and ears on her, and as soon as she is seen, I will be contacted immediately. I will make sure she doesn't escape this time."

He shifted from one foot to the other, and rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. "Uh, sir, do you think that is a wise decision?"

"Are you questioning me, soldier?"

"No! No, sir."

"Good. You're dismissed."

He quickly left, wondering when all of this was going to end, and had a feeling that it would be quite a while before he got some normalcy back into his life. It was his fault of course, if he would have stayed with her, made sure she didn't escape, he just might have been free from all of this.

He sighed, as he walked towards the archive station, and knew that as long as Lois was gone, his life was going to continue being a complete and utter hell.

The General leaned back in his chair, after Wes left, and clasped his hands in front of him. The sooner he had those contacts the better, after all, if this plan worked than all he would have to do was wait to get a call from one of their neighboring army bases. It wasn't the wisest decision, especially since there were so many bases in the Unites States, but it was his only other option. It had to work.

He knew that she wouldn't go to the towns or cities that were famously known as military towns, but she didn't know all of them, and hopefully she would stop in one long enough for someone to see her.

He would be getting his daughter back.

He looked down at a picture on his desk, studying it, it was taken years ago when Lois was just a little girl, and Lucy hadn't been born yet. They had gone to Metropolis for the weekend, and he had never seen his daughter happier than when she was in the city.

He slowly leaned forward in his chair, gripping the picture in his hand, and frowned, as he stared at the child-like faces of two bright-eyed girls, one had dark hair, just like her mother, while the other had blonde hair.

Of course! Why the hell didn't he think of this beforehand?

They used to be extremely close when they were kids, hell, those two girls did practically everything together, of course that was before she moved away from Metropolis, and before his dearly beloved, Ella Lane, passed. As far as he knew they still stayed in contact with each other, they might not be as close as they used to be, but they still talked to each other.

Was it even remotely possible? Would his daughter trust her, like she did when they were younger? Has she been contacting her? Did she know where his daughter has been this entire time?

He grabbed his phone, dialing a familiar phone number, and called the one person he hadn't spoken to in over ten years…Gabe Sullivan.

* * *

Chloe was sitting in The Talon with Pete and Lana sipping on her latte, enjoying the sweet taste of the caffeine. She really, really needed it right now. They had been meeting here almost every afternoon for the past two months, and normally that would have elicited some excitement, but lately it was just getting tiresome, especially since all they talked about was Clark.

She was starting to get sick and tired of this—sick and tired of having the same conversation over and over again.

It was always 'what if Clark was here' or 'Clark might have been there'.

If they had actually found anything useful she might have been more enthusiastic about this, but it was just a bunch of what if's, but's, and might's. That's all it was, and that's all it was ever going to be.

The truth of the matter was that she was just tired of searching for her best friend, who obviously didn't want to be found, and she got the feeling that Pete was feeling the same way, but for some reason Lana just wouldn't drop it.

If she really wanted to she could find him in a heartbeat, what with her hacking skills in all, but she just didn't want to do it. It wasn't because she didn't want him back in her life, actually it was quite the opposite, she had a feeling that he just didn't want to come home, and that was his choice.

She missed him, of course, she did, but after almost two months of searching, and coming up empty handed, she just didn't have the heart to care anymore.

If he truly wanted to come back home—come back to his friends and family, he would, but obviously whatever had drove him out of Smallville was keeping him away, and it was up to him and only him if he decided to come back home or not.

Pete sighed, heavily, and shook his head, as he listened to Lana rattle on and on about Clark' whereabouts. He wished he could disappear from the face of the earth, at this moment, especially since he knew that everything Lana was trying to do was a waste of damn time.

It was all she ever talked about, like seriously, couldn't they just come here to hang out and talk about anything else. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.

He missed him, lord, he missed him more than he thought he would, but Clark was gone, and he had no one but himself to blame for that. If he would have just left well enough alone maybe, just maybe he would have been home already or at least still causing havoc in Metropolis, even though that wasn't great, it was ten times better than him being god knows where, and it was all his fault.

He sat back in his chair, keeping his mouth shut, as he listened in on their conversation.

"So, a friend of mine from Metropolis told me that Clark had been frequenting this club, Atlantis I think it's called about two months ago, and I think we should check it out."

"And do what? Walk around town asking if they've seen him? That isn't going to work, I've lived in Metropolis before, people aren't just going to give away free information."

She sighed. "Look, I think we should talk to the bartender, Toni is his name, and I've heard that he knows everything about everything. He is going to be our best shot at finding out where Clark is."

"Like I said, he isn't going to give away free information, especially if he knew Clark somehow, besides what makes you think that he is even still in Metropolis? That was two months ago, for all we know he could be in Timbuktu by now."

Lana shook her head, vehemently. "No. He would never leave Kansas, let alone be in some other country. This is home. His friends and family are here. He has to be in Metropolis somewhere, it's the only place he would go."

"Lana, I think this is a waste of time, I mean, he did leave without saying goodbye to his friends or even his parents so, obviously he wants to be alone."

"He doesn't need to be alone! He needs me!"

She rolled her eyes. God, this girl was delusional, if she thought that Clark was pining over her she was kidding herself because she had a feeling that he wasn't doing anything of the sort.

"Chloe, I really need your help with this. I can't do this alone. I need to find Clark. I need to bring him back home to his parents—to his friends."

"Okay, let's say that you somehow find him, what makes you think he even wants to come back home? He left for a reason, and nothing you say to him is going to make him come back."

She lifted her chin, defiantly, not wanting to believe that for a second. "He will come back. I know he will. Once I find him, I can talk to him, and convince him to come home, besides he loves his parents—you guys, and me too much to stay away."

She rolled her eyes. "Does he? I mean, sure he cares about us, but for some reason that isn't a big enough reason for him to stay and let us help him through whatever he is struggling with."

"Of course, he does, Chloe, he loves me, and I love him, there is nothing that can get in between us."

"You mean, like running away from home?" She said sarcastically.

Lana glared.

"Lana, do I need to remind you that he dumped your ass before he left? I don't think even the feelings he does have for you could convince him to come back, not if he doesn't want to."

She chose to ignore that barb. "We are getting off track here, this is what I think we should do…"

Chloe groaned, silently, she just wouldn't drop this. Why? Why couldn't she be anywhere else but here?

Pete stared, wide-eyed at Lana, as she went over her plan, and wondered, briefly, what his best friend ever saw in this girl. She was pretty, sure, but quite frankly she was giving him a damn headache.

Was she fucking serious? Did she honestly believe that this grand plan of hers was going to work? Did she really think that she had Clark wrapped around her little fingers? Did she really believe that she was going to be the sole reason he returned?

Well, that was definitely not the case, he thought.

He remembered the last conversation he had with him before he left. He had showed sympathy for him—for Chloe—for his parents, but Lana, that was a completely different story. It was like he didn't give two shits about what she thought of him leaving, which was quite surprising at the time, but after thinking about it he had started to question his best friend' true feelings for the pretty brunette.

He listened to her brilliant plan before he snapped. He was completely and utterly done with this.

He shot up from his chair, yelling, "Enough! Enough! I've heard enough of this bullshit! Clark isn't in Metropolis, hell, he isn't even in Kansas anymore! He's gone!"

Chloe was quite taken back by his outburst, but remained silent, and sipped her coffee. She had never, in all the years she has known him, ever seen him get so angry—so livid before, but figured he had hit his breaking point, and couldn't really blame him, especially when she was almost there as well.

Lana narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you know that?"

"I just do. I think it's time you give up because he is never, ever coming back!" He quickly grabbed his things before rushing out of the coffee shop.

They stared at his retreating backside until he completely disappeared.

Lana looked over at Chloe, "What's up with him?"

She wanted to say 'you,' but didn't, instead she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, whatever his problem is I don't have time for it. So, back to what I was saying…"

Chloe groaned, inwardly. Why couldn't Lana understand that Clark didn't want to come home? Why couldn't she just leave well enough alone?

She wished—hoped—prayed that she could escape from this misery, and practically jumped with joy when her cell phone rang.

Saved by the bell, she thought.

She answered her phone, and was quite surprised that it was her father. "Dad? Aren't you supposed to be working right now?"

"Yeah, well technically I am, but when General Sam Lane wants something he sure knows how to achieve it, using whatever means necessary."

That she was not expecting. "Uncle Sam? What did he want? We haven't heard from him in years."

"I know, but um, sweetie, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me."

She wasn't sure she could keep that promise, some things were meant to remain secret, especially from one's father. "Okay…" She said, hesitantly.

"Have you heard from Lois?"

She frowned. "Uh, no, I haven't heard from her in about three or four months, but we only email each other every once in a while. Why? Dad? What's going on?"

She could hear him sigh on the other line. "Honey, she's run away from base."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, "SHE WHAT?"

"Yeah, about two months ago she ran away, and he's been searching for her ever since. Um, listen, honey I need you to either let me know or contact your uncle if you hear from or see her. He's really worried about her."

She rolled her eyes. She highly doubted that. "Yeah, of course." She lied.

"Thank you, sweetie, I'll see you tonight, I love you."

"Yeah, yeah, love you too." She said off-handedly before hanging up the phone. She leaned back, slouching in her chair, and sighed, heavily. She just couldn't believe this was happening. She actually did it. She actually managed to escape from The General, and had been gone for the past two months. She knew what life was like for her favorite eldest cousin. She knew how he treated her like a piece of spare luggage, while Lucy got special treatment, being in an all-girls European prep school. She was free, she was finally free after all these years, and she couldn't be happier for her.

Lana' voice brought her out of her reverie, "Hey, Chloe, are you okay?"

She looked over at her. "Uh, yeah."

She really didn't need to talk to her about this, hell, she never talked to anyone about Lois. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell her friends about her, especially given how close they were growing up, but she just never felt the need to tell them about her; besides she kind of liked knowing that there was one person out there that would listen to her, who wouldn't judge her or ridicule her.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Oh. Okay, well, anyways about Clark…"

She rolled her eyes. Was that all she could talk about? She quickly stood up, and grabbed her things, "Look, Lana, I don't care what you do about this Clark situation because quite honestly, I have more important things to worry about right now."

"What's more important than finding Clark?"

"It doesn't matter, but I think you need to drop this whole Clark thing. He will come home when he is damn well ready, and if you try finding him your just going to push him further away."

"He loves me! He has always loved me! He needs me! You and Pete might be ready to give up on him, but I won't, not when he is all alone out there."

"I don't have time for this."

And with that she walked away, leaving behind a completely dumbstruck Lana.

She just couldn't believe how delusional she was being. Did she actually think that Clark would come back just for her? He didn't want to come home, and even if he did, she doubted that things would go back to the way they were before. She had a feeling that whatever he was doing—wherever he was, he hadn't thought twice about them, not that he didn't care about them or miss them, but whatever had made him leave in the first place had to be pretty big or he would be here with them now.

She shook her head. She didn't need to worry about her wayward best friend right now. She had way more important things to focus on. Lois. She had actually managed to run away from The General, and that was something she never thought she would achieve. She remembered all their conversations. She had wanted to, desperately, for years, and it seemed that she had finally gotten her chance.

She was extremely happy for her, but it did raise quite a few questions. How did she do it? Why did she do it? Where was she now? Was she happy? Was she okay?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't really paying attention to where she was walking, and bumped right into someone.

"Woah! Careful there, Chloe. Where you off to in such a hurry?"

She looked up, at the familiar voice, and smiled at Jonathon and Martha Kent. "Oh! Hi, Mr. K, Mrs. K. I didn't even see you guys there."

"Yeah, we can see that, where are you off to in such a hurry."

She waved her hand, dismissively, "It's not important, Mr. Kent, I'm just trying to get home."

"Are you sure? You seem kind of flustered, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Mrs. K."

Martha gave her the all too famous 'I know your full of crap and you better tell me right now' look, and she crumbled, just like she did every single time. "It's just that, um, my cousin she ran away from home about two months ago."

Martha gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, and her thoughts immediately went to Clark.

Jonathon frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that, Chloe, I hope your family finds her soon. It's not good for her to be out there all alone."

"I hope he doesn't."

"What?" They both said, simultaneously, shocked by her words.

"I hope my uncle doesn't find her. This is the best thing that could have happened to her, especially since her life has been utter hell since her mom passed away. I couldn't be prouder of her for finally escaping, and I hope she can stay away for as long as possible."

Martha and Jonathon looked at each other, with sad expressions on their faces, and shared the same exact thoughts. They hoped Clark didn't feel like he had to stay away forever because, quite honestly, they wanted their son home where he belonged, and hoped one day soon he would decide to come back to them.

She saw the expressions on their faces, and mentally slapped herself. How could she have been so senseless? She grabbed their hands, softly squeezing, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, it's just my cousin' life has been filled with so much pain, that I think she deserves this freedom. I don't want you to think that I want the same for Clark, I'm sure he will come home sooner than we all think."

Martha smiled, sadly, "I hope your right."

Jonathon nodded. "I hope your cousin does go home soon though, the world isn't as safe as it used to be, and she shouldn't be out there all by herself."

She grinned, "I think it's safe to say that if anyone tried anything on her, she would kick their ass to kingdom come and back for even attempting."

They both chuckled.

She caught up with them for a few minutes, but quickly made a scarce getaway. She needed to talk to Lois. She needed to find out what the hell was going on. She needed to make sure that she was okay. The Kent's were right about one thing, she shouldn't be out there all alone, even if she claimed she could take care of herself.

As she walked, she couldn't help but think that her best friend and cousin had quite a lot in common with each other.

* * *

Lois jogged through The Rocky Mountain Front, passing by the largest trees she has ever seen in her entire life. She slowed to a trot, as she neared her cabin, which was surrounded by the green wilderness, and plopped down onto her bed once she was inside.

She softly closed her eyes, panting, heavily, and let her mind wander to the past three weeks.

She had drove all night, and most of the next day until she was miles and miles away from the Colorado border. She didn't even stop to eat, drink or sleep. The only thing on her mind was getting as far away from there as physically possible.

Over the following two weeks, she had stopped in a few towns throughout Utah and Idaho, but never stayed longer than a few days. She couldn't risk getting caught again. She couldn't risk her father finding her again. Besides, she felt no connection—had no inclination to stay longer than a few days, and honestly, she needed to stay on the road if she wanted to remain living her life the way she wanted to.

She had arrived in Choteau, Montana a few days ago, and was renting out a cabin deep in the woods for the time being.

She liked it here.

It was isolated.

It was beautiful.

It was rustic.

She didn't really feel like leaving, not yet, anyways, but eventually, she would have to move onto a different town—different state. She had already been here longer than she originally planned, but this place felt like the right place to be.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

She opened her eyes, and looked over at the bedside table, wondering who could be emailing her. She had bought a burner phone, as soon as she got the first chance, and the only reason she had it was just in case she needed it for emergencies. She knew her father had tracked her through her phone, but he couldn't exactly due that with a burner phone, not even military grade equipment could do that.

She slowly got up, grabbed the phone, and checked her messages. Her eyes widened, in complete surprise, as she saw that Chloe had emailed her. They hadn't talked in a few months so, why the hell was she emailing her now?

She clicked open the message and read it.

 _Lois,_

 _I know we haven't talked in a few months, which is partly my fault since I've been dealing with a lot lately, but I needed to warn you about something._

 _It's your father. He called my dad today, telling him that you had run away, and that we were to contact him if we heard from you or saw you. Don't worry. I'm not going to tell my dad or Uncle Sam anything. You know, I understand better than anybody what you have been going through over the years._

 _I just wanted to give you a heads up. Also, I know you can't tell me where you are, but can you at least tell me if you're okay?_

 _Love, Chloe._

She smiled. It was really nice hearing from Chloe again. She missed talking to her. She missed the days when they were close, almost like sisters, hell, she still thought of her like a sister. She quickly sent her a message.

 _Chloe,_

 _It's so nice to hear from you again, especially since I haven't talked to anyone for a while now, and I don't blame you for not being able to keep in touch, both of our lives have been a little crazy lately._

 _Thank you for informing me about what my father has been up to. I never thought that he would contact you guys, especially since he hasn't even talked to Uncle Gabe or you for over ten years._

 _I trust you won't say anything, but I can't email or call anyone for a little while, just in case my father finds a way to track me down._

 _I promise, one day I will tell you everything because I know you must have a million questions. I'm doing okay, actually, better than okay, but you don't need to worry about me._

 _Talk soon._

 _Love, Lois._

She knew that she probably shouldn't have messaged her back, in case her father found a way to track her emails, but couldn't help herself from replying back to her cousin. They used to talk all the time, but as the years went by, they hadn't talked as much. A few emails every couple of months wasn't exactly ideal, but it was the best they could do under the circumstances. She wished they were as close as they were years ago, but it just wasn't meant to be, and hoped that one day they could be like that again.

She plopped back down onto the bed, softly closed her eyes, and fell fast asleep.

* * *

She shot out of bed, completely startled, and felt the tears pool in her eyes before they slowly fell down her cheeks.

She was dreaming about him—about Clark, and it wasn't the first time. She had dreamed about him every single night. She had thought about him every single day. There wasn't a moment that she didn't wonder what their life would be like now if her father had never sent Wes after her. Would they still be in Estes Park? Would they be travelling together? Would they still be as happy as they were before everything went to hell?

She wished she could find out. She wished they could still be together. She wished, beyond belief, that there was a chance she could see him again, but it was an idealistic dream, one that would never come true.

She felt the tears fall harder down her cheeks, as her heart pounded, frantically in her chest, and she felt like she couldn't breathe in the confines of her cabin. She jumped out of bed, not even grabbing her jacket before she rushed out of the front door, and down the porch stairs.

She ran.

She ran as fast as she could until she reached the fence line. She gripped the wood into her hands, her shoulders slumped, and hung her head.

She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She had been a strong believer of not allowing anyone inside her heart, but that was before she met him, and within moments of meeting him, he had broken down her walls. He was locked inside her heart, and even if she tried, she would never, ever be able to get him out.

She missed all the good times they shared together. She relived their moments together over and over again in her mind, from the moment her shocked hazel eyes met his terrified aquamarine ones to the moment she saw him that very last time.

She clenched her eyes shut, trying to dispel those memories away, but they couldn't—wouldn't escape her. She didn't only break her own heart, but she had broken his in the process, and she hoped that wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he would find it in his heart to forgive her.

She was completely miserable without him.

She was utterly lost without him.

She felt like she was all alone in this big, big world.

Her heart was shattered, but more so, from the fact that she knew his heart was just as shattered as hers was.

She didn't know how she was supposed to forget him—forget the love they shared. She didn't know how she was supposed to move on from the best thing that has ever happened to her. She didn't know what she was supposed to do anymore.

She gripped the fence in her hands, and stared up at the night sky, reminding her of him even more so. "Oh, god, Clark, I don't know where you are or what you're doing, but I miss you—I miss you so fucking much."

She slowly collapsed to the ground, wrapping her arms around her body, and cried—she cried harder than she's ever cried in her entire life, and muttered, "Why can't I get you out of my heart?"

She was so consumed by her sobs that she was completely unaware that there was someone standing directly behind her, watching her every moment, with tears cascading down his cheeks.

* * *

Clark stood outside his cabin, his hands wrapped around the wooden railing, as he looked out into the darkened forest.

He had arrived in this small town, Choteau, Montana a few hours ago, and rented out the cabin for a few days. He didn't really know if he was going to stay here any longer than that, but could admit to himself that it was absolutely beautiful. His cabin was surrounded by darkness, green wilderness, and completely isolated. It fit him perfectly because it's just how he felt inside.

He felt the darkness consume every fiber in his body.

He felt more isolated than he has ever felt in his entire life.

He had thought that the darkness—the pain—the isolation would fade away, but it only seemed to be getting worse with every second that passed.

After leaving Colorado, three weeks ago, he had drove and drove until he couldn't any longer, but made sure he was as far away from Colorado as he could possibly get. He just couldn't stay there, not with all the memories that lingered there.

He had travelled through Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota before finding his way to Montana, and had already been in this state for a few days, but didn't find this town until tonight. He wanted to keep driving, he had already been here longer than he wanted to be, but it was physically impossible for him, even being a superpowered alien couldn't wear off over tiredness.

He wasn't just tired from driving. He was tired from lack of sleep.

He hadn't slept in over a week, not even a wink because if he slept he dreamt—he dreamt about his life back at home—his friends—his family, but most of all, he dreamt about her—about Lois, and he didn't want to think about that anymore. He was tired of reliving the moment she left him—the moment she had left his life.

He clamped his eyes shut, unable to stop the tears from pouring down his cheeks.

He just wanted to escape from everything, but it wasn't possible, not for him, it was always there at the forefront of his mind, and he just wanted it all to fade away.

She was always on his mind.

There hasn't been a single day or night that passed when he wasn't thinking about her or picturing her in his mind of dreaming about her.

Oh god, he missed her so god damn much, and even though he knew he should be angry with her, he just couldn't make himself do it, he loved her too damn much to ever hate her.

He wished she was still in his life. He wished they were still together, whether it was in Estes Park or some other part of the country. He wished that she had never left him.

As much as he loved her—as much as he missed her, he couldn't help but feel betrayed. He wanted this pain to stop, but he couldn't get over the fact that she had lied to him. She had promised him all of these things, but had broken every single one of them.

Over the past three weeks, he had felt a multitude of emotions, but he was more confused than anything. Why did she leave? Why did she leave him? What did she mean that a part of her past had come back to haunt her? What was she trying to protect him from? Why couldn't she have said goodbye instead of leaving a note?

He knew the answer to that question. If she would have said goodbye in person, he would have left with her, whether she wanted him to or not, and she had said that if he had gone with her than he would be in danger, but from what?

He wished he could get the answers to his questions, but it was just impossible, it was because he was never, ever going to see the love of his life again.

The tears strolled down his cheeks, and the pain in his chest felt like he was being stabbed with kryptonite, at the thought of losing her…forever.

He loved her so much, hell, he still loved her even after she had literally shattered his heart into a million pieces. He would do anything, and everything just to see her beautiful face again—to hold her again—to just be with her again.

The tears rocked his entire body, making him tremble, and heard the wood crack underneath the strength of his fists. He slowly removed them, assessing the damage before walking down the porch steps, and into the darkness. He needed to get out of here—he needed to walk—he needed to do something to get her off his mind.

He walked and walked for several minutes, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a door swing wide open, and a woman running full force out of a cabin, crying her eyes out.

His eyes widened.

His heart stopped.

His breath caught in his throat.

He felt like he couldn't breathe.

He would know that blonde hair—those long legs, and especially his favorite red and gold plaid shirt anywhere.

It was Lois.

He just couldn't believe it. She was here. She was in Montana. She was staying only a few cabins away from him. She was standing only a few feet away from him.

He took small, tentative steps towards her until he was standing directly behind her. He wanted to swoop her into his arms, tell her that everything was going to be okay now that they were together again, but he just couldn't get himself to move.

He watched her for several minutes, not knowing what he should do or what he should say, and felt his heart twist in pain when she looked up into the night sky, and said, "Oh, god, Clark, I don't know where you or what you are doing, but I miss you—I miss you so fucking much." And then she slowly collapsed to the ground, wrapping her arms around her body, like a fragile child, and cried out to him, "Why can't I get you out of my heart?"

The tears poured down his cheeks, as his heart shattered all over again, but this time it wasn't because of his broken heart, it was because she was literally breaking down right in front of him, crying her heart out, and was in so, so much pain.

He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the sound of her tears—of her cries. He couldn't take the sight of her clutching her body so tightly. He couldn't take the echo of pain that lingered in her voice, as she spoke. He needed her. She was everything to him, and no matter what had happened, he would always want her in his life.

He took a small step towards her, and took a deep breath. "Lois. Lois, please don't do that."

* * *

 _ **I know it was a horrible place to end this chapter, but if I would have kept writing this would have ended being way, way too long. So, we got to see a glimpse into what our friends in Smallville are up to. I wanted this mainly to be about Chloe, but also show what Pete and Lana were feeling as well. I'm not too verse on military stuff, so, sorry if the General' scene wasn't a realistic situation.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter sixteen!**_


	18. Chapter Seventeen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Seventeen:**_

* * *

He took a small step towards her, and took a deep breath. "Lois. Lois, please don't do that."

Her entire body froze.

Her eyes snapped open.

Her heart beat rapidly in her chest.

She didn't just hear Clark' voice. It wasn't possible. He wasn't here. He wasn't standing right behind her. It just wasn't possible.

She very, very slowly stood, and turned around, expecting to see nothing—expecting her mind to be playing tricks on her, but instead came face to face with the man she never thought she would ever see again.

She couldn't believe it.

He was really here.

He was really standing in front of her.

He wasn't just a part of her imagination.

"Clark?" She croaked out, questioningly, not really believing that he was here.

He nodded, as more and more tears cascaded down his cheeks.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't breathe.

The girl—the woman he was completely in love with was standing right in front of him, tears falling down her cheeks, and he had no idea what to say or what to do.

"C-Clark? Clark, are you really here?"

He smiled, softly, "I'm really here, Lois."

She smiled, the first real smile in three weeks, "Oh my god! Clark!" And then she was lunging forwards, jumping into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him, and softly closed her eyes, as his musky scent overwhelmed her senses.

He quickly caught her, and wrapped his strong arms around her body, pulling her into his chest, tightly. He buried his face into her soft blonde hair, breathing her in, and let her scent consume his mind—his heart—his soul.

He couldn't believe this was happening. He never thought he would experience this again. He never thought he'd ever see her again, let alone, have her wrapped up in his embrace again. He had the woman he loved implicitly in his arms, and he was never, ever going to let her go.

She giggled, loudly, as he tightened his arms around her, lifting her off the ground, and spun her around in circles. She just couldn't believe it. He was actually here with her. She never thought it could happen, but now that he was, she vowed that she was never, ever going to let him go again.

He gently placed her on the ground, and pulled away from her slightly, but kept his arms securely wrapped around her body. He leaned his forehead against hers, staring deeply into her hazel eyes, "Lois, oh god, Lois, I've missed you so much."

She smiled, tears falling from her eyes, "I've missed you too, baby, oh Clark, I've missed you so damn much."

He gently wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs, and rested his hands on the sides of her face, "I-I never—I never thought that I would ever see you again."

She stepped closer to him, her chest pressed up against his, and fisted his shirt into her hands. "I didn't either. I thought—I thought that it wasn't ever going to be a possibility, but you're here, and nothing, nothing is ever going to tear us apart again, I promise."

He winced, slightly, as her words felt like he was being stabbed in the heart over and over again. It reminded him of all the promises she made to him, and how she broke every single one of them. It brought back everything he had been feeling for the past three weeks. All the pain. All the hurt. All the heartbreak. All the confusion. He dropped his hands from her face, "Don't."

"Clark?"

He took several steps away from her. As much as he wanted to feel her locked in his embrace again—as much as he wanted to just be with her again, he couldn't—wouldn't forget the broken promises—the betrayal—the hurt he felt when she had left him. "Don't. Don't make promises you can't keep."

She frowned, "Clark? Clark, what are you talking about?"

"You left me."

She winced, as his words sliced straight through her heart. She could see the pain and heartbreak clouding his aquamarine eyes, and saw the confusion plastered on his handsome face. She had put that there. She had hurt him. She had broken his heart. She had confused him. She dropped her head, and stared down at the ground. "I know. I'm sorry."

He slightly tilted his head to one side, watching her. She looked so sad. She looked so heartbroken. He wanted to walk up to her, wrap his arms around her, and tell her that everything was going to be alright, but he couldn't, his broken heart wouldn't let him. He needed answers. He needed the truth. "Why? Why did you do it? Lois, why did you leave me?"

She didn't look at him. "You know why."

He took a step towards her, "No, Lois, I don't know. All I know is that you left me without even saying goodbye."

She looked up at him, tears pooling in her eyes. "I did say goodbye."

He frowned at her, but then realization dawned on him. He quickly pulled out the crumpled-up note she had left him from his pocket, and waved it in the air. "Is this what you're talking about? This wasn't a goodbye. All this did was break my heart into a million pieces, and make me question every single moment we ever shared together. Did you even care about me at all?"

She stepped towards him, but came to a halt when he held out his hands, and stepped further away from her. She took a deep breath, "Clark, how could you even think that?"

He stared at her, tears pooling in his eyes, as memories of that night hit him like a freight train. "What was I supposed to think?"

She didn't have an answer for that. She knew he would feel heartbroken. She knew he would probably hate her. She knew he would never forgive her. She didn't know how she was supposed to reassure him that she didn't do this to hurt him. She didn't know how she could heal his broken heart.

"Lois, you-you made promises to me. You promised that we would be together. You promised that you would always be there for me. You promised that you would never leave me, but you-you lied, you broke all of those promises." He tossed the note to the ground, "You wrote this, and left me."

Her heart shattered. She had hurt him more than she thought she did, and she had no idea how to fix this. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"I want you to tell me the truth."

She sighed. "Clark, I care about you-I care about you more than I have cared about anyone in my entire life so, please, please don't doubt what we shared together or my feelings for you."

"Then why? Why did you leave me? Why did you tear us apart?"

She dropped her head, unable to look him in the eyes, and trembled, as her tears rocked her body. "I didn't want to, god Clark, I didn't want to leave you. I wanted to stay with you, you will never know how much I regret leaving you, but I didn't have a choice. I had to leave."

He quickly closed the distance between them, placed his fingertips underneath her chin, tentatively, forcing her to look up at him, and stared deeply into her eyes. "That's not good enough. Why? Why did you leave me? Why did you break my heart?"

She softly closed her eyes, a few more tears escaping.

"Lois, look at me."

She slowly opened her eyes.

His heart nearly shattered, at the expression of complete and utter sadness on her face, and the way her eyes stared up at him, with such surrender. "Please. Lois, please, just tell me the truth—tell me why you left me."

"It's complicated."

He dropped his hand from her face, and curled it into a fist at his side, as anger started to boil deep inside of him. "Then uncomplicate it because I'm pretty damn confused right now. You promised me things then broke every single one of them. Lois, please, I need you to be honest with me."

"You wouldn't understand."

He turned away from her, and started pacing back and forth, tears falling down his cheeks, as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "Dammit Lois! I can't do this anymore! I can't keep running this over and over again in my mind. Why can't you just be honest with me?"

She didn't know what she should do. One part of her wanted to tell him the truth, reassure him that she cared about him—that she loved him, but the other part of her was scared—scared that once he realized how much danger he was in by being with her then he would leave—he would leave her. "I-I want to."

He stopped pacing, walked over to her, and stared down at her. "Then tell me."

"I ca—"

He placed a finger over her lips, stopping her mid-sentence. "Don't. Don't tell me you can't. I need to hear you tell me the truth. I need to know why you left me. Was it me? Was it because of what I am? Was it because of something I said? Something I did? Did you not want to be with me anymore? Is that why you thought it would be better to leave me a note instead of saying goodbye to me?"

She gripped his face into her hands, and stared deeply into his eyes. "No! Clark, it has nothing to do with you. I-I wanted to be with you so god damn much. I still do, but like I told you I didn't have a choice. I had to leave."

He placed his hands over hers, and touched his forehead against hers. "Then why did you leave? Lois, please, I-I'm so confused right now. You tell me you want to be with me, but then you leave me, why? Please, I-I need you to tell me the truth."

She didn't want him to leave her once he realized how much danger he was really in by being with her, but if she didn't tell him the truth she was going to lose him anyways. She didn't want that. She wanted to be with him always and forever. She took a deep breath, "Do you remember when we first met?"

He nodded.

"You remember that I told you my father's a General for the military?"

He nodded again. He remembered being scared shitless that she was going to reveal him to the authorities, but of course, that was before he realized that she would never, ever tell anybody about him.

"The night before we met, I had a fight with my father, and ran away from base. Clark, I've been trying to escape from him ever since."

"Why did you run away from home?"

She scoffed. "That isn't a home. I haven't had a home for a very long time."

He frowned. What the hell did she mean by that?

She could tell he was confused, it was written all over his face, and as much as she didn't want to rehash everything she has gone through in her life, it was the only way to get him to understand.

"I used to have a home, well sort of, as much of a home as you can get with a General as a father, but it felt like home because I had my father, my mother, and even my baby sister, but that all changed the night my mom passed away. I was only six years old, but that didn't seem to deter my father, and a part of me wants to believe that he was so lost in his grief that he didn't know what to do with us, but I can't exactly forget everything he has put me through. I wasn't a child anymore. I had turned into an adult that night. For years, I had to make sure my little sister, Lucy was fed, bathed, and cared for. I was in charge of getting her to school on time, picking her up on time, making she got three square meals a day, and made sure she had her homework done very single night. We followed a system of command. Lucy reported to me. I reported to The General, and the cycle continued day in and day out.

And then, one day everything changed, my father sent Lucy to an all-girl' boarding school in Switzerland. I had thought that things might get better, but I was proven wrong in the following years. I was treated like a soldier. I was no longer his daughter. I was his little servant. I followed his commands. I did his paperwork every single day. I had hoped that maybe a sliver of him cared about me, but I quickly learned that all I was to him was a damn spare piece of luggage. The night I left, we had this major blowout, where he threatened to send me to military school, and I didn't want that so, I left."

He listened, intently, as she told him her life story, and couldn't help but feel incredibly sorry for the way she was raised. He had thought his life was hard, albeit their stories were quite different, but no one—no one should be raised thinking that their parents didn't love them—thinking that their only purpose in life was to take orders. "Lois, I'm so, so sorry that you had to go through all of that, and I completely understand why you felt like you needed to escape from it, but that still doesn't explain why you left me."

She sighed. "That night, I was confronted by my best friend, and he wanted me to leave with him, to go back to base with him. I couldn't do it. I couldn't go back to that. So, I told him that I would leave with him, but instead I snuck out the back, and left. Clark, you have to understand that I can't go back to my father. I don't want to."

"I understand, trust me, Lois, I do understand your reasonings for leaving the base, for even leaving Estes Park, but why couldn't you have taken me with you? Why did you have to leave me the way you did?"

"I was protecting you."

He quickly pulled away from her, completely frustrated. He was absolutely tired of hearing that. She had told him that in the note, and now she was saying it again. "Protecting me from what? Lois, you know almost better than anyone that I am more than capable of taking care of myself so, what the hell are you trying to protect me from?"

"My father."

"What?"

"I've had boyfriends before, albeit it was only to tick off my father, but he had every single one of them investigated, wanting to find information to use against them—to find something that could tear me away from them. Clark, if he found out that I was with you he would investigate you, and I'm terrified—I'm terrified that he would find out the truth. I don't want to be the reason why you get revealed to the world or why you become a living, breathing experiment. I thought you would be safer if you weren't with me, just in case he found me again. That's why I left. That's why I left you."

He stared at her, wide-eyed, and felt his heart yearn to her. She left him because she thought she was protecting him, but all she had done was break his heart. She thought he was safer being alone than with her, but she couldn't be more wrong about that. He needed her. He needed her more than anything.

He walked up to her, and gripped her face in his hands. "Oh, Lois, oh, my beautiful Lois, you don't need to worry about that. That would never happen. I wouldn't let it."

"But, Cla—"

He pressed his finger to her lips. "No. Lois, I need you to listen to me, something like that could never happen. If it was ever to come out that I wasn't human, they wouldn't be able to capture me, let alone, harm me unless they had green kryptonite. Lois, I've had FBI agents on my doorstep before, and they weren't able to find anything out about me. My parents made sure that there was no proof of my true origins."

She couldn't believe it. She had thought she was protecting him, but in reality, all she had done was leave him all alone and shatter his heart. "S-So, I not only left you making you think I never cared about you, but I also shattered your heart in the process?"

He nodded, the tears rolling down his cheeks.

She felt like a complete idiot, and couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. "Oh, god, Clark. I'm so, so sorry. I never should have left you. I'm so, so sorry for breaking us apart, for breaking your heart."

He leaned his forehead against hers. "I know, baby, I know."

She stared into his eyes, "I'm so, so sorry, Clark, I never meant to hurt you. Please, please forgive me. Please tell me you don't hate me for what I've done, for what I've done to us."

He curled his fingers into her long, blonde locks. "There's nothing to forgive. I understand that you were only doing what you thought was right, even though it hurt us both, and I could never hate you. I wanted to be angry with you, but I just couldn't. I love you too much to ever hate you."

Her heart pounded, frantically in her chest, as his words rung in her mind. "What did you just say?"

He smiled. "I love you. Lois, I love you so damn much."

She smiled, as tears of joy fell down her cheeks. "Oh, Clark, I love you too. I love you so much, god, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before."

He grinned from ear to ear before swooping down, and capturing her lips with his, pouring all the love he felt for her into that one kiss.

She kissed him back with fervor before flinging her arms around his neck, her hands gripping the back of his head, pushing her lips harder against his, and spread her fingers throughout his dark ebony locks. She had missed this—she had missed him so much.

He trailed his hands down her sides, gripped her waist, tightly, and pulled her to his body, wanting—needing to feel absolutely no space between them. He slowly backed her up until she was pressed against the fence line, and pressed his body harder against hers.

She clung to him, softly nibbling on his lower lip, and thrusted her tongue inside his mouth when he gasped, slightly. She roamed the tip of her tongue over every single crevasse of his mouth, tasting him before their tongues met, massaging and rolling together.

He slowly glided his hands down her long, smooth legs, squeezing her thighs before lifting her off the ground, and placing her on the wooden beam. He nudged her legs open with his knees, and pressed himself against her body, wanting to feel every part of her.

She tightened her arms around him, pressing her chest, tightly against his, and scraped her nails across his scalp, as she deepened their kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and purposefully pressed herself against him, and could feel his growing erection through his jeans.

He gasped, loudly, ripping his mouth from hers, and trailed hot open-mouth kisses across her jawline to her neck, licking, sucking, and biting her flesh. He slipped his hands underneath her shirt, gripping her ass, and pulled her against him.

She moaned, "Mhmm…Clark."

He smiled against her skin before finding her lips again, and kissed her…hard.

She undulated her hips into his, making him groan, and did it again and again and again.

He pulled away from her, resting his forehead against hers, and stared into her beautiful orbs, "Jesus, Lois."

She smiled, moving a little faster and harder against him. "You like that, baby?"

He growled, at her teasing manner, and crashed his lips against hers, slipping his tongue into her mouth, relishing in the taste of her. He slipped his hand down her body, cupping her sex, and rubbed his fingers back and forth, feeling her arousal through her satin panties.

Her eyes widened, in complete surprise, "Clark!"

He couldn't take it anymore. He needed her. He wanted her. He had missed her so god damn much. He quickly lifted her off the fence, and carried her into the cabin, his mouth never leaving hers. He kicked the door shut with his foot, turned them around, and pressed her against the door, trapping her body with his.

She tightened her legs around him, and dug her fingers into his shoulders, as she kissed him with fervor. She pushed her arousal into his, loving the way he moaned her name, and did it over and over again, moving faster and faster.

He ripped his mouth from hers, breathing heavily, "Damn, Lois. You keep doing that, this is going to be over before we even begin."

She grinned, a wicked glint in her eyes, and pushed her hips into his again. "What are you going to do about it, farm boy?"

He smirked, gripped her waist in his hands, and pressed himself against her over and over again. He rotated his hips in slow circles, knowing the sensation would arouse her even more, and started moving faster and faster, harder and harder.

She gripped his shoulders, her head falling back against the door with a thud, and panted, breathlessly, as she moved her hips with his. "Clark…"

He grinned before burying his face into the crevasse of her neck, softly nibbling on her pulse point with his teeth, and relished in the way she squirmed against him. As he attacked her neck with his lips, teeth, and tongue he slowly started to unbutton the shirt she was wearing, but quickly grew frustrated, and ripped it open, the buttons flying in every which direction.

She gasped, loudly, and glared at him. "Clark! That was my favorite shirt!"

He pulled away from her, putting her feet firmly back on the ground, and smirked. "Correction. That was my shirt, which you stole, by the way." He kissed her, tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue before slipping it inside, as he peeled the shirt off her body, and cupped her breasts through the black, lace bra, squeezing softly.

She pulled away from him, removing his shirt from his muscular body, and scraped her nails down his chest, making him growl in absolute pleasure.

He gripped her waist, pulling her roughly against his body, turned them around, and backed her up until they softly fell onto the bed. He kissed her, passionately, as he unclasped her bra, and threw it carelessly across the room. He kissed across her jawline down her neck to the tops of her breasts, and cupped them into his hands, his fingers rolling over her nipples.

She softly closed her eyes, her fingers tangling in his hair, twisting his curly locks around them. Every single kiss—every single touch—every single thing he was doing to her body was sending electrifying sensations throughout her, and she only wanted more, more of him.

He kissed, sucked, and nibbled on each of her breasts before very, very slowly kissing his way down her body, and stopped when he got to the hem of her panties. He softly kissed her sex, her arousal consuming his senses, and sent all the blood in his body straight to his rock-hard cock.

He looked up at her, smirking, before he hooked his fingers underneath the elastic straps, and slithered them down her long legs. He softly kissed every single one of her toes, and slowly moved up her calves to her knees, and across her thighs. He purposefully blew a breath of cool air against her mound before doing the same to the other leg.

She glared down at him, "Stop teasing me!"

He smirked up at her, "Why? I kind of like teasing you."

She lifted herself up onto her elbows, staring down at him, and grinned, "Just so you know, you tease me, I'm going to tease you right back."

He wiggled his eyebrows, "I think I like the sound of that."

She rolled her eyes, "Clark! Please!"

He chuckled at her before gripping her ankles, and roughly pulled her to the end of the bed, making her squeal in shock. He hooked her legs over his shoulders, spreading her wide open with his hands, and slowly kissed from her clit across her labia and down to her entrance. He very slowly traced his tongue up and down, circled her clit a few times before shoving his tongue deep inside of her, and thrusted in and out.

She gripped the back of his head, digging her fingers into his hair, and pushed her pussy up into his face over and over again. She could feel the tell-tell signs of her orgasm swirling in her stomach, and softly closed her eyes, rasping out, "Mhmm…Clark...More, baby, more…Please!"

He smiled against her before removing his tongue from her, and replaced it with three of his fingers, thrusting them in and out of her hard and fast, just how she liked it. He slowly licked up her labia, relishing it the taste of her, "Mhmm…Lois…You taste so good, baby." He pressed one hand to her abdomen, stopping her from bucking into him, and latched his lips around her clit, sucking, softly.

She tossed her head back and forth. "Yes…Yes…Clark!"

He sped up his movements, using a tad bit of a superspeed, as his tongue circled her clit, and his fingers pounded in and out of her, faster and faster, harder and harder.

She arched her back, her stomach coiling in absolute pleasure, the shockwaves shooting straight to her core, as her orgasm overtook her entire body. "Oh…Oh…Oh god! Clark!"

He sucked on her clit, his tongue circling it extremely fast, and moved his fingers in and out of her faster and harder, as he rode out her orgasm. He lapped up all of her juices, sucked on his fingers, and relished in the delicious taste that was purely her. He quickly stood up, removed the remainder of his clothes faster than the speed of lightening, and kissed his way up her body until he was hovering above her. "How was that, baby?"

She smirked up at him, "I think you cheated. No fair using superspeed."

He grinned from ear to ear, "I didn't hear you complaining."

She pushed him away from her, rolling him onto his back, and straddled his waist. "Well, now it's my turn to have a little fun." She grabbed his cock firmly into her hand, pumping him up and down a few times, making him growl in pleasure before lifting herself up, and slowly lowered herself down onto him.

He gripped her waist, his fingers digging into her skin, and thrusted his hips upwards, at the feel of her pussy completely surrounding him—squeezing him. He closed his eyes, and panted, breathlessly, "Oh god…Lois…Yes…You feel so good, baby."

She rode him hard and fast, loving how he filled her completely—how every time he thrusted up into her he hit all the right spots. She moved faster and faster, their skin slapping together, loudly, as he went deeper and deeper inside of her. She tossed her head back, her eyes snapping shut, and scrapped her nails down his chest. "Yes…Clark…Yes…Oh god!"

He gripped her ass into his hands, squeezing and digging his fingers into her flesh, as he helped her move faster and harder atop him. He needed harder—faster—deeper—he just needed more—more of her. He quickly flipped them over, pulled out of her, hooked her knees over his shoulders, and slammed his cock back inside of her.

Her eyes widened, and gripped the bed sheets into her fists, her head rolling back and forth, as this new position took him deeper and deeper inside of her, sending her to more pleasurable heights. "Yes…Yes…Oh god…Clark…Faster, baby, harder…Clark!"

He felt her inner walls squeezing his cock, relentlessly, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, as he pounded in and out of her faster and harder. "Oh god…Oh fuck…Lois!"

He crashed his lips against hers…hard, forcefully slipping his tongue inside her mouth, and swirled and twirled it around hers, initiating the same movements as their lower bodies.

She gasped, loudly, and wretched her mouth away from his, as her orgasm shot through her entire body, making her see bright, white stars. "Oh…Oh…Clark!"

He intertwined their fingers together, softly squeezing, and felt her pussy milking his cock. He thrusted in and out of her a few more times before his back arched, and his orgasm coursed throughout his entire body. "Lois…Oh god…Jesus Christ…Lois!"

He slowly pulled out of her, collapsing beside her onto the bed, and panted, breathlessly, as his heart thumped in his chest like a jackhammer. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her sweaty body against his own, and kissed her drenched hair. "I love you, Lois."

She twisted in his arms, facing him, and rested her hands against his slippery chest. "I love you too, baby."

They kissed, passionately for several minutes before pulling away from each other. He pulled the sheet over their bodies, and pulled her closer to him, as she rested her head on his chest. They quickly fell asleep to the sounds of their rapidly beating hearts.

* * *

A few hours later, her eyes flew open, and she jumped into a sitting position, as Clark tossed and turned next to her, screaming out, "NOOOO! NOOOO! NOOOO!"

She knelt next to him, shaking his shoulders, "Clark! Clark! Baby! Clark, wake up!"

He shot out of bed into a sitting position, breathing heavily, and was drenched in sweat, as tears cascaded down his cheeks.

She gently, and soothingly rubbed his back, trying to get him to calm down, "It's okay. It's okay, baby."

He looked over at her, his eyes were filled with so much pain—so much guilt, and his cheeks were streaked with his salty tears. "No. No, it's not going to be okay. It's never going to be okay again."

Her heart broke for him. He was in so much pain. She had wondered, momentarily, if he was still grieved over her leaving him, but disregarded that thought since they had talked very thoroughly about it. This had to be about his past—about what he was hiding from her—about what he was running from. She pulled him to her, and held him close, as he wrapped his arms around her, crying softly into her chest.

Once it seemed like he had calmed down enough, she gently kissed his forehead. "Clark, baby, do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, vehemently. "No. I-I can't."

"Why not?"

He pulled away from her, and stared into her eyes, with what she could only describe as pure and utter fear. "Lois, if I told you-if I told you what I have done, you would look at me with disgust. Yo-you would hate me. I-I can't. I don't want you to despise me. I couldn't fathom it."

She gripped his face into her hands, pressed her forehead softly against his, and stared deeply into his eyes. "Clark, I could never hate you. It's like you said I love you too much to ever hate you. I know something is eating at you-tormenting you, and whatever it is you can tell me, baby, you can tell me anything."

He stared into her eyes, like he was reading her soul, and all he could see was pure love, utter trust, and irrevocable honesty staring back at him. He loved her. He could trust her. He could be honest with her.

He slowly wrapped his arms around her, rested his head on her chest, loving how she combed her fingers through his hair, and took a deep, deep breath. "Lois, I-I've done some horrible things-things that I can never come back from. I've ruined everything that means the most to me. I've destroyed their lives. I've destroyed their trust."

She softly kissed the top of his head, her eyes pooling with tears, at the sound of complete anguish that resonated in his voice. "It's okay, baby, it's okay. Tell me what happened."

He drew invisible designs across her skin, needing her strength—her comfort to get through this—to tell her the truth. "Two months ago, I was happy with my life-with my friends, but then everything changed. One day, my biological father, Jor-El called to me, and beckoned me down to the storm cellar, where we kept my spaceship. He-he wanted me to leave the life I had built for myself-leave my family-my friends, but I couldn't do it. I didn't want to, everything and everyone I loved was there, and I refused to leave. And because of that, he branded me with the mark of my ancestors, as a consequence."

She gently traced the scar on his chest, running her fingertips across every indention. "So, that's what this is? A mark of your ancestors?"

He nodded. "Yes. He told me that I was to obey him, and if I didn't there would be consequences, this being one of them."

"What did you do?"

"I-I didn't want to leave so, I did the one thing that I thought would stop him from trying to take me away from everyone I love. I blew up my spaceship. I thought that I was doing the right thing, but I only caused more and more misery, especially to my parents."

She quickly wiped away his fallen tears, and rubbed soothing circles across his back. "What happened?"

"A-after the ship exploded, a blast of white, light spread outwards destroying everything in its path, an-and it flipped my parents truck over multiple times, as they were driving home. M-my-my mom lost her baby." He held her tighter, the tears causing his entire body to tremble, "Oh god, Lois, it's all my fault."

She had tears falling down her cheeks, "No, baby, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that, that was going to happen."

He shook his head. "No. It was my fault. Afterwards, I-I went to the hospital, and my dad, oh god, my dad he could barely even look at me when he found out what I did. He was so disappointed in me, and he had every right to be, but I knew what I had to do."

"What did you do?"

"I-I couldn't face them. I couldn't look into the eyes of my parents, knowing what I had done-knowing that I had ruined their lives. I wanted-needed to stop all the pain-all the guilt I was feeling. It was the only way I could try to move forward. Do you remember when I told you about the red kryptonite?"

She nodded. She had a feeling where this story was going, and she wasn't going to like it one bit, but she listened, nonetheless.

"I had a red kryptonite ring stashed up in my loft, and-and I put it on. It took away everything. It took away all the pain-all the guilt I was feeling, but it also took away my inhibitions, making me act like a completely different person."

"What happened next?"

He took a deep breath. "I-I stole my dad's motorcycle, and left home. When I'm on red kryptonite, everything I'm feeling deep inside, but either don't realize I'm feeling or don't express how I'm feeling comes out, and I have always felt like an outcast, especially being surrounded by people who don't understand me. So, I left. I spent one week creating absolute havoc on everything and everyone who crossed my path. I was at clubs, one in particular every single night, and I used people to my own personal extent, I stole things, and bribed people to do what I wanted, when I wanted."

She couldn't believe that her Clark, her sweet, loving, and caring Clark had done all those things, but she knew deep inside that it wasn't really him. The man she had fallen in love with was who he really was. "How did you get rid of it? I mean, you're not wearing it now so, what happened to the ring?"

"I didn't. I was so hyped up on the thrill of the red kryptonite running through my veins to ever get rid of it myself. It made me forget. It made me feel better. And I didn't want to go back to all that pain-all that guilt-all that suffering. One week after I left, my best friend found me, and managed to destroy the ring."

"Clark, I know you felt like you wanted to forget-like you wanted all the pain to go away, but it's not good to bottle all of that inside. It's a good thing he managed to destroy it."

"I know. I didn't then, of course, but I know now that it was better for me to try to deal with this under my own terms rather than try escaping through the red kryptonite."

"What happened after he destroyed the ring?"

"I was so furious. I had blamed him for ruining my life. Everything I had felt before came rushing back to me, but it was ten times worse, and I couldn't deal with it. It was too much for me to handle so, I left, but this time I wanted to get as far away from home as possible. I drove all night until I ended up at the bridge, and you know the rest after that."

He tightened his arms around her, clinging to her, and pressed his face against her heart, crying—crying harder than he's ever cried in his entire life. He had never actually said the words out loud, and now that he has, it made it so, so much more real. He needed her strength—her comfort—her love to help him through this. He just needed her.

She wrapped her arms around him, rubbing her hands up and down his back, and buried her face into his neck, whispering to him. "It's okay, baby. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. I love you." She repeated that over and over again, hoping it would reassure him—that it would calm him down, and thought about everything he had told her.

She didn't judge him.

She didn't ridicule him.

She wasn't disgusted by him.

She didn't despise or hate him.

She felt for him. Her heart broke for him. He had run away from home—ran away from the mistakes he made—the pain he caused his family and friends—from the havoc he caused afterwards. She didn't blame him. It wasn't his fault. None of it was. He couldn't have known that any of that was going to happen. She still loved him, and she was never, ever going to stop no matter what he told her.

He pulled away from her, slightly, and looked up at her. "Lois…Lois, please, please tell me you don't hate me for what I did-for what I caused."

She brushed away his tears, and kissed him, softly. "I already told you, I could never hate you, Clark, but you need to stop blaming yourself for what happened because it's not your fault."

"Yes, it is. It's all my fault. If I wouldn't have blown up my ship, none of this would have happened. My mother would still be pregnant, and my father he wouldn't have lost his trust-his faith in me."

She sighed. This was going to be harder than she previously thought. "Clark, baby, look at me."

He did.

"Did you know what was going to happen when your ship blew up?"

"No, but—"

She pressed her finger against his lips. "No buts, just listen to me, okay?"

He nodded.

"It wasn't your fault. You were only doing what you thought was right at the time. You didn't blow up your ship because you wanted to cause harm to your family or loved ones. You did it because you wanted to stay with your family-because you love them that much. Clark, you have such a big heart, and I know for a fact that your parents have already forgiven you. They don't blame you. Your friends don't blame you. I don't blame you. So, you need to stop blaming yourself for something you had no control over, and move forward."

He stared at her, with complete and utter admiration. "How do you do that?"

She frowned. "Do what?"

"How can you always make me feel better with only a few words?"

She grinned, "I don't know, I guess it's part of my charm."

He chuckled before wrapping his arms around her, holding her close, and listened to the steady beat of her heart, as she combed her fingers through his hair.

They laid in comfortable silence for a few minutes before she spoke up, "Clark, I know this is probably the last thing you want to talk about, but, um, one day you're going to have to go back home to your family and friends."

He pulled away from her, frowning, "You want me to go?"

"No!" She practically yelled out. "No, that's not what I meant, I mean, one day when you're ready you're going to want to go back home."

He shook his head, "Lois, I can never go back. I can't face them after everything that's happened."

"Are you blaming yourself again?"

"No, I just mean, I don't know, what if they don't want to see me? What if I go back, and they all despise me?"

She pressed her hand to the side of his face. "Clark, that would never happen. They love you, and they need you."

"I need you, Lois, I'm always going to need you, you're everything to me. I love you so much."

She smiled down at him, "I need you too, baby, but one day you'll realize that they need you just as much, and you will want to go home."

He sighed. He knew she was right. She usually was always right. "I know, but I'm not there yet. I'm not ready to go back-to face them-to face everything I've done."

"I understand that, but can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"Can you promise me that when you are ready, you will go home to your family?"

He smiled. "I promise, but only on one condition."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "And what would that be?"

"When I go home, I want you to come with me."

She stared at him, wide-eyed, completely surprised by that. "Y-you want me to come with you?"

He grinned from ear to ear, and enveloped her hands into his larger ones. "Don't act so surprised. Lois, I need you more than anything. You are my everything. So, will you come home with me when I'm ready?"

She smiled. "I'd love to, Clark."

He kissed her softly, sweetly, and tenderly.

She pulled away from him, staring deeply into his eyes, "Um, there's something else we need to talk about."

"What's that?"

She took a deep breath. "I, um, I can't stay here for too much longer. I'm going to have to leave."

He sighed. He knew that was going to come up eventually, he just hoped it wasn't this soon. He wanted to stay here with her, but if she had to leave then he would be going with her. "Lois, I know you can't stay in one place for too long, and it doesn't matter where we are, as long as were together."

She smiled. "Does that mean you will come with me?"

He kissed her. "It means that wherever you go, I go. I want to be with you, and I'm willing to travel with you all over the world, at least until I'm ready to go home."

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him, "I love you, Clark."

He softly chuckled. "I love you too, baby."

They laid down together, in comfortable silence for several minutes with their arms wrapped around each other.

He traced his fingers up and down her hip, "Lois?"

"Yes, baby?"

He tilted her head towards him, and stared deeply into her eyes, "Can you promise me that you will never, ever leave me again?"

She smiled. "I promise, Clark, I promise that we will always be together."

He leaned forward, kissing her, and as they kissed it sealed their love for each other—their promises to each other—their plans to stay together forever and for always.

* * *

 _ **Wow! This one was a doozy to write. There was so much information to include in this chapter. It took me over a week to plan out this chapter, and took about three days to write. Clark and Lois have been completely honest with each other and have made promises to each other, and all seems right in the world. Let's hope it stays that way.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter seventeen!**_


	19. Chapter Eighteen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Eighteen:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter, 'Don't Wanna Miss A Thing' by Aerosmith**_

 _ **For entertainment purposes only**_

* * *

Lois scrunched up her face, her nose crinkling, and her eyes squinting, as the bright, early morning sun shined directly into her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the sleepiness she was feeling, as her eyes opened, and smiled when she felt Clark's strong, muscular arms tighten around her waist. She propped herself up on her elbow, staring down at his handsome face, and gently traced the outlines of his jawline, careful not to wake him, as she thought about the past two weeks.

It had been the two most blissful weeks of her life.

They had done practically everything together.

They had went hiking, almost every single day, which reminded her of all the times they used to do that in Estes Park, and it was something she enjoyed doing with him…a lot.

They had gone horseback riding a few times, and it had been exhilarating, especially when they would race each other, but it kind of reminded her of her mother. When she was about four or five years old, her mother had taken her to her grandparent's farm, where they bred horses, and she taught her how to ride, and take care of them properly. But, ever since she passed away, she had never done it again, but it felt nice doing it again, and she could see herself getting back into it.

They had found a river, alongside the mountain, which wasn't too far from their cabins, and even though it wasn't nearly as magnificent or beautiful as the waterfall in Estes Park, it was still refreshing and calming being there.

She had been happy in Colorado, but she had never, ever felt as overjoyed as she did being here, in Montana with him, and she wished they could stay here forever.

But, they couldn't.

Today was their last day here. She didn't want to leave. She knew he didn't want to leave, but it's not like they had much choice in the matter.

A little over a month ago, after leaving Estes Park—after leaving him she had thought that she would never see him again, but it seemed that fate or destiny had a different plan for them, and she couldn't be any more thrilled with the idea of them being together again.

Those three, horribly, excruciatingly long weeks had been the worst days of her life, especially since she had thought about him—envisioned him in her mind, and dreamt about him every night.

She thanked the stars and heavens that they had found their way back to each other.

She loved him so much. She was more in love with him today than she was two weeks, and had a feeling that the more time they spent together, the more intense her feelings were going to become. It didn't matter though, she thought, because he was it for her. Clark Kent was hers, and he always would be.

As much as she loved him, she hated what she was putting them though. No normal couple should have to worry about all the things they had to worry about. They should be able to live relatively normal lives, but of course, that was impossible.

She was still running from her father, and best friend, which were working together, if what happened a few weeks ago said anything.

He was very, very slowly beginning to forgive himself and move on from everything that he has blamed himself for, for way too long.

She could see the changes in him. It was like after he had confessed everything, and said the words out loud, it had helped him be able to try to move on from it.

He wasn't there yet, she knew that, but one day soon he would be ready to face his past, and go home.

That thought excited her and made her nervous at the same time.

It would be exciting because she would be with him, but it would be nerve-wrecking because she would be meeting his family and friends, and she wasn't too sure how she felt about that.

Would they like her? Would they hate her? Would they blame her for keeping him away for so long? Would they be glad she was there for him? Would they be happy that he had someone in his life? Would they want her to disappear from his life?

She didn't know, but she did know that as long as they were together everything would be alright. She would never leave him again. He would never leave her. He was her everything, and she was his. She wanted—needed to stay with him always and forever.

She shook away her thoughts, as she felt him shift next to her, and watched how his face scrunched up, like he didn't want to wake up, and slowly blinked his eyes open.

She smiled, shyly, "Hi."

He lifted his head up, resting it on the palm of his hand, and smiled. "Hi, there."

He leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers, softly. "Good morning, beautiful."

She said, "Good morning," before laying back down, resting her head on his shoulder, and smiled when he wrapped his arms around her body. She trailed her fingers across his chest, drawing imaginary designs, "So, what do you have planned for today?"

He grinned. He had a whole day planned out for them. It was their last day here, and that saddened him, but it also excited him because he couldn't wait to get everything he had planned organized. "It's a sur—"

She slapped her hand over his mouth, stopping him from finishing that sentence, and glared down at him, "I swear to god if you even utter the word surprise I'm going to kill you."

He gently bit her hand, forcing her to pull her hand back, and glare even harder than she already was. "Fine. I won't say the word, but come on, you can't expect me not to do something. It's our last day here, and I want it to be perfect."

She sighed. He was so romantic, and she couldn't help but love that he wanted to do something special for them, knowing they could probably never come back here. "Fine, but don't expect me to not badger you with questions all day long."

He grinned. "You wouldn't be you if you didn't." He quickly stood up, and started to throw his clothes on.

She frowned. "What are you doing?"

He looked down at her, as he slipped his shirt on, "I'm getting dressed."

"What? No morning fun first?"

He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face, at the thought. "As tempting as that sounds, baby, I've got things to prepare for, besides if I was to take you up on your offer it would be hours before we got anything done."

She pouted.

He chuckled, and crawled back onto the bed, hovering over her. "God, I hate it when you do that."

She smirked, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Why?"

"Because it makes me want to do this."

He lowered himself down to her, capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. She tangled her fingers in his hair, tilting her head, deepening their kiss, and wrapped her legs around his waist, trying to pull him closer to her. She nibbled his lower lip, and traced her tongue across the outline of his lips, wanting—needing more of him. He groaned, pulling away from her, and placing soft, gentle kisses across her jawline to her neck, softly biting her pulse point.

She moaned, "Clark…"

He pulled away from her, smirking, "I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work."

She combed her fingers through his hair, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Mr. Kent."

He grinned. "You're trying to distract me, Miss Lane."

"Is it working?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to be tempted by you, you little minx."

She pouted…again.

He kissed her softly, sweetly, and tenderly. "I love you."

She stared up into his eyes, deeply, "I love you too."

He groaned, inwardly. It was so god damn tempting, especially with the way she was looking up at him, but he would not fall for it. He quickly stood up, needing to keep his distance from her before his better judgement completely broke. "I'll be back soon."

She smiled. "Hurry up."

He grinned from ear to ear before turning away from her, and as he walked out the door he could feel her gaze penetrating his backside. He knew what she was thinking. What the hell was he going to do with her?

One hour later, he walked into her cabin. "Lois? Baby?"

"One minute!" He heard her call out before she appeared out of the bathroom, and he had to do a double take, as his mouth dropped open at what he saw.

She was absolutely beautiful!

She was wearing a bright red dress, which fit her perfectly, it hung loosely around her waist, and stopped about mid-thigh. He remembered the purple dress she had worn on their first date, but that didn't even compare to what she was wearing right now. He smiled, inwardly, knowing that she would only dress up if she wanted today to be just as perfect as he hoped it would be.

She smirked, at the expression on his face. "Clark, honey, close your mouth or you're going to catch flies."

He snapped his mouth shut, and softly shook his head from side to side, trying to clear away his hazy thoughts, as his eyes roamed up and down her slender figure. He was really, really starting to regret not taking her up on her offer earlier. He looked up into her eyes. "Lois…Wow, you look…Wow."

She smiled. She had hoped for that reaction, especially since he always liked it when she wore things like this, even though she wasn't one for dressing up all fancy-like, it was nice knowing that he appreciated it.

She twirled around a few times, "So? What do you think?"

He took two long strides towards her, wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against his chest, and kissed her…deeply. He pulled away from her, completely breathless, "I think you look absolutely beautiful, but I'm kind of biased since I think you're beautiful all of the time."

She kissed him, and when she pulled away, patted his chest. "That's so sweet of you, but flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Kent."

He waggled his eyebrows, suggestively, "Really? That's not what you said last night."

She blushed, profusely.

He grinned, god, he loved it when she did that.

She gently pushed him away from her, and pointed her index finger at him. "Uh-huh. You lost your chance, mister, so, there will be none of that."

He took a step back from her, raising his hands in surrender. "Okay. Okay, I'll behave. Are you ready to go?"

She nodded before intertwining her fingers with his, and they walked out of the cabin together.

* * *

She ran through the woods, passing by the many trees that surrounded her, laughing her ass off.

He had taken her on a hike, like they usually did every day, but instead of going on their usual trail they had found one that was a little bit higher in elevation, and he had regretted it almost immediately. She began teasing him about his fear of heights, endlessly, and now, well now she was running away from him as he chased her.

Much that would do, she thought.

She felt his large, muscular arms wrap around her waist, and lift her off the ground. "No! Clark! Stop it! Put me down!"

He spun her around in circles, laughing, "Never!"

She squirmed her body, and kicked her legs, trying to get away from him, but he was too strong for her. She huffed. "Baby, please, put me down."

He gently placed her back on the ground, and twisted her body towards him, but kept his hands firmly around her waist. "Take it back!"

She smirked, "No."

He smirked right back, an evil glint in his eyes, "You know, I could always make you."

He was challenging her, and she knew it, but there was no way in hell she was backing down. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do, farm boy?"

He grinned from ear to ear, stalking towards her like she was the prey and he was the predator, making her stumble backwards until she bumped into a tree, and placed his hands on either side of her head, trapping her body with his. "I have my ways."

"Well, now that you have me where you want me what are you going to do with me?"

His eyes dropped to her full, luscious lips, and muttered, "This," before he crashed his lips against hers…hard.

He pulled away from her several minutes later, breathless, and scanned his eyes around their surroundings before looking back at her. "I'm going to miss this place."

She quickly looked down to the ground, her good mood gone just like that. She hated this. She hated that this is what their lives were like, and it was all her fault. They should be able to stay wherever they wanted for as long as they wanted, but of course, she couldn't—wouldn't risk it. Not if it meant her father caught up to her…again. She wished they could live normal lives, have a normal relationship, where they could walk down the streets together without any worries, but it just wasn't possible, not as long as she was running.

He sighed. He should have known better. He should have known not to say something like that to her. Over the past two weeks he hadn't seen her happier, but there were also times where she would become depressed, like she blamed herself for their situation. He didn't blame her, he would never blame her. It wasn't her fault that her father was chasing her, albeit if she hadn't of ran away in the first place she wouldn't have to worry about that, but then he would have never met her, and he didn't like the thought of that one bit. He didn't see this as a burden or a struggle, he saw it as traveling with the woman of his dreams—the woman he was completely in love with—the one and only person he could ever see himself with.

She was his best friend.

She was his lover.

But, most importantly, she was his soulmate, and he knew that for a fact.

She was his, and would be for always and forever.

He lifted her chin with his fingers, making her look up at him, and stared deeply into her eyes. "Hey. Don't do that."

"Why not? It's all my fault, Clark."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is. Clark, I'm dragging you all over the place while trying to escape my father, and it's not fair to you."

He sighed. "Let me ask you something, would you have preferred it if we never found each other again? If you could just escape all my yourself?"

Her eyes widened, at the implication. "What? No! God no! Never! I'm glad we found each other again."

He smiled. "Good. Now, listen to me because I'm only going to say this once."

She nodded.

"Lois, baby, I don't care about that, I've never cared about that. I only care about you-about being with you, and if that means we have to move all over the continent-all over the world then that's what we're going to do. It doesn't matter if we're in Colorado, Montana or any other state because it's just a place, it doesn't mean anything. Lois, I would travel all over the world with you, if it meant that we could be together because quite honestly, I can't imagine my life without you."

She stared up at him with tears in her eyes. "Do you mean that?"

He trailed his fingertips across her cheeks, loving how she softly closed her eyes at his touch. "I meant every word. Lois, I love you."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, "I love you too, baby."

They kissed, passionately.

He slowly pulled away from her, and engulfed her hands into his, "Come on."

She let him drag her away, "Where the hell are you taking me now?"

He grinned down at her. "You'll find out."

She groaned. What else did he have planned for today?

* * *

A few hours later, he had his hands placed over her eyes, as he slowly guided them through the thick and dense forest surrounding them.

She grumbled. "Are we there yet?"

He chuckled, and softly shook his head. He wasn't even going to answer that question since it was about the millionth time she had asked it since they left his cabin, which was only five minutes ago.

He stopped walking once they got to their location, ignoring her incessant questions, and scanned his eyes over the entirety of the display he had set up for them.

Perfect, he thought before removing his hands from her eyes, and took a step back, watching as she took in everything and how a multitude of emotions crossed over her face.

He really, really hoped she would like this.

She was completely and utterly amazed.

There was a blanket spread out on the ground in between two very large trees, atop the blanket was an assortment of Italian foods ranging from pasta to bread to desert, and many, many lit white candles surrounding them.

It was beautiful.

It was romantic.

It was only something he could come up with.

She turned towards him, smiling. "You did all this?"

He nodded. "I wanted our last night here to be perfect. Do you like it?"

She kissed him, softly. "I love it."

He grinned. He wanted tonight to go perfectly. It was likely that they would never be able to come back here, just like how they couldn't go back to Estes Park, but that didn't mean they couldn't spend their last night here happy, besides he just wanted to spend a relatively calm evening with the woman he loved with his whole heart.

After they had finished their delicious pasta's, bread, and chocolate mousse cake they were looking up into the night sky. He had his arms wrapped around her waist, as she sat in between his legs, and leaned her back against his chest.

It was such a familiar position for them, as if they had been doing it for years, and neither of them could not think about all of the times they used to do this in Colorado.

She buried herself deeper into his chest, "I miss this."

He nuzzled her neck, kissing her softly, "Yeah, me too."

She sighed, "Why don't we do this more often?"

He smiled. They used to do this all the time, but ever since they reunited they hadn't, and figured it was because it brought up heartbreaking memories, which neither of them wanted to think about, but he could admit that he enjoyed doing this with her. "How about we do this every night from this point on?"

She looked up at him, and smiled. "I like that idea."

He gently brushed his nose against hers, "I have one more thing planned for tonight."

She frowned. What more could she ask for? "What is it?"

He kissed her cheek, "I'll be right back." He super sped away, and not even two seconds later he returned with a stereo in his hand. He placed it on the ground, and pressed play before holding out his hand, "Dance with me?"

She cocked a brow at him. He wanted to dance? Didn't she have to coerce him to last time? She figured that he was probably only doing this for her benefit, knowing how much she liked to dance, especially with him.

She slipped her hand into his, letting him pull her up off the ground, and wrapped her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

 _ **I could stay awake just to hear you breathing**_

 _ **Watch you smile while you are sleeping**_

 _ **While you're far away and dreaming**_

 _ **I could spend my life in this sweet surrender**_

 _ **I could stay lost in this moment forever**_

 _ **Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure**_

They held each other close, staring into each other's eyes, as the music and words consumed them.

 _ **Don't want to close my eyes**_

 _ **I don't want to fall asleep**_

 _ **Cause I'd miss you, baby**_

 _ **And I don't wanna miss a thing**_

 _ **Cause even when I dream of you**_

 _ **The sweetest dream would never do**_

 _ **I'd still miss you, baby**_

 _ **And I don't want to miss a thing**_

They started to lean towards each other, and as soon as their lips were about to touch, it started to rain down on them. They pulled away from each other, laughing, as they looked up into the night sky, and felt the cool water pelting down on them.

 _ **Lying close to you feeling your heart beating**_

 _ **And I'm wondering what you're dreaming**_

 _ **Wondering if it's me you're seeing**_

 _ **Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together**_

 _ **And I just want to stay with you**_

 _ **In this moment forever, forever and ever**_

They looked back at each other, his aquamarine eyes locking with her hazel ones, and all laughter escaped them.

He gently brushed her wet hair away from her face, rested his forehead against hers, and kissed her, passionately underneath the moonlight, stars and pouring rain.

They pulled away from each other, smiling before she rested her head on his chest, and he rested his atop hers, softly closing their eyes, as they continued to sway to the music.

 _ **Don't want to close my eyes**_

 _ **I don't want to fall asleep**_

 _ **Cause I'd miss you, baby**_

 _ **And I don't wanna miss a thing**_

 _ **Cause even when I dream of you**_

 _ **The sweetest dream would never do**_

 _ **I'd still miss you, baby**_

 _ **And I don't want to miss a thing**_

Once the last note to the song died off she opened her eyes, and immediately clung onto him for dear life, as she realized that they were no longer on the ground. She slowly looked down, her heart beginning to race, as she could tell that they were at least eight feet in the air. She had never been afraid of heights, but this was different. How the hell were they floating?

"Clark?"

He never opened his eyes, too caught up in the moment. "Hmm?"

She rolled her eyes. She was going to kill him, as soon as they were back on ground level. "Clark!"

His eyes snapped open, at the tone of her voice, and frowned at her. "What's wrong?"

She wanted to laugh, but her racing heart stopped her. She couldn't believe this was actually happening, but of course he was absolutely clueless that they were no longer on the ground. Figures, she thought before sarcastically replying, "Oh, I don't know, maybe I'm just a tad bit concerned over the fact that we're freaking floating in midair!"

He frowned.

"Clark, look down."

He did.

And paled, visibly when he realized that they were actually floating, and just like that they were freefalling towards the ground. She snapped her eyes shut, and buried her face into his chest. He quickly swooped her into his arms, bridal style so, she wouldn't get hurt, and they crashed into the ground, creating a large hole from the impact.

He gently set her down, held her at arm's length, and scanned his eyes over her entire body, checking for injuries. "Oh my god, Lois, baby, are you okay?"

She nodded. She couldn't believe that just happened. One minute they're dancing and the next they're floating. What the hell? How does something like that happen? She looked over at him wondering why she was even thinking those types of questions when he had all kinds of abilities, which begged the question, why the hell didn't he tell her about this?

This was unbelievable. He had actually floated! It wasn't a newsflash, he supposed, since it had happened once before, but he had been sleeping when that happened. How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was this a new ability? Was he going to fly one day?

He didn't have a lot of time to think about that before he felt her smack him upside the head. He frowned at her, rubbing his head, even though it didn't actually hurt. "What was that for?"

"Oh! Don't pretend like that actually hurt!"

He glared. "That's not the point."

She glared back at him, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're right that's not the point, the point is that you just scared the living shit out of me, and when the hell did you start flying?"

He smiled, sheepishly, "Sorry?"

She glared, even harder than she was before. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you could freaking fly!"

"I can't."

She smirked, "Really? Then would you care to explain what just happened?"

"Well, technically we were floating not flying."

She rolled her eyes. This was so not the time to be getting literal, she thought. "Floating, flying, same difference. So, care to explain how that just happened?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know how that happened."

"So, this has never happened before?"

He hesitated. "Um, yes, well actually it's only happened once before, but that was a few years ago, and I was sleeping at the time. So, I really have no explanation to why this happened."

She had a feeling that there was more to him than either of them realized. He not only was from out of this world, and had special abilities, but he could also fly, well float, but still that only meant one thing. He was getting stronger as he got older, and one day he would be able to fly. She was reminded of a time when she was in Germany, and had read a book about something called an Übermensch. She grinned from ear to ear, at her revelation, and whispered, "A real life Superman."

He frowned at her. "What?"

"A Superman."

"What the hell is that."

She poked him in the chest, "You."

He stared at her like she was crazy. "What the hell are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about the fact that one day you're not only going to have all these amazing abilities, but you're going to fly."

He scoffed, shaking his head, vehemently. "Yeah, I don't think so, Lois just because I've floated a few times doesn't mean I'm going to fly, besides people can't fly, it's just not possible."

"Clark, need I remind you that you aren't exactly like everyone else, which isn't a bad thing by the way, but what if it's possible, I mean, what if one day you can fly?"

He stared at her. She had a point. He had all these abilities so, anything was possible, right? Was he going to be able to fly one day? "You really think something like that is possible?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I really do, Clark it's not a coincidence that you have floated twice, I have faith that one day you're going to soar high above the clouds."

He paled. He wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that. Nope. He already had a fear of heights, let alone, flying. No. He definitely didn't like the sound of that. "Yeah, I don't think so."

She smirked, as she saw the expression cross his face before it disappeared. "What's wrong, Clark? Are you scared?"

"No!"

"Yeah, sure you aren't."

"I'm not!"

She took a step towards him, "Admit it. You're scared. Clarkie is afraid to fly."

He growled before kissing her… hard.

She pulled away from him, "Is that the only way you know how to shut me up?"

"Pretty much."

He kissed her again, passionately, and trailed his hands down her body, resting them on her waist, squeezing softly. He swooped her up into his arms, causing her to yelp in surprise, and super sped them back to his cabin, intending to make mad, passionate love to the love of his life.

* * *

He carefully placed the last of their belongings into the back of her car, and slammed the door shut, but frowned when he didn't see her, she was right beside him not even five seconds ago. He scanned his eyes throughout the cabin and his surroundings, looking for her, and smiled when he saw her standing by the fence line, staring out into the darkened forest.

He walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her against his chest. "Everything is all packed and ready to go."

She sighed. "I'm not."

He frowned, and turned her around to face him. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't want to leave."

He didn't either, but they didn't have a choice. "We have to."

"I know, it's just, I'm going to miss this place, I mean this is where we reunited, this is where I fell in even more in love with you, and I'm just not ready to let it go yet."

He nodded. "I know, baby, me either, but we have to go, and even though we can't stay right now, it doesn't mean we can't come back one day."

"We can't."

He smiled. "Of course, we can, Lois, we might not be able to anytime soon, but I promise one day we will come back here, and even Estes Park."

"How?"

He brushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "We've talked about this, honey, and both agreed that if we have to keep running until you turn eighteen then that's exactly what we will do. Lois, as soon as were able to we can do whatever we want, and go wherever we want."

She wanted to believe that, but she was scared—scared that her father would find her before then, and tear them apart. That was the last thing she wanted. "Do you really think that's possible for us?"

He nodded. "I do. I think anything's possible, everything except your flying theory."

She chuckled.

"I have faith that one day we will be able to, and that's because I have faith in us."

She kissed him. "I love you, Clark Kent."

He smiled, "And I love you, Lois Lane."

"For always—"

"And for forever." He finished for her, like they had done so many other times before. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards her car, "Come on, baby."

They didn't know where they were going or how long they would be staying there, but it didn't really matter because they were together, and they always would be.

* * *

 _ **I was a little iffy about the floating scene. In my opinion, it would make sense for Lois to have all this faith in Clark that he could one day fly, but Clark on the other hand is still at that young age where he still resents his powers, and doubts his own future. I hope it wasn't too confusing or off-based.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter eighteen!**_


	20. Chapter Nineteen

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Nineteen:**_

* * *

Lois sat on a black metal bench, which was sitting directly in front of a coffee shop, one they had been frequenting almost every day, and waited for Clark, as he was putting in reservations at a restaurant a few blocks away.

After leaving Montana, they had drove throughout most of the night only stopping to either sleep or eat, the latter being the main reason. The next few days had been pretty much the same except they had relegated to visiting a few of the towns they happened upon. Two days ago, they had arrived in Tacoma, Washington, and since both of them seemed to like it here decided to stay for a little while.

She was a little hesitant at first, since she knew how much of a military state Washington was, but figured that she would be safe here, as long as she steered clear from the famously known army towns. It wasn't like she actually knew anyone here, her father did, but he didn't know where she was so, she really didn't have anything to worry about.

She just wanted to enjoy her time here, in this town with him before they either left for another town—another state or maybe his home town. She hoped it was the latter. As much as she enjoyed traveling with him, she had a feeling that his friends and family missed him dearly, and he needed to go back home. She wouldn't force him of course, but that didn't mean she couldn't nudge him every once in a while.

She smiled, as she thought about the past couple of days. They had done a few things here and there, but since all there was to do was hiking, swimming, and horseback riding they had opted for walking around the town, enjoying each other's company.

She grinned from ear to ear, as memories of their earlier adventure came to mind…

 _She delicately ran her slender fingers through Spartan's, her horse's mane, as she sat atop him, and smirked over at her companion. "Clark, I think you might be forgetting something here, I've been doing this ever since I was a little girl. Do you really think you can beat me at my own game?"_

 _He chuckled, as he gently patted his horse, Nightingale's neck, and softly rubbed his hand across his shiny, black coat. "What game? Lois, you realize that you've only just started riding again or so you've told me, and yes I do believe I'm going to beat you."_

 _She scoffed. "That means nothing. Just because I haven't done this in a few years—"_

" _Correction, you haven't done this since you were a little girl," he interjected, purposefully interrupting her rant._

 _She scowled, "Regardless, it's just like learning how to ride a bicycle, you never, ever forget how to do it."_

 _He laughed—he laughed so hard that his sides started to hurt, as her words reminded him of the time he told her the exact same thing. "Yeah, says the woman who was terrified to drive my damn motorcycle. I remember telling you the exact same thing, and do you remember what your response was? I quote 'Yeah, sure, like riding a bike without training wheels.'"_

 _She glared. How did she know that he was going to bring that up? "You didn't just go there!"_

" _Oh, I did."_

" _That was different."_

 _He raised his brows, "Really? How is that any different?"_

 _She didn't have an answer for that. "It doesn't matter. It just is."_

 _He shook his head from side to side. "Whatever you say, Lane, but need I remind you that I am from a small town, and have been doing this ever since I could walk."_

 _She rolled her eyes. "That means nothing."_

" _Yeah, you say that now, but what are you going to say when I beat you again, just like I have over and over again."_

 _She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're cocky, you know that?"_

 _He shrugged his shoulders. "I've been told that a few times before, but admit it you love me this way."_

 _She grinned. "I just love you."_

 _He grinned back, his eyes twinkling. "And I love you."_

 _She grabbed her stirrups, making sure her feet were properly encased in the holsters, and gently patted Spartan's neck. "Okay, enough talk, farm boy, are you ready to get your ass handed to you?"_

 _He chuckled, copying her movements with his own horse. "You mean, are you ready to lose again just like last time?"_

" _Shut up!"_

 _He snickered. "Okay. Okay, on the count of three."_

" _One! Two! Three!" They said simultaneously before kicking their legs into the horse's sides, making them gallop, and raced each other, just like they had done so, so many other times before._

She shook her head, laughing at the memory. He had won, of course, and unfortunately, she couldn't accuse him of cheating since it was pretty difficult to use his powers while riding a horse. He had teased her, relentlessly about it saying he told her so over and over again. She wanted to smack him, but figured she would let him have this one because next time she would be winning, and she was going to relish in that victory.

She was brought out of her thoughts, as she felt two very large hands cover her eyes, completely blocking her vision, and felt his warm breath lingering on her neck when he whispered, "Guess who?"

She couldn't help the grin that took over her features, at his ridiculousness. He was such a dork, but admittedly he was her big dork. "Hmm. I'm going to take a wild guess, and say…Ian Somerhalder?"

"Nope!"

"How about Jensen Ackles?"

He rolled his eyes. "No. Try again."

"Misha Collins?"

He growled, slightly whining. "Lois!"

She chuckled. It was so much fun teasing him, actually it was the highlight of her day, especially when she did it to the point he became annoyed with her. "Hmm. This is difficult, let me think about this for a second." She paused, purposefully for a few seconds, knowing he was going to become irritated. "Is it my incredibly sexy, very charming, and irresistibly handsome boyfriend?"

He grinned at her description of him. "Ding! Ding! Ding!" He exclaimed before removing his hands from her eyes.

She looked up at him, a huge smile plastered on her face. "Hello, handsome."

He slowly leaned down, and captured her lips in a sweet kiss. "Hello, beautiful."

He came around the bench, sitting down next to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, loving how she just melted into his side, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She cuddled up against him, enjoying the heat his body gave off. "Did you make the reservations?"

"Yes, our table will be ready in a few minutes."

"So, I guess that means we should get going."

"Yup."

She moved closer to him. "But, I'm so comfortable."

He chuckled. "Nuh-huh. You do this every time, and we always end up getting take out."

She grinned. She really did enjoy some take out, especially when she didn't feel like going out, which was often. "But, what if I just want to cuddle up with you and eat some really, really good Chinese food."

"You'll want to do more than that," he muttered, just loud enough so she could hear.

She punched his shoulder, "I heard that, smartass!"

He poked her ribs, making her squirm, "You were supposed to."

"What are trying to tell me, farm boy?"

He wasn't going near that with a ten-foot pole, and quickly stood up, holding out his hand. "Come on, baby, dinner awaits us."

She narrowed her eyes at him, knowing he was avoiding the answer to her question, but figured she would get him back for that little comment. She slipped her hand into his, giggling when he lifted her up, and spun her around before wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, guiding them towards the restaurant.

* * *

General Jefferson Reynolds sat at his desk, in his office looking over the never-ending paperwork that was sprawled across his desk.

He sighed, heavily, and rubbed the back of his neck.

He really, really hated this part of his job. It was necessary though, even though all it was, was a bunch of orders about different departments on base, but if it wasn't done than he would most likely lose his job. He loved being a General, he had worked his ass off to get here, but this was just one of those things he hated about it.

He glared at the papers before him, wishing—hoping that they would just disappear from his desk, much that would do, he thought since there would be another stack the next day. It was an endless cycle.

RING! RING! RING!

He quickly grabbed his phone, completely thankful for the distraction. "This is General Jefferson Rey—Oh, hi sweetheart, what's going on?"

He heard her sweet, tender voice on the other line. "Well, me and the kids were wondering if you wanted to meet us for dinner at our restaurant? But, if you're busy don't worry about it, darling."

He looked down at the papers on his desk, scrutinizing them, on one hand if he left he would be here all night, but on the other hand he could spend time with his family. Decision made, he thought. "No, I'm not busy just going over paperwork. I'll be there shortly, sweetie. I love you."

"Love you too, sweetheart."

He quickly stacked the papers into a neat pile, grabbed his things, and locked up his office before heading towards his car. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, he should really be focusing on his paperwork, but he really, really needed a break from that, and what was a better distraction than spending time with his beautiful wife, and children?

Thirty minutes later, he pulled up to the small and quaint Italian restaurant, which was in the central part of Tacoma, Washington. He walked inside, spotting his family, and greeted his wife, Charlene, with a sweet kiss. "Hello, lovely."

She smiled, and patted his cheek. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Yeah, well this seemed like a better idea then doing paperwork all night, which reminds me I'll probably be home a little late tonight."

She nodded, completely understanding.

"Daddy!"

He quickly looked down at his little angel, Kristin, who was currently yanking on his shirt with her tiny hands, obviously trying to get his attention. She was only four years old with short blonde hair like her mother, and bright green eyes like him. She was the light of his life. He picked her up, lifting her into the air, and spun her around in circles before placing her on his hip. He poked her cute little nose, "What has my little pumpkin been up to today?"

Hey eyes widened to the size of saucers. "P-pu-pump-pumpkin? What is that?"

"That's you."

She frowned. "Daddy! I'm not a whatever you just called me! I'm Kristin!"

"I know, sweetheart," he kissed her forehead, chuckling at her, and set her back down on the ground. He looked over at his eldest son, Oscar, who was a spitting image of himself with dark brown hair, ruggedly handsome, and had even greener eyes than himself. He ruffled his hair, as he sat down next to his wife, "What's up, sport?"

He scowled, as he looked up from the menu, "Dad! I'm not a kid anymore! Don't call me sport!"

He shook his head at his son, the kid was only ten freaking years old, but somehow, he thought that he was too old for affection from his parents, and would tell them so very often. He wouldn't even accept hugs or kisses from them, and even though they tried he adamantly refused to deter from his stubbornness.

A trait he got from his mother, he thought.

After ordering their meals, they had talked about trivial things such as Charlene's day at work, and what Kristin did in preschool, as well as what Oscar had learnt in school today. The children had become bored, and excused themselves from the table to go to the arcade room.

As soon as the children were gone, she grabbed his hand. "So, have you heard from Sam again?"

He shook his head. "No, he made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to hear from me unless I had found her."

He had been pleasantly surprised to hear from Sam Lane about three weeks ago, and was tasked with the mission to keep an eye out for his niece, well technically, she wasn't his niece, but he had been best friends with Ella Lane, and kept in contact with Sam over the years.

She sighed, shaking her head from side to side. "That poor man. He's probably worried sick about her, I mean, I've only met her a couple of times, and even though she seems to be able to take care of herself, it doesn't mean she couldn't get into some serious danger. Why do you think she ran away?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

Except he did know.

Hell, everyone knew how he treated those two girls. One was given special treatment, going to a luxurious boarding school in a different country, while the other one was dragged around from base to base her whole life. He had often wondered if Ella hadn't of passed away maybe, just maybe those two girls would have had a much different life. Lois probably wouldn't have ever run away, and Lucy, well she probably wouldn't be in some other country.

Dinner was served a short time later, and they all sat in contended silence, as they enjoyed their meals. As he was eating, he had happened to look out the window, and was completely caught off guard at what or who he saw.

His eyes widened.

His heart rate accelerated.

He couldn't believe it.

She was here, Lois Joanne Lane, was here in Tacoma, Washington. He just couldn't believe it.

He put down his utensils, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Um, I'll be right back," and with that he quickly left the table.

He slowly walked outside, standing across the street from her, slightly hidden, and watched her. She looked completely different than he remembered, albeit that was six years ago, and now, well now she had turned into a very, very beautiful young lady. She looked just like her mother.

He watched, as she sat on a bench across the street from him, and one part of him wanted to walk over there and confront her, but he had gotten clear orders from Sam that if he was to come across her not to let her know that he was there. The reasoning behind that was obvious, she would probably run away again, and Sam was completely fed up with trying to find her. He wanted to do this right. He wanted to make sure his daughter came home.

As much as he understood that, he also felt sympathy for her, especially since he knew how she was raised. She looked happy, actually she looked happier than he's ever seen her before, but sadly all of that was going to change.

His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open, slightly, as he watched a man appear behind her, covering her eyes with his hands, and talk to her with a grin plastered on his face before he kissed her.

Well, that explains a lot, he thought, it's no wonder why she doesn't want to go back.

As he watched them, he couldn't help but smile at the picture they painted, it reminded him of when he had met his wife. He had been a young soldier, almost the same age, maybe a little bit older than Lois or this young man, who seemed to be only sixteen years old, and those days had been the best days of his life.

Just by looking at them, even from a distance, he could tell that they were very much in love, and disappointingly all of that was going to change, their little worlds were about to be completely turned upside down.

He sighed, heavily, as he watched the young man twirl her around, like he was dancing with her before wrapping his arms around her waist, and walking them down the sidewalk.

He resolutely walked back inside, joining his family once again, but he couldn't even try to focus on his food or them at the moment.

He didn't want to do this. Not to his little Lois—not to the little girl he had played with—not to the little girl who had brightened his day all those years ago by simply giving him a large, toothy smile.

He heard his wife' voice, overriding his thoughts. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

He nodded.

He couldn't exactly tell her, not with the kids here, especially since they seemed to listen to every word they said and repeated it verbatim, besides she wasn't even supposed to know, but since she knew Sam and those two girls he didn't see the harm in telling her.

Dinner was finished quickly, and he said goodbye to her and the children before making his way back to base. He knew he was going to be staying late tonight, but not only because of the endless amount of paperwork, it would be because he was worried—worried about what was going to happen next.

He still couldn't believe it.

He had actually found her, by accident, but of course she didn't know that, and it needed to stay that way, he needed to keep a low profile until he got word from Sam or whoever he sent after her.

He hated doing this to her, he really did, but as a father he needed to do this for Sam, even though he treated those girls, especially Lois more like a soldier than an actual daughter.

He walked into his office, softly closing the door, and made his way to his desk. He picked up the phone, hesitating slightly before he typed in the familiar phone number. It was time he made that phone call, no matter how much he didn't want to do it.

* * *

Clark slowly trailed his fingertips up and down her bare hip, and she traced imaginary figures across his arm, her back pressed against his chest, as they laid in bed together.

He stared up at the ceiling, completely and utterly lost in his own thoughts.

It was time. He was ready—ready to go back home. It had taken him a long time to get where he was right now, but it felt good to finally be there, and it was all because of the beautiful woman in his arms.

She had changed everything.

A little over two months ago, he had left home feeling nothing but pain—guilt—shame, and vowed to himself and to Pete that he would never, ever go back.

But that had all changed, and it was because of her—because of Lois.

She had made him feel nothing but utter happiness.

She had made him forget everything that had happened, everything that he had caused.

She had made him see that it wasn't his fault, that his parents and friends didn't blame him.

She had made him believe again.

But, most importantly, she had healed him.

While in Estes Park, he didn't even think about his home, his friends or his family because he was too wrapped up in being with the woman he loved, and he figured that, that was where he started to heal.

But…

But then, she left, and it had all come rushing back to him like a tidal wave, except it wasn't as painful as it had been before. He didn't know it then, but he was already on the road to forgiving himself—to moving forward—to healing.

It wasn't until he was in Montana that he really started thinking about the situation back home, albeit that was mostly because he had come clean to her—he had told her the truth, and it was the best thing he's ever done.

She had talked to him, showing him that the mistakes he had made weren't entirely his fault, of course, if he would have made better decisions none of it would have happened, but in some way, he was glad it did because he got to meet her—he got to meet and fall in love with the woman of his dreams.

He was once blinded, now he could see perfectly clear.

His parents and friends didn't blame him for what happened.

They missed him, he knew that, hell, he missed them too.

He missed his parents.

He missed Pete.

He missed Chloe.

He just missed Smallville altogether, and he was ready—he was ready to go home.

He was ready to face his past.

He was ready to put all that pain and suffering behind him.

He was ready to move forward.

He looked down at her, the woman who had made all of this possible, and softly smiled, as her eyes were glued to the TV screen. She had wanted to watch a movie…again, which really shouldn't surprise him since she seemed to love doing that, but of course, he hadn't been paying attention.

Would she want to go with him?

They had promised each other back in Montana that they would always stay together. She had promised him that she would go home with him when he was ready, the question was, did she still want to go with him?

She didn't know his hometown. She didn't know the townspeople. She didn't know his family or friends, but he wanted her to come with him. He never, ever wanted to see a day where they weren't with each other, especially since he had gotten a taste of that for three weeks, and it had been the worst three weeks of his life.

He couldn't imagine her not being in his life, actually, he refused to even think about it. If he did it caused pain worse than being around green kryptonite. She was his everything. He wanted her to be with him always and for forever.

"Lois?"

She never took her eyes off the screen. "Hmm?"

He rolled his eyes. This happened every single time they watched a movie, he would try talking to her, and she would pretend to be listening, but in reality, she didn't even hear a damn thing he said. It was like the TV absorbed her entire attention, and nothing else mattered at that moment.

He raised his voice, slightly, "Lois?"

She frowned, at the tone and volume of his voice, and looked up at him. "Yes, baby?"

"I'm ready."

She frowned, even more so. What the hell was that supposed to mean? "Clark, honey, you need to be a little clearer. What exactly are you ready for?"

He took a deep breath, staring deeply into her eyes. "I'm ready to go home."

She stared at him, wide-eyed for a few seconds before shooting up from her position on the bed, slightly startling him, and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him. "Oh my god! Clark!"

He hugged her back, tightly, and laughed, at her utter excitement. "Wow. I wasn't expecting this kind of reaction. Why are you so excited?"

She pulled back from him, staring into his eyes. "I'm excited for you, baby. I had hoped that you would want to go home soon. It's where your needed-where your wanted. Your parents and friends are going to be so happy to see you!"

"I'll be happy to see them too, but um, does this mean you still want to go with me?"

She kissed him, softly. "What kind of question is that? Of course, I want to go with you, Clark. We promised each other, remember?"

He smiled. "We did."

She crisscrossed her legs, sitting Indian style, and folded her hands together, placing them in her lap. "So? How long have you known this? When did you know you were ready to go home?"

He sighed. That was the question of the century, but he knew the truth, he had just been stuck in denial for so long that he didn't see it beforehand. "I-I think I've been ready for a while now, but I was blinded by everything to actually see it, an-and it's all because of you."

Her heart skipped several beats, "me?" she croaked out.

He nodded, and rested his hands over hers. "Yes. Lois, this entire time that we have been together, even when we were just friends you made me feel things-you made me forget everything, but it wasn't just that, it was the fact that you have healed me."

She frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Lois, before I left home I was in so much pain, but the moment I met you, everything changed. You kept my mind off things, making me fall for you in the process, but every time we were together you made me believe in life again-you made me believe that I could forgive myself-that I could move forward from everything. Lois, baby, without you I'd still be lost, and I will be forever thankful that you were the one that almost hit me that day on the bridge because, quite honestly, without you who knows where I'd be today."

A few tears fell down her cheeks, at his heartfelt speech, and she lunged into his arms. "Oh, Clark! I love you, baby, I love you so much!"

He tightened his arms around her, effectively pulling her into his lap, and breathed her in. "I love you too. Oh, Lois, I love you so much!"

They pulled away from each other, sharing a sweet, tender and passionate kiss.

She rested her forehead against his, staring into his eyes. "So, when do you want to go?"

He squeezed her waist, slightly, and pulled her a little closer to him. "Not yet. I want to stay here for a few more days with you, and then we can go home."

"Home?" She questioned.

He smiled. "Yes, baby, it's your home too."

She shook her head. "No. My home isn't any place in this world, it's wherever you are."

He smiled before kissing her again.

They settled back down onto the bed, their arms wrapped around each other, and focused back on the TV screen, neither of them able to stop smiling.

She couldn't believe it.

He wanted to go home.

He wanted her to come with him.

She had hoped that he would want to soon, especially since she wanted to just be with him, without the worries of traveling all over the place.

She was happy for him—for them, but couldn't help but feel a little anxious about it, and all those questions came bubbling back up to the surface.

Would they like her? Would they hate her? Would they blame her for keeping him away for so long? Would they be glad she was there for him? Would they be happy that he had someone in his life? Would they want her to disappear from his life?

She quickly pushed them down. She wasn't going to worry about that. She was going to spend the rest of her time with him here in Washington before they went home—before they begun the beginning of their new adventure…together.

* * *

The General was in his quarters, sitting at the end of his bed, his head covered by his hands, as he thought about his wayward daughter.

It had been over two months since she had vanished from base without a trace, and it had been three weeks since he put his last possible plan to find her into action.

He had called every single Army General in the Unites States, ordering them to keep an eye out for her, just in case they happened to come across her, but not to confront her personally, and he had gotten nothing—nada—not even a single phone call since that day.

It was frustrating as all hell.

Where the hell was she?

It wasn't like she had disappeared from Earth or like she was just drifting off into space somewhere, she was out there, and being very, very careful.

He was beginning to wonder if she had steered clear from all military states, which would be kind of impossible, he thought since there were only a few states that had zero Army bases in them.

He had called his wife' brother, Gabe Sullivan, and of course that had gotten him absolutely nowhere. She hadn't been anywhere near that small town in Kansas, Smallville was the name of it, and hadn't even tried contacting them. He had thought that she might have contacted his niece, Chloe, but of course she hadn't. He should have known that she would be smart enough not to contact them, knowing that he would have eventually tried that angle.

He really, really hoped that he found her, and soon because he was all out of ideas, and there was no way in hell he was going to give up on finding her.

She would be coming back to base, whether it be in one day—one week or one month.

His thoughts were interrupted by the shrill of his cell phone, and as soon as he looked at the caller ID he frowned, it was an unknown number from Washington. Who the hell would be calling him at this time of night from Washington?

He answered in a deep, gruff voice. "This is General Sam Lane."

"Sam, it's Jeff, Jeff Reynolds. Look, I think I have some information that you have been waiting to hear."

He immediately straightened. "Do you know where Lois is?"

"Yes. She's here in Tacoma, Washington. I just saw her a few hours ago."

He frowned. "A few hours ago? Why didn't you contact me sooner?"

"I was with Charlene and the kids so, I had to wait until I got back to the office, but, um, there's more. She wasn't alone."

"What?" He inquired, curiously. Who the hell was she with?

He could tell that he was hesitating on the other line. "I, um, she was with a man, Sam, and it seems that they're together."

That infuriated him like no other. What the hell did she think she was doing gallivanting around the world with some man? "Thanks, Jeff. I'll be sending a man named, Wes Keenan as soon as possible, and he will tell you the details."

He quickly hung up the phone. Out of all the Generals, he hadn't expected his wife' old best friend, and family friend to be the one that found his daughter, but figured it was better this way. He could trust Jeff, hell, he's even saved his life a few times.

He quickly left his quarters, heading straight for Wes'.

He would not be disappointed this time, nope, not with the airtight plan he had created with Wes, himself. He would have his daughter back sooner than she thinks, and it was about damn time.

* * *

Wes' eyes snapped open, waking up from a deep sleep when he heard pounding coming from his front door.

He crawled out of bed, grumbling, "Who the hell pounds on a door at this time of night?"

He wretched open the door, a scowl plastered on his face, "Who the hell do you thin—" He stopped mid-sentence realizing it was General Sam Lane at his door. He quickly straightened, "Uh, sir, what can I do for you."

"Get dressed, soldier. You're going to Tacoma, Washington tonight."

He stared at him, wide-eyed. "I'm what?"

He sighed. "Lois is in Washington, and you're driving there tonight."

He couldn't believe it. The plan had actually worked. "How did you find out, sir? How long has she been there?"

"It doesn't matter, but what does matter is that you will be successful this time, is that clear, soldier?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you remember what we talked about? It's the only way to ensure she comes back with you, without any worries."

He remembered all right, but how was he supposed to orchestrate something that severe? "Sir, if I may, how do you expect me to achieve that when I don't have the means or necessities' to do so?"

He clapped him on the shoulder. "No need to worry about that, soldier. All you need to do is go to the main headquarters base in Tacoma, and ask to speak to Jefferson Reynolds. Tell him everything we have talked about, and he will deal with the rest, but I expect you to be back with my daughter."

He saluted. "Sir, yes, sir."

Wes quickly got dressed, after The General had walked away, and packed a few things since it would take him a few days to get there before rushing towards his car.

It worked.

It had actually worked.

He just couldn't believe it.

This would all be over…finally.

He would find Lois within one week, and be bringing her back to Arizona very, very soon.

Everything was going to go back to normal again, and his life would be so much simpler.

He had just started his ignition when he heard Cassie's voice, "Hey, Wes, where are you going so late?"

He loved her he really did, but she had absolutely horrible timing. "Hey, Cass, um, I'm going to Tacoma, Washington."

She frowned. "Why? What's so important there?"

He stared her straight in the eyes, "Our best friend."

She paled, and her heart started racing in her chest. "W-what? You know where Lois is?"

He nodded. "Yes, and I'm bringing her back home. It's time she stopped running."

She shook her head. "Do you really expect it to be that easy? Come on, Wes, you know her just as well as I do. She won't make it easy for you, you know that."

He did know that, if what happened in Colorado said anything. "Yeah, I do, but this time she won't be getting away."

"This time?" She questioned.

He sighed. He didn't have time for this. "It doesn't matter. Look, I'll explain when I get back, okay?"

She nodded, and watched as he drove away from her—away from the base, heading towards Washington, where her best friend was.

She was happy that she would be seeing her again, albeit forcefully, but she couldn't help but feel incredibly sad for her because for some reason she had a feeling that Lois was having the time of her life, and that was about to change.

She slowly walked back to her quarters, lost in thought.

She would be seeing her best friend a lot sooner that she had thought, and she couldn't wait to see her bubbly face again, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to the best of reunions. Not because she wouldn't be happy to see her, but because she wasn't going to be a happy camper since Wes and her father were going to be dragging her back to base.

Yeah, she was going to be doing some major damage control, she thought.

* * *

 _ **There was a lot going on in this chapter that's for sure. It's all coming together now. The General is on to Lois…again, and Wes is going after her…again. But, this time they have reinforcements, and Clois are none the wiser. I decided to post this earlier than I planned because the next few days I'll be attending my grandmother's funeral, and planning her celebration/wake. Since I'm going to be so busy, I won't be able to post this weekend, which is why I posted this tonight, and I wouldn't expect another update until next week sometime.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter Nineteen!**_


	21. Chapter Twenty

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty:**_

* * *

Clark sighed, heavily, and shook his head from side to side, as he drove down the highway, but couldn't help himself from smiling at Lois' complete and utter eagerness.

He had planned out their entire day, which she was constantly complaining about since he refused to tell her where he was planning on taking her. It was a surprise. He knew she didn't like them, actually, she hated them with a fiery passion, but it was their last day in Washington, and he wanted to make it special for both of them.

She peered out the window, like she had been doing for the past hour, and watched all the scenery pass her by, wondering where in the hell he was taking her. He had told her that he would be driving them somewhere for the day, but wouldn't tell her where, and it was frustrating as all hell. Hasn't he learned by now that she hates surprises?

She rolled her eyes, huffing and puffing, silently, of course he knew, but that obviously wasn't going to stop him from doing it now or anytime in the future, she thought.

Her eyes widened.

Her mouth fell open, slightly.

And she grinned from ear to ear, as she noticed a beach coming into view.

She turned towards him, excitement consuming her entire body. "A beach? This was the surprise? You're taking me to a beach?"

He glanced over at her, and smiled before returning his eyes to the road. "Yeah, well I thought it would be a nice change of scenery, especially since it's our last day here." He looked over at her. "Do you like it?"

She grinned from ear to ear, practically jumping up and down in her seat. "Like it? Clark, I love it! I haven't been to a beach in god knows how long."

That was a relief, he thought. He had hoped she would, and was immensely glad that she did. He couldn't wait to spend the day here with her.

A few minutes later, they pulled up into the overflowing parking lot, and quickly started grabbing their bags.

She grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the car, and towards the ocean. "Come on, hurry up."

He barely had enough time to grab everything, and was pretty sure he left something behind, but hopefully they wouldn't need anything from that bag. "Lois, baby, hold on."

"No. I had to wait one hellish long hour for this. So, come on, let's go. Hurry up."

He shook his head, softly chuckling. She must be really, really excited, he thought.

They quickly found a comfortable and isolated spot near the shoreline, located near some high rising cliffs, and laid out their towels before sitting down. She started shifting through the bags searching for something, and frowned when she couldn't find it. "Look in the other bags for sunscreen."

He smirked. "Say please."

She glared over at him. He was teasing her, and they both knew it. Wasn't it enough that he made her wait so long to find out where he was taking her, but now he wanted her to play nice. Two could play at that game, she thought.

She smiled, sweetly, resting her hands atop his, and batted her eyelashes. "Can you please look for the sunscreen, baby?"

He rolled his eyes. He should have known better, of course she would do something like that just to get back at him for teasing her. She was completely and utterly incorrigible, he thought before shifting through the bags, and frowned when he came up empty handed.

Then he remembered he had left a bag in the car because of someone's haste to get here. "I think it's still in the car."

"And why didn't you grab everything?"

He mock glared. "Well, if somebody wasn't in such a damn hurry then maybe I wouldn't have left it behind."

She smiled, sheepishly, and shrugged her shoulders, like she didn't have a care in the world.

He shook his head, and quickly stood up. "I'll be right back."

She watched him walk away, smiling, until he completely disappeared from her sights, and slowly lowered herself to the ground.

They were having so much fun here, in Washington, especially since they had done so many things together, but today was their official last day here.

That thought brought sadness and happiness at the exact same time.

She was saddened because they were having so much fun and one part of her didn't want to leave, but another part of her was completely excited about going home with him.

She frowned, as she realized that she had absolutely no idea where they were going, actually, she had no idea what state or town he lived in.

Why hadn't that come up in conversation before?

She figured that she has just been so caught up in the joy—in the happiness—in the excitement of being with him that it hasn't even crossed her mind until now.

When they had first met, she wanted to know, of course she did, but he had been so closed off from her that it was nearly impossible to get him to open up to her. Even when they were in Colorado, she never thought to ask him since he still seemed reserved to share that information with her, albeit she was keeping things from him at the time.

So, why hadn't she asked him in Montana or even just last week when he revealed that he was ready to go back home?

She didn't know, but she filed it away for later. There was no way she could travel to his hometown without knowing where in the hell she was going. That was just nonsense.

She softly closed her eyes, relishing in the bright, hot sun beaming down on her skin, and smiled when she felt a shadow looming over her.

She never opened her eyes. "That didn't take very long. Did you cheat, farm boy?"

Silence.

Okay, she thought, either he was choosing to be silent for some unknown reason or he was up to something, she was betting on the latter. "Well? What are you waiting for? An open invitation? I'd rather not burn to a crisp out here."

She sensed him kneel on the ground beside her, slightly hovering atop her body, but as soon as she felt him touch her bare legs her eyes snapped open. Those were not Clark's hands. She panicked, internally, as she noticed some random guy smiling down at her, while touching her legs with his rough hands.

It was absolutely revolting.

She quickly pulled away from him, and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hey! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

He smiled, as he stood up, and took a step towards her. "I was doing what you asked."

She glared. "I didn't ask you to touch me!"

He smirked. "Really? Cause I swear I heard you say quite the opposite."

"Well, maybe you should get your hearing checked, buckaroo, because it was quite obvious that I was waiting for someone else."

He stepped towards her, a cheeky grin on his face. "Like who? Your boyfriend?"

She smirked. "Yeah, actually, and I don't think you wanna mess with him."

He scoffed. "Like that guy could do anything to me. I could take him. Besides what kind of boyfriend is he if he left you all alone?"

If only you knew, she thought.

"That's none of your business."

He moved closer to her, making her take a step back from him. "Oh, I think it is, besides you can do so much better than him."

She laughed. "With who? Someone like you? Yeah, I don't think so."

He gripped her wrists in his hands, and pulled her towards him. "Oh, come on, sweet cheeks, admit it. You'd rather have a real man, like me, unlike that idiot I saw you with."

She tried yanking her hands away from him, but he tightened his hold on her, and it was beginning to hurt, slightly. She glared. "Let me go!"

He leaned extremely close to her, so close that she could feel his breath on her skin, and it smelt like rotting food.

It was disgusting.

This man was completely repulsive.

"Why should I? I'm enjoying myself, besides I kind of like where I have you."

She continued pulling away from him, but it was useless. "Like I told you my boyfriend, who by the way won't hesitate to kick your ass, will be back soon."

He laughed, cynically, and squeezed her wrists a little harder, making her wince, slightly. "Well, he's not here now, is he?"

"I said let me go!"

He smirked. "Yeah, I don't think so. You're such a beautiful girl, out here all alone, and I'm just accompanying you."

Accompanying me? More like harassing me, she thought.

She was one second away from kneeing this guy where the sun doesn't shine, but before she could she noticed Clark appear out of nowhere behind the man's shoulder, and he looked pissed. "She's not alone."

He never turned around to face Clark, and kept his hands firmly wrapped around her wrists. "Let me guess, the boyfriend?"

She didn't answer, her focus completely on Clark, and he just seemed to be getting angrier and angrier.

This wasn't going to be good, she thought.

"Yeah, that would be right, and I'm pretty sure she told you to let her go, so, I suggest that you remove your hands from her."

He scoffed. "Yeah? And what are you going to do if I don't?"

She gulped, nervously. This guy didn't know what he was getting himself into, and she really, really hoped Clark didn't do something stupid.

He growled, clamping his hand down on his shoulder, and squeezed roughly before turning him towards him. "I said let her go."

The guy stared, wide-eyed up at him, a look of pure fear crossing his features, and quickly let her go. "I-I-I'm s-sorry, man." And then he took off running in the other direction.

She smirked, as she watched him run away. "You know, you can be really intimidating when you want to be."

He completely ignored that, too worried about her, and grabbed her wrists, rubbing his thumbs over the red marks. "Are you okay?"

"Clark, I'm fine."

He slowly pulled away from her, and lowered himself to the ground, sighing, heavily. She watched him, and immediately went on alert. He was upset over what had happened, she could tell that from the way he wouldn't look at her and how his shoulders were slumped. She knelt down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Clark, how much of that did you see?"

"I saw enough."

She sighed, hearing the strain in his voice. "Clark, look at me."

He did…very slowly.

She could see the pain—the jealousy lingering in his eyes, and gripped his face into her hands, staring deeply into his eyes. "Baby, you know I would never, ever do something like that with another guy, right?"

He nodded. "I know, Lois. I trust you implicitly, but I-I don't know I couldn't help feeling jealous."

"You have no reason to be jealous."

"Yeah. I know that, but Lo, what if next time you actually like the guy? What does—"

She silenced him with a soft and gentle kiss. "Clark, I love you and only you. No one is ever going to change that. No matter what, I will always want to be with you."

He smiled at her.

She smiled back before leaning forward and capturing his lips in a sweet and passionate kiss. She swiped her tongue across his bottom lip before sucking it into her mouth, and bit down, gently, pulling it in between her teeth.

He whimpered, as she pulled away. "You Miss Lane are a tease."

She smirked. "That was a sneak preview for later."

He growled, low in his throat, but loud enough for her to hear it. He was so going to get her back for that, he thought.

"So, did you get the sunscreen?"

"No, I just went to the car because I had nothing better to do."

She punched him in his shoulder, "You are so not funny!"

He grinned. "Oh, but, I am!"

"Whatever!" She made a move to grab the sunscreen from the bag, but he grabbed her hands, making her frown up at him.

"Let me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're up to something, farm boy."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Oh yeah? And if I am? What are you going to do about it?"

She gripped the back of his head, pulling him towards her, and crashed her lips against his. He moaned, his hands finding her waist and pulled her closer to him so, she was practically sitting on his lap. She prodded his lips to open up to her, her tongue slipping inside when he did so, and tasted the sweet essence that was purely him. He dug his fingers into her bare skin, loving the feelings she awoke in him every time they kissed, especially when she kissed him like he was the only man in the world.

She pulled away from him, smirking. "That. That is what I will do. Now, get to it farm boy or I really am going to fry in this heat unlike somebody I know."

He stared at her, wide-eyed. He had just let her do it again. What the hell was wrong with him? Oh right, he was completely in love with the woman who enjoyed teasing him endlessly. "You're a little minx, you know that?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure you'll figure out a way to get me back sooner or later."

She didn't know how right she actually was, he thought before squirting the sunscreen into his hands, and began his torturous payback. He purposefully kneaded his hands very, very slowly over her entire body, and pressed soft, gentle kisses across every inch of her skin.

She groaned.

She should have known that he would do something like this, especially after the way she had been teasing him. She was going to kill him!

Once he finished, she slowly sat up, and looked over at him. He was smiling smugly at her, and she wanted to smack it off his damn face. "You're a very bad man."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Payback's a bitch, Lane. Maybe next time you'll think twice before teasing me."

She glared. "I hate you!"

"No, you don't."

She moved closer to him, smirking. "Prove it."

"With pleasure," he said before quickly closing the space between them, and kissed her with all the love—all the passion he felt for her. After he pulled away from her, he rested his forehead against hers. "I love you, Lo."

"I love you too, baby."

They smiled at each other before laying down, their fingers intertwining together, and neither of them could stop smiling. The day had been perfect thus far, aside from the mild interruption, but that didn't matter. They were together, and neither of them could wait to spend the rest of their day in utter bliss before they embarked on their new journey together.

Several hours later, they were walking hand in hand along the shoreline, feeling the water and sand seep between their toes, and basked in the beautiful sunset.

She squeezed his hand, and looked over at him. "Thanks for bringing me here today. I really had a great time."

He smiled. "So, did I."

"We have to do this again sometime."

He stopped walking, and pulled her towards him. "Lois, I-I don't know if we can anytime soon, but I promise one day I'll take you to another beach."

"I'm going to hold you to that, farm boy," she told him before wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing him.

He moaned, softly when he felt her tongue attempting to pry his lips open and felt her body pressed up against his tightly. He wrapped his arms around her, slowly walking her backwards until she softly hit the cliffs, and opened his mouth to her. They swirled their tongues around each other's, tasting each other, and moaned, softly, at the sensation it was arising in their bodies.

They pulled away from each other, panting, breathlessly. He stared into her beautiful hazel orbs, and squeezed her waist in his hands. "God, baby, you drive me crazy."

"Feelings mutual," she told him.

He grinned from ear to ear before dropping his head into the crook of her neck, nuzzling her, and placed open-mouth kisses along her jugular.

She closed her eyes in bliss, and tilted her head to one side giving him better access.

He smiled against her skin before softly nibbling on her pulse point, making her moan his name, which only stirred him on. He slowly trailed his hands underneath her tank top, his fingers gliding across her soft skin, and moved his lips back up to hers, kissing her…hard.

She moaned against his lips. Everything he was doing to her was turning her on…immensely. She gasped when she felt him squeeze her butt, effectively pulling her body tightly against his own, and could feel his arousal. She gently pushed him away. "Uh-Huh, mister. There will be none of that."

He pouted. "Aw, baby, but I want you."

She cocked a brow, and gently pushed him away from her. "You always say that."

He smirked. "What can I say? You're irresistible. I just can't get enough of you."

She rolled her eyes. "Down boy. There's a time and place for that…later."

He grinned from ear to ear. He couldn't wait.

She saw the expression on his face, and knew what he was thinking. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Kent!"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay. Fine. I'll behave."

"Good. Now, come on, let's take a picture."

"A picture?" He questioned, then wiggled his eyebrows, suggestively. "You're thinking about taking a picture instead of—"

"Don't finish that sentence," she interrupted him.

He grinned. Oh, how fun it was to tease her, he thought.

"Come on, baby, please?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine! If I must, I must." He pulled out his phone, switched on the camera, and pulled her close before taking a few pictures of them.

She scrutinized them, a frown plastered on her face. "Nope. These are no good."

He sighed, "Lois, baby, it doesn't matter."

She glared. "It's our last day here, and I want to remember it forever."

He tapped her forehead. "You will, it's in here."

"Some of us don't have impeccable memory."

He shook his head at her, as he watched her chase down some elderly woman, and asked her to take their picture. What the hell was he going to do with her?

He stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, and clasped his fingers together across her stomach, while resting his head on her shoulder. She leaned back against his chest, and placed her hands atop his. They smiled, widely at the camera.

CLICK!

"All done, darlings," the elderly woman told them, and handed back his phone.

Lois smiled at her. She was a short, fragile little thing, but she was so sweet. "Thank you, ma'am. Clark here is incapable of taking a proper picture."

He glared. "Me? You could have easily taken the picture so, don't go blaming this on me."

The elderly woman watched them bicker back and forth, and couldn't stop herself from chuckling at the spectacle they showed. "You two are so adorable! I remember how it was when I first met my husband, always bickering with other, and look where I am now. Been married forty years."

Clark was surprised. "Forty years? That's a long time."

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is, but honestly the time flies by." She looked between the two of them. "Don't take anything for granted. Just live for today, and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."

"We won't," they said simultaneously, and looked at each other, huge smiles on their faces.

"So, how long have you two been together?"

"Uh, only a few months, ma'am," Clark replied.

She seemed surprised by that. "Really? I would have thought you'd be married already, especially with the way you two look at each other. You seem to be very much in love with each other."

They purposefully ignored the marriage comment, especially since they were both way, way too young to even think about something like that.

"We are," Lois responded.

She smiled. "That's clear to see. I can see you two being together a very, very long time." She looked away, as she heard a man calling her name, and looked at them, apologetically. "My husband is searching for me. That man would be lost without me." She held out her hand, "I'm Shelia, by the way."

They both shook her hand, and introduced themselves to the sweet lady.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Clark, Lois, and I hope one day we will see each other again. I love meeting young couples, who remind me so much of myself at that age." She waved before walking away.

They smiled at her.

"She was sweet," she commented.

He nodded. "Yeah, she was."

"Okay. Gimme! Gimme!" She exclaimed before snatching his phone from his hands, and looked at the picture. "Aw, we look so cute."

He grabbed his phone from her, and looked down at the photo. They did look cute, he thought. "No. You look beautiful."

She smiled up at him. "My, my, Mr. Kent, are you flirting with me?"

He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. "Maybe."

"And you're still not getting lucky, mister, but nice try."

"You're evil!"

She grinned, "But you love me anyway."

He kissed her, softly. "Yes. Yes, I do." He slowly started pulling her along the shoreline. "Come on, I'm starved."

She smirked. "You're always hungry!"

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

He growled, playfully, "That's it, Lane!"

Dinner would have to wait, he thought, as he chased her, laughing, wildly. He had more pleasurable things in mind for her.

* * *

Wes walked into the main administrative building on the Tacoma, Washington base, and straight up to the receptionist desk.

He had drove for a week straight to get here, and as soon as he entered this town he came straight here, of course, he would have been here sooner if he didn't have to stop for gas, food and sleep, but in order for this plan to work he needed a clear head.

He needed as much help as he could get.

He noticed a cute blonde woman, probably in her late thirties scanning her blue eyes across the computer screen, and cleared his throat, loudly.

She looked up, and smiled. "Hello. What can I do for you?"

"I need to speak to General Jefferson Reynolds immediately."

"I'm sorry, sir, but he is awfully busy at the moment, and he only takes appointments."

He sighed. Of course, this was going to be a difficult process, was it too much to ask for this to go swimmingly? Probably not, he thought.

"Look, ma'am. I need to speak to him immediately. It's urgent, and I believe he is expecting me."

"What's your order of business, sir?"

"An old friend of his, General Sam Lane, has sent me here personally to speak to him from the base in Phoenix, Arizona."

She nodded, and grabbed the phone. "Sir, it's Alicia…Well, a young man is here…Yes, I told him that, but, sir, he says he was sent by an old friend of yours…General Sam Lane…Yes, sir, I'll tell him."

She smiled up at him. "The General will be with you shortly, how about you have a seat?"

He nodded, and made his way over to a nearby chair. He really, really hoped this didn't take too long, this needed to be done very quickly and very smoothly before she got wind of his presence here and took off…again.

Not even two minutes later, a man in a military uniform, walked up to him. "What's your name, soldier?"

He quickly stood up, and saluted. "Wes Keenan, sir."

"Very well, follow me."

As soon as they got to his office, which was much more homey than General Lane', he sat down in his chair, clasped his hands in front of him, and looked at him. "Have a seat." After he did, he spoke again, "So, Sam sent you?"

"Yes, sir."

"So, how versed are you on the situation at hand?"

"I've been involved for about three months, ever since Lois ran away, sir."

"How well do you know my niece?"

Niece? That was surprising. "Um, I've been best friends with her for quite a few years."

He nodded. "So, I'm guessing you know her pretty well then, and that this must be done with the utmost of care?"

"Yes, sir, General Sam wants this to be done as quickly as possible. He wants her home by the end of the week."

He sighed, "Look, Wes, I understand the urgency of the situation, but this can't be rushed. It needs to be planned out accordingly. I'm not exactly thrilled about doing this, especially since I've known her since the moment she was born."

Wes understood that, hell, he didn't want to do this to her either, but he had no choice in the matter. "Do you know where she is?"

"Yes. She's at the beach a few towns over with her boyfriend."

He cocked a brow. "Boyfriend?"

And then he remembered the young man he saw her with in Colorado, and shook his head, smiling from ear to ear. "Wow. It's looks like they found their way back to each other."

He frowned. "What?"

"I found her in a small town in Colorado, and she was with a young man. Was he pretty tall, with dark hair?"

He nodded.

"I can't believe it. She left him, while trying to escape from me, and I guess they somehow found their way back to each other."

"Hmm. Well, I really hate doing this to her since she looks so happy."

"Yeah, she looked happy the last time I saw her." He frowned. "Wait, if you know where she is then why haven't you done anything?"

He sighed. "Like I said, I don't exactly agree with this, and it's not the best tactic to just confront her without a back-up plan. So, what does Sam have in mind exactly?"

"He wants this done as logically as possible, and I'm not allowed to come back to base unless I have Lois in tow so, this must be done while she's still here."

He nodded, completely understanding that. "Okay. Well, that still doesn't answer my question. What does he expect us to do? Because the minute she spots either of us, she's going to run."

He knew that, oh, he knew that all too well, and there was no way in hell he was letting that happen again. "This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

Clark and Lois walked down the sidewalk towards their hotel with their arms wrapped around each other, as she rested her head upon his shoulder, and he rubbed his hand up and down her bare arm.

They had gone to a lovely dinner, at an Italian restaurant a few blocks away from their hotel. It was a little expensive, but neither seemed to care since it was their last night here, and they wanted to make the most of it.

"So, are we leaving first thing in the morning?" She asked, as she saw their hotel coming into view.

"Yeah. I thought that would be best. You're packed, right?"

Silence.

He stopped walking, and looked down at her. "Lois, you are packed, right?"

She averted her eyes from him. "Um, not exactly…"

"Lois!"

"What? I figured I'd just pack tonight."

He raised a brow at her. "Really? Cause if I remember correctly, it took you almost three days to pack all your crap before we left Montana."

She glared. "First of all, it's not crap! And secondly, that's not entirely my fault, mister can't keep his hands to himself."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Hey! You can't blame that on me, besides you can be just as handsy as me."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning dangerously close to him. "That is true, but what do you expect? You're just so damn sexy."

He groaned. He knew what she was trying to do, and in no way was he letting her off the hook this time. He would not be distracted by her beautiful looks—her sexy body—her powerful kisses—her…

He quickly shook his head, dropping the fantasy from his mind. "Nice try, Lane, but it's not going to work. We are packing your things tonight, and leaving tomorrow morning."

She pouted. "But, I wanted to have some fun tonight."

"Uh-Huh. No nooky for you until you have everything packed, is that clear?"

"You're no fun."

He chuckled, and started walking again. "It's not my fault you procrastinate until the last minute."

"It's more fun that way."

He shook his head at her. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

She nodded then remembered that she wanted to ask him something. "Oh, while we are on the subject. Where are you exactly taking me?"

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, don't you think I should know where you have lived all of your life before we get there?"

Why hadn't they talked about this before? He wondered, but figured that he has just been so caught up in her that he never actually thought about it.

"Well, I, um, I live in a small town called Sma—"

"About damn time you showed up. I was wondering how long I would be waiting for you." A man's voice interrupted him.

She froze, at the familiar voice.

He stared, with a perplexed expression on his face.

Her heart began accelerating in her chest, and she could hear it reverberating in her ears. No. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when they were preparing to leave the next day. She hesitantly said, "W-Wes? What are you doing here?"

He took a step towards them. "Really? Are we going to go through this again? Come on, Lois, you're smart. Why do you think I'm here? I'm here to take you back home."

Clark tightened his hold on her, effectively pulling her closer to him. No. This was the guy, her best friend, the one she had told him about—the guy who had confronted her in Colorado. He was the reason she left him, and now, he was trying to do it again. Nope. No way in hell was he letting that happen. He wouldn't allow him to take her away from him. Not again.

She smirked. "Do you really think I'm going to leave with you? Wes, come on, it's like you said we've already been through this once before."

He sighed. He really, really hated doing what he was about to do, but he had spent the past several hours planning this out, and he was going to be successful, even if it was the last thing he did. "It won't happen again, I can promise you that."

She quirked a brow. "And what makes you think I just won't run away again?"

"Because I brought reinforcements this time."

"Oh, really? Like what? Did you bring my father this time?"

He simply shook his head, and took a step backwards.

"No, he didn't," a voice from the darkness responded.

She frowned. She knew that voice, and stared, wide-eyed, as the last person she ever expected to see came out of the shadows.

Her mouth fell open, and she clung onto Clark's hands. She just couldn't believe it. "U-Uncle Jeff?"

* * *

 _ **Sorry for the long wait on this chapter, but I've been quite busy the past few days. I ended up splitting this chapter and the next chapter in half or else it would have been thirty pages on word. Let me know what you thought.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty!**_


	22. Chapter Twenty One

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-One:**_

* * *

Her mouth fell open, and she clung onto Clark's hand. She just couldn't believe it. "U-Uncle Jeff?"

He smiled, and took several steps towards her, ignoring the glare he received from her companion. Well, someone's protective, he thought. "Hello, Lois, it's been a long time."

She nodded. It had been well over six years going on seven since she had last saw her mother' best friend and favorite uncle. One part of her wanted to jump up and down in excitement and wrap her arms around him excitedly, but the other part of her knew that he wasn't here for that. This was definitely not going to be a heartwarming welcome, she thought. He was here for one thing and one thing only…to bring her back to base with Wes, but she couldn't—wouldn't do it.

She needed to figure a way out of this.

She didn't want to leave, but most of all she didn't want to leave Clark.

She squeezed his hand, in reassurance, and smiled to herself when she felt him squeeze back, and knew deep inside that he was conveying to her that everything was going to be alright. She just hoped that, that was the case.

"Yeah. It has been quite a long time. Why are you here, exactly?"

He sighed, his eyes darting back and forth between them. "I think you know why, Lo."

She knew why, of course she did, but that didn't mean she had to accept it, hell, she was never going to accept it. "How did you know where to find me?"

"Well, Lois, you haven't been very careful, at least not since you've been in Washington. I saw you about a week ago, and called your father."

She felt her heart accelerating in her chest. This couldn't be happening right now. "W-Why? Why would you call him?"

He was about to answer, but Wes stepped forward intending on explaining, and stopped dead in his tracks at the set of glares he received from both of them. "Lois, your father, he was sick and tired of coming up with nothing but dead ends. He tried pretty much everything to find you, but always came up empty handed so, he did the only thing he could do."

"Which was?"

"He called every Army General in The Unites States, ordering them to contact him as soon as they found you."

Her eyes widened. "He did what?"

Jeff stepped forward. "Yes, Lois, he called me about a month ago searching for you, and told me to call him if I happened to cross paths with you."

She felt like the whole world was crashing down on her. Not only did her father go to such lengths to find her, but he dragged Jeff into it, and once again forced Wes to bring her back. "W-why? Why would you do this? Why couldn't you have pretended that you never saw me?" She looked between the two of them. "You both know how he treats me. I-I can't go back."

"I'm sorry, Lois. I know that you don't want to leave, hell, I don't want to do this to you, but I have no choice."

"Yes, you do!" She exclaimed, glaring at the man she had considered her best friend when she was younger.

"Except that I don't. Lo, think about this. What if Oscar or Kristin did what you have done? What do you think I would do?"

She shrugged her shoulders. She knew what he would do, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of telling him that.

"I would do whatever it took to get them back home."

"At least, they would have an actual home to come back to. I have nothing. I have never considered that a home, and I never will." She looked up at Clark, softly smiling, and he smiled back down at her. "The only thing that matters is staying with him-with the man I love."

He sighed. "You have a point, and I do understand where you're coming from. I know you don't want to leave him. It's obvious that you love him very much, and I'm pretty sure he feels the same way about you, but I owe it to Sam to make sure you go back."

"You don't owe him anything!" She yelled.

"Maybe not, but I would expect him to do the same thing if anyone I loved, especially my children disappeared for three months."

"I didn't disappear. I ran away," She said smugly.

He shook his head from side to side. "That's even worse, Lois, don't you understand that I'm only doing what's right. You need to go back."

She scoffed. "What's right? What's right is me staying as far away from my father as possible."

"I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen. You're going back…tonight."

"No! No, I'm not!"

Wes was completely done with this back and forth bickering. It was time he ended this, and make her leave with him. "Enough!" Everyone looked at him. "Dammit, Lois! I've been chasing you for three months now, and I'm done! Whether you like it or not, you're leaving with me tonight, and we're going back to base."

"Why? Because The General ordered you to?"

He squared his shoulders. "No, because I'm sick and tired of this bullshit! I'm tired of spending my days wondering when I'm going to get my life back-wondering when everything is going to go back to normal. Have you even thought about what your decisions have caused? Lois, ever since you left, my life and Cassie' has gone to complete shit, and I'm not going to deal with this another second longer. You're leaving with me."

She glared.

How dare he insinuate that she didn't care about him or Cassie! That wasn't the case. It was quite the opposite. She thought about them a lot, wondering what they were doing and how they were, but that didn't mean it was enough to make her go back. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Jeff sighed. "Look, we could sit here all night and argue about this, but it still doesn't change the facts. Lois you will be leaving this town tonight, no matter what."

She was definitely not having that. "No! I'm not leaving with either of you!"

"Honey, I'm sorry, but you'll be leaving tonight. I don't want to do this, and I'm pretty sure Wes doesn't either, but we have to. You are going to pack up your belongings, and leave before the night is over."

"Really? How do you know I just won't find a way to escape from him once were on the road?"

He softly chuckled. "Dear Lord, child, you are so much like you're mother. She was just as head strong as you are." His smile fell. "But, I'm not leaving anything to chance. You will be riding with Wes, and one of my men will be following behind you in your car."

She smirked. "And what makes you think that I won't just run away like last time?"

He gave her a serious expression. Wes had told him all about how she escaped from him last time, and that would not be happening this time. "That's not going to happen. I have every road in and out of this town blocked. You have no choice in the matter, sweetheart."

She felt all the color draining from her face. "Y-You what?"

"It was the only way we could ensure that you didn't try to escape again, like you did in Colorado. I'm sorry, Lo, but it's time for you to go back-it's time for you to go back to reality."

She glanced up at Clark, and saw the absolutely horrified expression plastered on his face. It was useless trying to fight this because there was no way to get around this. She would have to leave—she would have to leave Clark. A small part of her wondered if maybe, just maybe Clark could superspeed them out of this town, but if he did it would only be a matter of time before her father found her again, besides she didn't want anybody finding out about his abilities.

It was over.

It was time for her to go back to base.

She had no choice but to leave.

She didn't agree with this whatsoever, but what made things worse was that she would have to leave Clark…again, and she really, really didn't want to do that to him again, but what choice did she really have?

There was no way out of this.

Clark had listened, intently to everything that was being said, and decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being, but he couldn't—wouldn't let this happen. She couldn't leave him. They had promised each other that they would be together for forever and for always, and he would do everything in his power to keep her by his side.

He quickly dropped her hand, and stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her from their sights, glaring, fiercely at them. "No! No! I will not let you take her away from me! She isn't going anywhere!"

Both Wes and Jeff stared at him with surprise. They hadn't expected him to say anything since he had been eerily silent throughout the entire exchange.

He felt her small hands wrap around his arm, and looked down at her. She softly shook her head from side to side, tears in her beautiful hazel eyes, and in that moment, he knew. He could see the truth lingering in her eyes.

She was going to leave.

She was going to leave him…again.

He turned his body towards her, and gripped her face in his large hands, as the tears brimmed in his eyes. "Lois, baby, no, Lois."

The tears fell down her cheeks, and she whispered through her sobs. "I-I'm sorry, Clark."

The hot, sticky tears rolled down his face, and he quickly pulled her towards him, hugging her tightly against his chest.

This was it.

It was over.

They were over.

He was about to lose the best thing that has ever happened to him, and this time, this time it wasn't just going to be for a few weeks or for a few months. It was…forever.

He could feel her trembling in his embrace, as she cried into his chest, and tightened his hold around her, burying his face into her soft, blonde hair. "It's okay, baby. It's going to be okay, Lois. I love you." He repeated this over and over again, trying to reassure them both that they were going to be alright.

They both pulled away from each other when they heard Jeff clearing his throat, loudly, and turned to look at him, but kept their arms wrapped around each other.

"So, you understand? You will be packing your things and leaving with Wes as soon as possible."

She never looked at him, as she mumbled, "Yes."

Wes didn't like the idea of her packing her things alone. He knew exactly what she was capable of, and he would not fail…not again.

He stepped forward. "I don't think that's a good idea. Jeff, I gave her the same luxury last time, and she still managed to escape. I won't let that happen again."

Clark and Lois glared at him.

Jeff placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's not going to happen this time so, I need you to back off. I will handle this." He looked back over at them, and settled his eyes on his niece' boyfriend. "What's your name, young man?"

He felt Lois' body tense, and rubbed her back reassuringly before responding, "My name is Clark. Clark Kent, sir."

"Clark, can you assure me that you will be returning with my niece?"

He nodded, meekly. He didn't want to, but he didn't really have a choice.

"Good. Now, Clark, I can see how hard this is for not only Lois, but for you as well. How much do you love her?"

He didn't hesitate. "I love her more than life itself."

He smiled. "I know you do. I've been watching you two for the past week, and quite honestly, I don't think I've ever seen two people more in love than you two are."

Lois gasped. "T-Then why are you doing this? Why are you tearing us apart? Why can't you just let us live our lives the way we want…together? I-I don't want to leave him. I want to stay with him."

"I know that, Lois." He smiled at both of them. "But, who says you have to be apart?"

They both frowned at him.

He chuckled, softly. "Oh, come on, you both obviously love each other very much, and don't want to be apart so, what's stopping you from bringing him with you?"

They both looked at each other, tears welling in their eyes, and could feel their hearts breaking a little more because they both knew that wasn't a possibility. She couldn't bring him with her, especially not to a military base, besides her father would have questions, and she highly doubted that he would ever allow him to stay with her. Clark, on the other hand, couldn't go with her, even though he wanted to, for multiple reasons, the number one being that he was needed—wanted—missed elsewhere. It was time for him to go home.

She looked over at Jeff. "That's not possible."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"You know what my father is like. There is no way in hell he would allow him to stay on base with me."

He nodded. He knew that very well. "Who says he has to stay on base?"

They frowned, even more so.

He glanced between the two of them. "Look, I'm trying to help you out here, okay? I know you don't want to leave each other, that much is obvious." He looked directly at Clark. "What about you, Clark? What if I could get you a nice place outside the base, would you leave with Lois?"

"Of course, I would want to-I want to more than anything, but I-I can't."

He sighed, "And why the hell not?"

"B-because I'm going home."

He narrowed his eyes. "You ran away from home too?"

He simply nodded.

He sighed, heavily. He had tried to help them find a way to be together, but it seemed that it wasn't going to be possible for either of them. He hated that he was forced to tear two people apart, who were obviously so right for each other, but it just couldn't be stopped.

"Well, I guess that means you guys want some time alone to say goodbye to each other then?"

They didn't say anything, just trained their eyes to the ground, and he knew that their hearts were breaking at what was about to happen to them. "Go ahead, but I expect both of you to be back down here when you're ready, is that clear?"

They both nodded, and silently walked into their hotel with their arms wrapped around each other. He watched them go with a miserable expression plastered on his face.

He hated this.

He hated that he was about to rip them apart—about to rip their love for each other apart.

But, he had a feeling that one day they would find their way back to each other.

It was destiny. He could see that, hell, the same exact thing happened to him and his wife. They had been separated for over two years before they found each other again, and their love was stronger than it had ever been before.

If it was possible for him, it was possible for them. It just had to be.

His thoughts were broken by Wes' voice, "I can't believe you just let them leave together…completely alone. Who knows what they're going to do. Hell, they could be planning ways to escape right this minute."

He turned towards him. "Seriously, Wes, would you just calm down? I have faith that they will return, besides it's not like they're going to get very far if they try."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that I not only have my men blocking all the roads, but I also have them patrolling all across town, including inside their hotel. Trust me, they aren't going anywhere."

"That still doesn't mean they won't find a way to escape."

He sighed. "Let me ask you something. Do you have someone out there who you love more than anything?"

He shook his head. Yeah, he loved Cassie, but it's not like they were together, and he obviously didn't feel the same way about her that Lois felt for Clark.

"Then you couldn't possibly understand what they're going through right now, but you need to think about how this is affecting them. Lois left wanting to be free, and what did she find? She found true love instead. We aren't just taking her freedom, but we are also ripping apart two people who are completely and irrevocably in love with each other. We're going to let them have this moment, no matter how long it takes, because it will very likely be their last for a very, very long time."

He stared at him, wide-eyed. No wonder Lois and The General were so close to this guy, he thought. He was really good at giving advice, albeit he did have a wife and children, but he did have a point, he needed to think about what this was going to do to both Lois and Clark. He had thought that she had found someone to have fun with, a lot like a summer love, but maybe, just maybe they were destroying something that could've been so, so much more.

"I know this is going to be hard for both of them, but I can't just leave her here with him, not when The General is on my ass."

"I understand that, but we're going to give them as much time as they need because they need it."

He nodded. "So, what do we do now?"

He smiled, glad that he knocked some sense into this guy. "Just pull the car around, and we'll wait for them."

As he walked towards his car, he wondered, briefly if this was all finally going to end, albeit at the pain of his best friend, or if this was just a ruse, and she was going to pull one over them once again. He really, really hoped that it was the former. He just wanted his life back, no matter what.

* * *

Clark leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, and tears rolling down his cheeks, as he watched Lois pack away her things, quite frantically.

He couldn't believe this was happening.

They had been so happy today, actually, it was probably the happiest they've ever been. He had taken her to the beach, and was looking forward to moving onto their next adventure…together, but that had all changed in the blink of an eye.

She was leaving.

He didn't want her to leave, god, he wanted to be with her for forever and for always, but it seemed like that wasn't going to be a possibility for them.

He had forgiven himself for everything he had blamed himself for.

He had moved forward from everything that he had caused back home.

His broken heart and mind had been healed.

It was all because of her—because of the way she accepted him when they first met—how she helped him move past everything—how she cared for him when he would break down in front of her—how much she loved him.

And now, now it was all about to come to an end.

He hated it.

She was leaving—leaving him…again, and he doubted that they would ever see each other again. He clenched his eyes shut, as that thought shattered his heart into a million pieces.

When he opened his eyes again he could see her body trembling—hear her silent sobs, and it broke his heart.

"Lois, stop."

She didn't.

"Lois! Stop!" He said a little more forcefully.

"I-I can't…" She continued to pack her things.

He walked up to her, ripped the bag from her hands, throwing it across the room, and turned her towards him. "Dammit Lois! Just stop, okay?"

She stared up at him, tears running down her rosy cheeks. "I-I don't want to do this. I don't want to leave you."

He softly rested his forehead against hers, and wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. "Then don't. Lois, please, please just come away with me. We can be together. I'll superspeed us out of here, and make sure that no one ever finds us again."

She wanted to, god, she wanted to more than anything, but it just wasn't possible. "Clark, we can't do that."

"Why not?"

She rested her hands on the sides of his face. "You promised me that you were going to go home, and if we do that, it will only be a matter of time before my father finds me again."

"No!" He exclaimed. "Lois, baby, please! I-I can't do this again. I-I can't lose you. You're everything to me. Do you know how much I love you? How much I need you? I can't do this without you."

She gently kissed him. "Yes. Yes, you can. Clark, you have people who love and miss you, and they want you back where you belong."

"What about what I want? What about what you want? What about us?"

"There will always be an us, baby." She pressed her hand against his chest. "I'll be in here forever and for always, just like we promised each other."

He shook his head. "It's not the same. I need you, Lois, god, baby, I need you more than anything I've ever needed before."

"I know. I need you too, but sometimes we can't get what we want."

He sighed, heavily, his heart shattering, at the notion of what was going to happen, and the tears cascaded down his cheeks. "I-I don't want to lose you."

"I know, baby, me either."

"This is it, isn't it?"

She nodded.

He softly closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "I mean, there won't be no seeing each other again in a few weeks like before. This time is for real. We are never going to see each other again."

The tears came harder and harder, making her entire body tremble. "I'm so, so sorry, Clark."

He shook his head. "No. Lois, you have nothing to be sorry for. This isn't your fault."

"How can you say that? I promised you that I would never leave you again, and now I'm breaking that promise."

He stared deeply into her eyes. "You haven't broken any promise, Lois. We promised each other we would be together forever, but it seems that fate has different plans for us, and I don't blame you for anything. I love you and I always will."

She hated this.

She hated that they had to go through this pain—through this torment all over again, but this time it was ten times worse because they knew for a fact that they wouldn't be together ever again.

"Clark, I-I don't want to leave-I don't want to leave you."

"I know, baby, I know. I don't want you to either, but it's not like we really have a choice in the matter."

He slowly pulled away from her, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a gold locket. He had bought it a few days ago, wanting to give it to her when they arrived in Kansas, but since that wasn't going to happen now was as good a time as any. He twisted it around, and used his heat vision to write an engraving on the back of it.

She watched him with a slight frown, and wondered what the hell he was doing. She grasped it in her hands, careful not to burn herself when he handed it to her, and read the inscription:

 _Lois_

 _I love you forever and for always_

 _Love Clark_

Her heart broke at the simple, but heartfelt words, and slowly opened the locket seeing a picture of them, one they had took in Montana, in the shape of a heart. "It's beautiful."

He smiled, faintly. "I want you to always have something that you can hold close to your heart to remind you of us-of what we shared together."

The tears cascaded down her cheeks. "Clark, I could never forget you, no matter how much time passes." She handed him the locket. "Can you put it on for me?"

He grabbed it, slowly walked behind her, and clasped it behind her neck before resting his hands on her shoulders, squeezing slightly.

She softly closed her eyes, clutching the locket in between her fingers, and turned around towards him. "I-I don't know how to say goodbye to you."

More tears fell down his cheeks, at her words. "I know, Lo, oh god, baby, I don't know how to either."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to his chest. She couldn't stop the tears that rocketed her body, and broke down in his arms. He tightened his arms around her, and whispered in her ear. "It's okay, baby. It's going to be okay."

"No. No, it's not," she vehemently denied before her knees gave way, and she slowly collapsed to the ground.

He fell to the ground with her, gathered her into his arms, and pulled her into his lap, crying harder than ever before.

He didn't want this.

He wanted to stay with her always and forever, but it just wasn't going to happen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He slowly pulled away from her, and stared into her eyes, deeply. "I love you, Lois. Don't ever forget that."

She rested her forehead against his. "I love you too, Clark. Oh god, Clark, I don't want to say goodbye to you."

"I know, baby."

"Make love to me," she whispered, as she stared into his eyes.

He knew she needed this, hell, he needed it too, even if it was their way of saying goodbye to each other without actually saying the words.

He slowly leaned forward, and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

They slowly removed each other's clothing, not wanting this moment to end too soon. They wanted it to last forever.

He picked her up off the ground, bridal style, and carried her to the bed before gently laying her down on the soft, plush blankets. He stared down at her, as he hovered above her. "I love you, Lois."

She smiled, weakly. "I love you too, baby."

They stared at each other for a few seconds before their lips met in a soft, tender, and passionate kiss. As they made love that night, they took their time exploring each other's bodies, and felt every movement—every touch—every caress—every kiss, searing it into their minds, knowing that this would be their very last moment together.

* * *

Wes sighed, heavily, as he leaned up against the side of the car, and crossed his arms across his chest. He had waited for over three hours before they made their way out of the hotel, and had even helped pack her things into his car. He had done most of that waiting time by himself since Jeff had left an hour or so after they went inside to check up on things, and to make sure everything was in order.

He glanced over at them for about the hundredth time. Yep, they were still at it, he thought.

They had been practically making out for the last twenty minutes, and hadn't left the confines of each other's arms.

It was sickening.

And it was just making him more and more irritable.

He had thought that they would pack her things, they would say their goodbyes, and then they would leave, but of course, he was still waiting for them to finish saying goodbye.

They needed to go, and they needed to go now. He was sick and tired of waiting. It was time to leave.

He quickly walked over to them, gripped her arm, and began to pull her away from Clark. "Okay, come on, you've said your goodbyes, now it's time to go."

She tried ripping her arm away from him, her eyes glued to Clark, as she tried reaching for him. "No! Wes! God dammit Wes! Let me go!"

"No, we're leaving!"

Clark saw red. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet, and he knew she wasn't either. And he definitely didn't like the way this guy was manhandling his woman, whether he was her best friend or not, nobody touched her like that.

He quickly grabbed her, using enough of his strength to pull her away from him before turning towards Wes, and slammed him against the side of the car. "Don't! Don't you ever touch her like that again!"

Wes stared at him, wide-eyed, completely unable to believe this guy's mere strength. "Look, man, I get it okay? You love her, but you've spent the last twenty minutes saying goodbye to her, and now it's time for us to go."

He glared, and pressed him a little harder against the car. "You will let me say goodbye to the woman I love, is that understood?"

He simply nodded.

Clark quickly let him go, walked over to Lois, and grabbed her arm, checking for any injuries. "Are you okay?"

She nodded before wrapping hers arms around his neck, hugging him with all her might, and cried, softly into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and whispered in her ear. "I have something for you."

She pulled away from him, a slight frown on her face, and a multitude of questions running through her mind. She watched as he pulled out a picture from his back pocket, and handed it to her. She gasped at what she saw. It was the picture they had that elderly woman, Shelia, take of them at the beach today. "Clark, how? When did you do this?"

"While you were taking a shower earlier before we went to dinner. I, um, I left to go get it printed. I was planning on giving it to once we…" he trailed off, unable to finish that sentence since it wasn't going to happen anymore. She wasn't coming home with him.

"It's okay, baby. I love it. Thank you."

He smiled at her.

"Wait! I have something for you too."

He watched as she went to the car, digging through her things, and pulled out the bear he had won for her on their first date.

She handed it to him with a soft smile lingering on her lips.

"No. Lois, I won that for you. It's yours."

She pressed it against his chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Clark, just take it. I want you to have it. Think of it as a token of my love, and a way to remember me, just like the locket you gave me."

He grabbed the bear in one hand, and rested the other against her cheek, rubbing his thumb across her soft skin. "I don't need this to remember you, Lois. Baby, I could never forget you, but I'll hold onto this because I know in some way it will make me feel closer to you somehow."

"I'm sorry, Clark. I-I don't want to do this."

He placed the bear on the ground, and gathered her into his arms. "I know, baby."

"Clark, can you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Promise me that you won't be sad forever. Promise me that one day you will find it in your heart to move on from me, and let someone who can love you in."

He pulled away from her, frowning. "No! Don't you dare ask me to promise you that! It's a promise I could never fulfill. Lois, I will never, ever move on from you. I will never love anyone as much as I love you."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"How?"

He grabbed the locket hanging around her neck. "This. This is how I know. Lois, if you ever feel like you're losing yourself or if you feel lost just hold this, and remember that I will love you forever and for always, no matter what."

She smiled. "I love you, Clark. I love you so damn much, and that is never going to change."

They leaned their foreheads together, tears streaming down their cheeks, as they stared into each other's eyes, and shared a sweet, passionate kiss.

"I love you, Lois. I want you to know that you will always be in my heart, my mind, and soul forever."

"I love you, Clark. I think I've loved you from the moment we first met, and that's never, ever going to change."

They kissed one last time before she started walking away from him. He watched her, tears rolling down his cheeks, and his heart shattering as she opened the car door. She looked over at him, tears rolling down her cheeks before she took off running, jumped into his arms, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

He quickly caught her, and tightened his arms around her before he kissed her with all the love—with all the passion—with all the yearning and desire he felt for her.

They pulled away from each other, breathing heavily, and rested their foreheads together.

"God, Lois, I love you so much!"

"I love you too, baby, and I'm never going to stop."

He slowly set her back on the ground. "You have to go."

"I know."

They leaned forward, their lips meeting, and poured everything they felt for each other into that kiss, knowing it was going to be their last.

She slowly walked away from him, and as soon as she got back to the car looked back at him, whispering, "Goodbye, Clark," before she got into the car.

As they drove away, she watched in the rearview mirror until she couldn't see him anymore, and she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks.

Wes looked over at her, feeling his heart break for his best friend, and he didn't know what to do to help her. "Lois, I'm sorry. I—"

"Shut up!" She interrupted him. She wasn't in the mood for his apologies right now.

She looked back out the window, and softly closed her eyes, as visions of every moment they ever shared together flashed behind her eyes. It was the best three months of her life, and she knew deep down that she would never, ever love another, even if that meant being miserable for the rest of her life.

There was no happiness for her if she didn't have Clark, and she would never, ever have him again.

* * *

Clark watched her drive away—drive away from him…forever, and as soon as she was out of sight collapsed to the ground, tears cascading down his cheeks, as his heart shattered into a million pieces.

He couldn't believe it.

He had lost her.

She was gone.

He would never see her again.

He had lost the one person that had meant absolutely everything to him.

From the moment he met her he knew that she was something special, and at the time he didn't really understand why he felt so connected to her right from the start, but now he knew. They were destined to meet on that bridge that day, and it was the best thing that could have happened to him because he found something he never thought he would find…true love.

And now, now she was gone, but he would do right by her—he would fulfill his promise to her—he would go home to his family and friends.

All of a sudden, his chest started burning in intense pain, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, "AHHH!" He ripped his shirt open, and watched in confusion, as the symbol of his ancestors disappeared from his chest.

He panted, breathlessly once the pain subsided, and roamed his hands across his smooth chest, wondering why the hell that had happened, but didn't have to wonder long as he heard a familiar voice in his head.

 _It's time, Kal-El._

Time for what? Time for him to try to control him?

He didn't know, but he was going to find out what Jor-El meant. He slowly stood up, walked over to his bike, and revved the engine. He looked over towards the direction Lois had headed, and whispered, "Goodbye, Lois," before speeding off into the night.

He didn't know what was in store for him when he got home, whether he was going to have a heartwarming welcoming with his family or friends or if Jor-El was only going to force him to leave with him. Either way, it didn't matter. He promised her he would do this, and he wouldn't break this promise, not one that came from the love of his life.

She was right. It was time he went home.

* * *

 _ **This was the saddest chapter I have ever written before, and it took me quite a while to get through it, but I did, thankfully. I can't believe it took me over twenty chapters to write their three months together. I honestly didn't expect this story to be this long, but alas I will keep writing the chapters until this is done. So, Clark and Lois have said their last goodbyes to each other…or it is?**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-one!**_


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Two:**_

* * *

Clark drove down the all too familiar dirt roads in Smallville, breathing in the rustic smell of cornfields, which surrounded him on either side, and felt the fresh air brushing across his skin. As he slowly began approaching the yellow farmhouse he started to feel a little apprehensive about all of this.

It was exciting to be back home again.

But…

He couldn't help but be worried about his parents and his friend's reactions to him.

Would they welcome him home with open arms? Would they all be upset that he had left in the first place? Would his friends be angry with him? Would they despise him? Hate him? Would his mother be sad? Would his father be disappointed in him?

He wasn't sure he was ready for this—ready to confront his family and friend's after leaving them, and being gone for three months, but he was here, and it was time he put all that pain and suffering behind him, besides he promised her that he would do this.

He slowed the motorcycle to a complete stop next to the slightly worn, red barn, killing the engine before stepping off the bike, and glancing around his surroundings.

Everything looked pretty much the same, except for a few little things that needed some maintenance, but he figured that, that was his fault, and he couldn't help but feeling a tad bit guilty since he wasn't here to help his father with the farm work and animals or to help his mother with her gardening.

As he roamed his eyes across the open fields, he realized that he had missed this place, his home, a lot more than he previously thought.

He had missed the yellow farmhouse—the red barn—his loft or as he liked to call it his fortress of solitude, but most of all, he just missed being home, and it felt great being back.

He was glad to be home.

A loud gasp coming from behind him had him twirling around, coming face to face with his father, who was staring at him with wide-eyes, like he couldn't believe who was actually standing in front of him.

Jonathon, who was in the barn working on that no-good-piece-of-crap tractor, which he refused to get rid of, rushed outside as soon as he heard the familiar sound of his motorcycle, and couldn't believe his eyes.

It was his son. Clark.

His son, who had been gone from his life for way too long was standing right in front of him, and he had no idea what to say or do.

He couldn't believe it.

He was actually here.

His son had come home.

He took a slow step towards him, his heart beating frantically in his chest, and croaked out, "C-Clark?"

Clark smiled, slightly, not too sure how his father was going to react to him. "Hi, dad."

"Clark? Clark, is it really you? Are you really home?"

His heart ached, painfully, at the obvious pain in his father's voice, and couldn't help wondering just how much pain he had put his parents through by running away. "Yeah, dad, it's really me, a-and I'm home…for good."

Jonathon grinned from ear to ear, extremely happy before darting towards his son, and engulfed him in a bear hug. "We've missed you so much, son."

He quickly responded to his father, and felt his earlier apprehension fading as his father welcomed him home with open arms. "I've missed you too."

He pulled away from him, his eyes studying him, and clamped his hands down on his shoulders. "You look good, son."

"I am, dad. I really am."

"I can't believe this. You don't know how many times your mother and I hoped and prayed that you would come home to us, and speaking of your mother, she is going to be extremely happy to see you."

Clark smiled, tightly, as his father dragged him towards the house. It seemed that this was going to be a great day for his parents, but he felt that all-consuming guilt building inside of him, at the thought of the pain he had put them through.

They walked into the house, the smell of apple pies baking in the oven overpowering his senses, making him smile, god, he had missed that, he thought.

"Martha?" Jonathon called out, as they entered the kitchen.

Martha, who was busy washing the dishes muttered, "yes, dear," without ever turning around to look at her husband.

Clark stood rooted to the spot in the foyer between the kitchen and dining room. She looked good, actually she looked better than good, but he had a feeling deep inside that his disappearing act had done a lot more harm to her than his father.

Jonathon sighed, heavily. "Can you stop what you're doing, and come here for a second?"

She didn't. "I'm almost done here."

"No, Martha, I need you to come here right now."

She sighed, heavily, men, she thought, could never do anything by themselves. She slowly turned around, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head, as she saw her son, Clark, standing less than two feet away from her. The glass plate in her hand, slipped from her grasp, and fell to the ground, shattering into a million pieces, but she didn't care about that.

No.

He was really here.

Her son, who she had missed so much, was standing in her kitchen.

Clark was home.

She grinned, widely, exclaiming, "Oh my god! Clark!" before rushing into his arms.

He quickly wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and softly closed his eyes, as he felt her all-consuming love for him fill his heart with complete and utter happiness. "Hi, mom. I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, sweetie," she slowly pulled away from him, and roamed her eyes over every inch of his body. "You look good. Are you okay?"

He smiled, tears pooling in his eyes. "Yeah, I'm good mom." He shifted his gaze between them, seeing the sadness lingering in their eyes, the faint smiles plastered on their faces, and it broke his heart.

Just what had he done?

A few tears fell from his aquamarine eyes, "I-I'm so, so sorry."

Jonathon gave his shoulder a slight squeeze. "It's okay, son. We're just glad that you're finally home."

He shook his head from side to side. "No, it's not okay. I left you guys. I shouldn't have done that. I-I should've stayed, but I-I thought I was doing both of you a favor by leaving. I blamed myself for everything that happened, and I didn't want to disappoint you anymore than I already had. I'm sorry."

A few tears fell from her eyes, at her son' words, and she could see the pain that he has held inside for so long come to the surface. She wiped away his tears. "It's okay, baby. You don't need to think about that anymore, It's in the past. You're home now, and that's the only thing that matters."

"H-how can you say that? I-I did so many things wrong, and it's my fault that you lost your baby, mom, I'm so, so sorry."

"Son, we never blamed you. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. If anything, we blamed ourselves."

He stared at his father, confused. "What?"

"After you disappeared, we blamed ourselves for not seeing how much pain you were obviously in. If I would have just seen past my own anger, I might have been able to stop you from leaving."

He shook his head. "No, dad, nothing would have stopped me from leaving. I-I made that decision on my own, and I never, ever blamed you guys for anything that happened. If anyone's to blame, it's Jor-El."

They frowned at him.

"What does Jor-El have to do with this?"

He took a deep breath, "Well, you know that he wanted me to leave—leave you guys, my friends, my home, but I couldn't—"

"That's why you blew up your spaceship?"

He nodded, at his mother. "Yeah, and I thought I was doing the right thing, but everything just got worse. You lost your baby. Dad, you were so disappointed in me, a-and I couldn't deal with everything I had done—everything that I had caused so, I left."

"Oh, honey, you should have told us. We could have helped you through this."

He smiled. "Mom, it still wouldn't have changed anything. I still would have left. It took me a very long time to come to terms with everything, but as soon as I did I knew I had to come home."

"It wasn't your fault, Clark."

He nodded. "I know, actually someone helped me realize that."

Martha quirked her brows, inquisitively. "Really? Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

She narrowed her eyes at her son, there was more to that than he was saying, she thought. "Well, I'll be forever thankful that this person helped you because you're home now, and I'm so happy that you are."

He smiled, widely. "Yeah, me too."

"Okay, how about you two go make yourself comfortable in the living room? I'm going to make us all some coffee." She looked at her son. "Clark, do you want some tea?"

"No. Coffee's fine, mom."

She stared at him, in astonishment. "When did you start drinking coffee?"

He smiled, sadly, as memories of all the times he shared coffee with Lois come rushing back to him, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away. It wasn't the time or place to think about that, and he really didn't want to ruin such a happy moment with his parents. "Uh, I took a liking to it while I was away."

She nodded, and started making them coffees, as they made their way into the living room. She noticed an expression of pure sadness cross his features, and how he successfully hid it with a smile, but she had seen it.

What was that all about?

She didn't know, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with this person he off-handedly mentioned. Who was this person? How had they helped him? Was this person important to him?

They all sat down in the living room, enjoying the refreshing coffee before Jonathon spoke up, "So, son, tell us about what you did while you were gone?"

He sipped his coffee. "Uh, there's not much to tell."

Martha rolled her eyes. "Don't pull that on me. You were gone for three months, Clark so, where did you go? What did you do?"

He set his coffee down, and took a deep breath before telling them everything. He told them about travelling through so many states, and how he stayed for a few weeks in Colorado, Montana, and Washington. He told them about all the things he had done over that time, but tried his hardest to hide the pain he was feeling inside since everything he was telling them were things he had shared with Lois, and he would never, ever share another moment with her.

Jonathon didn't notice anything amiss. "Sounds like you visited a lot of places."

He nodded.

Martha, on the other hand saw right through her son. It was quite obvious that something was bothering him, she could see it in his eyes and the way his body tensed, he was hurting. She had a feeling that it was about something that happened while he was gone or someone he had met while away. She grabbed his hand, and softly squeezed. "Clark, honey, are you okay?"

He should have known better, he thought, his mother always could see straight through him, but he couldn't talk about that—about Lois. It was too fresh. It was too new. And he wasn't too sure how far he would get before breaking down, and he didn't want his parents to see the pain he felt inside. He plastered on a false smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, mom. Actually, I'm great now that I'm back home."

"So, what's been going on around here?" He quickly changed the subject.

"Hmm, well I think you should probably ask your friends that question. You know, they've really missed you."

He smiled, "Yeah, I've missed them too."

Jonathon quickly stood up. "Well, before you go off to see them, I think we should get your things inside. It's supposed to storm tonight."

They walked outside, while his mother made more coffee. He grabbed his two duffel bags, and the bear Lois had given him, while his father rolled the motorcycle into the barn.

He was about to head up the stairs when he heard his father's voice, "What's the bear for, son?"

He froze, not quite sure how to answer that question.

He wanted to tell them, especially his mom since she had been the one to tell him that one day he would find his true one—his soulmate, but he didn't want to think about it, let alone talk about it. It's all he's been doing for the past week. He didn't want to be sad anymore, but that wasn't possible, not unless he could be with her, and that was never going to happen.

She saw the expression on his face, and knew something was seriously bothering him. "Clark, what is it?"

"It's nothing."

She gave him 'the look', the one he was all too familiar with, and quickly averted his eyes from her. He hated it when she looked at him like that.

"Nuh-uh, young man, something is obviously bothering you. Why are you so sad?"

"I'm not." He quickly changed the subject, "So, um, I'm going to get these things upstairs and stop by The Talon to see Chloe and Pete."

"Oh, no you don't." She grabbed his hand, stopping his movements, and pulled him towards the couch, making him drop his things and sit down.

Jonathon shook his head at his wife, "Martha, honey, would you leave him be? He just got back, and is probably just overwhelmed by everything."

Clark quickly nodded, and started to get up, but was pushed back down onto the couch.

She glared at her husband. "I know my son better than anyone, and it's quite obvious that he is upset about something." She faced her son, making him squirm underneath her heated gaze. "Okay, out with it. You have been forlorn ever since I brought up coffee and when you told us about your time away. So? What is it? What's bothering you?"

He sighed. It was hard enough thinking about everything, let alone actually saying the words out loud, and now his mother wanted a full disclosure, one he didn't want to share, but he knew that she wouldn't allow him to leave until he had confessed.

He trained his eyes to the floor, and muttered, "I met someone."

Jonathon smiled. "See? That's all it is, honey, he must have met a lot of people while away, and he just misses them."

He cringed, slightly, his father had no idea how right he actually was.

"Shut up, Jonathon!" She growled before sitting next to Clark, and studied his composure. "This is about a girl, isn't it?"

His head snapped up, and he stared at her in utter astonishment. "H-how did you know?"

She smiled. "Need I remind you that I've seen you brood over girls, one in particular, for most of your life, but this is different somehow. So, is this the same girl who helped you forgive yourself?"

He nodded, tears pooling in his eyes.

"Who was this girl to you?"

He took a deep breath. "S-she was my girlfriend. I-I met her not even one day after leaving Metropolis, and I felt an instant connection to her. I didn't understand what I was feeling, but I knew I wanted to spend more time with her. And that's exactly what I did. We spent every waking moment together, as friends at first, but um, I soon realized that I wanted more than just friendship…"

She rubbed his back, feeling his body tremble underneath her touch, and knew that something horrible had happened. "What happened?"

"W-we were happy, mom, I fell deeply and madly in love with her. I had never felt this way before, and I didn't want it to end, but…" He trailed off, as his tears racked his body, making it hard to speak.

"But what?"

He managed to calm himself enough to finish speaking. "We were going to come back here…together, but the night before her best friend found her, a-and he made her go back."

She frowned. "Go back?"

"Yeah, she was running away from her father, and he forced her to go back home." He felt the tears flowing even faster down his cheeks. "Mom, I love her so much, but I'm never going to see her again. She's gone."

She wrapped her arms around him, as he cried, silently into her shoulder, and rubbed soothing circles across his back. "It's okay, Clark, It's going to be okay."

He shook his head, vehemently. "No. No it's not going to be okay, not without her."

"I know it seems like it now, but one day it will be okay. What was she like?"

He pulled away from her, and smiled, faintly, as memories of her came rushing back to him. "She was perfect, mom. She had the longest, blonde hair and dazzling hazel eyes. She was absolutely beautiful. I-I had never seen someone as mesmerizing as her. She is everything to me. She understood me better than anyone has ever before. She made me feel normal, but most of all, she accepted me."

Jonathon, who had been listening to his son' story, his heart breaking at his words, lifted his head at that last remark, and warning signs went off in his head. "What do you mean she accepted you?"

He looked over at his father. "She didn't judge me or ridicule me, but mostly it was in the way she helped me—the way she cared for me, and especially how much she loved me."

That still didn't answer his question, but he had a feeling that he already knew the answer. "Clark, does she know?"

He frowned. "Know what?"

"Does she know the truth about you?"

He hesitated, knowing how protective his parents were over his true origins, especially his father, but he wouldn't lie to them, besides he was glad that she knew everything about him, just like how he knew everything about her. "Yes."

Jonathon stood up, completely outraged. "How could you tell her that, Clark?"

"I-I wanted to."

"Why would you do that? Clark, what if she tells someone? What if she's a danger to you—to us—to our family?"

He glared at his father. "She won't tell anybody."

"You don't know that, hell, Clark, you don't even know this girl."

Now he was pissed off. He quickly stood up, facing his father. "Yes, I do. We know everything about each other, and we shared things that nobody else knows about us. So, yes, I do know her."

Martha quickly intervened, sending her husband a glare, now was not the time to lecture him. "Clark, honey, I think what your father is trying to say is that we have raised you not to tell anybody about this so, there must have been a good reason why you did."

He looked over at his mother. "There wasn't a specific reason why."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He glared at his father. "It's means, that I didn't need a reason to tell her. I told her the truth because from the first moment I met her, I knew she was special, and I wanted her to know me completely."

"Clark, when did you tell her? Were you dating or just friends at the time?"

He gulped. They weren't going to like this, he thought. "Neither. I told her only after a few hours of meeting her."

She sighed. "Oh, Clark."

Jonathon grew even more angry. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I wanted to! I was tired of all the secrets! I was tired of hiding myself from people I cared about! I barely knew her at the time, but I wanted her to know me, and I knew I could trust her."

"How do you know she won't tell somebody?"

"Because she loves me, and would never do something like that."

"Just because she loves you, doesn't mean she won't let it slip."

"You want to know how I know she won't say anything?" He continued when both his parents nodded, "because when we were in Colorado, her father found her, and she left—she left me because she was terrified that someone would find out about me."

Martha was surprised. "She did that?"

He nodded. "Yes, she was trying to protect me."

"What would she be protecting you from?"

"Her father, who happens to be a military General."

Jonathon about blew his head. "Military? Dammit Clark! Not only did you tell this girl about yourself, but her father works for the military! Did you know before you told her?"

He didn't hesitate, glaring, heatedly at his father. "Yes."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I love her!"

Martha calmly intervened, "Clark, you didn't love her when you told her so, what made you tell her even knowing that she was involved in the military?"

He stared at his mother. "I didn't know it at the time, but I-I think I've loved her from the first moment I laid eyes on her."

She smiled, knowing exactly what that felt like since that had happened with Jonathon. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry you have to go through this. I can tell you loved her very deeply, and if by what you're saying is true than it's obvious that she loved you very much as well."

He smiled, at least she understood, he thought.

"Martha, are you seriously okay with this? What if the military comes knocking on our door looking for Clark?"

She sighed. "Jonathon, I think you need to calm down. First of all, I don't think that would happen. Secondly, this girl literally sacrificed her love for Clark because she was trying to protect him from her father. And thirdly, can't you see that if Clark didn't trust her he never would have told her in the first place?"

He knew she was right, but he was too stubborn to admit that to her right now, and muttered, "I got work to do," before walking out of the house.

Clark watched him leave, a pitiful expression plastered on his face. "Why can't he understand?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll knock some sense into him, but right now, I want to know more about this girl who captured my son's heart."

He nodded. He could care less if his father thought he had made a big mistake because it was his decision to make, and he would never, ever regret telling Lois the truth about him. It made them closer—closer than he's ever been to anyone in his life, and it was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her.

She pulled him back over to the couch, making him sit down next to her. "So, this girl, you've told me how special she was to you, but I want to know how you met."

He chuckled, softly, as he remembered that day. "It was the day after I left Metropolis, I, um, I kind of saved her life."

She quirked a brow. "Saved her life, how?"

"Well, um, her car' brakes went out while she was driving down the highway. She veered off the road towards a bridge, where I was standing, and I stopped the car before she went off the bridge."

"So, that's how she found out?"

"No, well, sort of. She knew I had abilities, but she didn't ask me any questions about what she had seen, and that was one of the main reasons why I decided to tell her."

"Why did you? You didn't even know her at the time."

He smiled, memories of that day coming back to him. "I wasn't planning on it, but um, we were sitting by her car waiting for the tow truck when she told me that I could trust her. I didn't even know her, but I knew I could trust her, besides she had already seen me use my powers, and I couldn't lie to her. I wanted her to know the truth."

"I know you, and I know you don't tell just anybody. Even Pete, you only told him because you had no choice, but with her you told her because you wanted to, not because you had to."

He nodded. "Telling her, it was the best decision I've ever made. It brought us closer, and the way she accepted me made me fall deeper in love with her."

"Do you think that she was the one?"

He looked over at her, new tears streaming down his cheeks. "Yes, oh god, mom. I know she is my soulmate, a-and now, now she's gone. I'm never going to see her again."

She wrapped her arms around him, letting him cry into her shoulder. "It's going to be okay." She felt for him, she really did. He had left, wanting to escape from everything he had blamed himself for, and fell madly in love with someone only to lose her in the end.

"I miss her so much, mom, and I'm never going to stop."

She rocked him back and forth. "I know, honey, I know." She had absolutely no idea what he was going through since she had never been torn apart from Jonathon, but she knew his heart was shattered, and it was going to be quite a long time before it healed, if ever. "What was her name?"

He wanted to tell her, but he couldn't—wouldn't do it. He didn't even want to talk about this in the first place, and saying her name—saying the actual words was only going to make this much more worse than it already was.

"I-I can't. I'm sorry, mom, but I can't talk about this—about her anymore." He quickly stood up. "I'm going to unpack my things before heading to The Talon."

She nodded, completely understanding. It would be a long time before he could talk about it, she thought before standing up and heading outside. It was time to have a little conversation with her husband.

He sat at the end of his bed, head buried in the palms of his hands, as tears fell from his eyes. It was so hard telling his parents all of that, especially since he didn't want to, but now that he had it just made everything so much more real.

She was really gone.

He was never going to see her again.

He didn't know how to deal with this pain, a pain so deep that it seemed almost impossible to breathe sometimes, and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to move forward from here.

He quickly shook his head, trying to clear his head, and wiped away his tears. He didn't want to think about this right now, actually, he was tired of thinking about the pain of losing the one person who meant everything to him. He needed a distraction, and what was a better distraction than seeing his friends?

He grinned, slightly, at the thought. He couldn't wait to see Chloe and Pete' faces when they saw him.

* * *

Lois was completely and utterly pissed, as they pulled up to the main gates on base in Phoenix, and felt like she could strangle someone—anyone at this very moment.

She wasn't just pissed—she was furious as all hell.

She had been dragged, albeit forcefully back to this hell hole, of course, she had missed her friends, especially Cassie, but she definitely under no circumstances wanted to be back here.

Her father had done so, so many horrible and unimaginable things to find her, even going as far as dragging her best friend, who she wasn't happy with at the moment, into the mix of things, and she really, really wasn't looking forward to the conversation she knew she was going to be having with her father.

It wasn't going to be pretty, she thought, and she had a feeling deep inside that things were going to change drastically around here.

Wes slowly brought the car to a stop outside Lois' housing unit, and they both maneuvered themselves out of the car. She immediately opened the back door, and started grabbing her belongings, wanting to get this over with so, she could lock herself in her room…forever. She didn't want to be here or anywhere for that matter, not unless she was with the man she loved, and that was never going to happen again.

He watched her, a desolate expression plastered on his face. She hadn't said a single word to him the entire ride here, which was surprising since she was always talking for as long as he has known her, and it had been one hell of a long drive. He knew she was hurting—pissed—upset, but mostly, she was angry. He couldn't blame her, not really, hell, he would be feeling the same way if their roles had been reversed, but he couldn't help feeling a little thankful that this was finally over. He could have his life back.

"Lois, I know you're—"

She glared over at him. "No. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk to you. I just want to be left alone."

He sighed. "Lois, please! Just talk to me! You have barely said anything to me since we left Washington. Look, I know you're upset, pissed even, but I need you to say something—anything. I know you probably hate me, and I don't blame you, but please, please just talk to me."

She dropped the bag she was currently holding onto the ground, and walked over to him, her hands on her hips, as she glared, fiercely at him. "Wes, I don't hate you."

"You don't?"

"I don't hate you. Your one of my best friends. I couldn't hate you, even if I tried, but that doesn't mean I'm not pissed at you."

"Lois, can't you understand that I didn't have a choice? Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

She narrowed her eyes. "My heart? You mean the same heart you shattered? I can't just forgive and forget, Wes. I love you, I really do, but it's going to be quite a long time before I even contemplate forgiving you for everything that you did."

"I didn't have a choice!"

"I know that! I know, okay? I get that my father forced you, but you could have gone about it a completely different way. You need to think about this on my side of things. Not only did you force me to come back when I didn't want to, but you ripped me away from the one person who meant absolutely everything to me."

He stared at her, a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Lo, I really am."

"I know you are, but that doesn't change anything. I'm still pissed at you, and it's going to be a while before I get over this. I-I just need some time, okay?"

He could do that, he thought before smiling, slightly. "You really loved him, didn't you?"

Her heart ached, painfully, a pain she hasn't ever felt before, and her eyes watered at the thought of never seeing the man she was completely in love with—her soulmate ever again. "Yes. Yes, I love him more than anything." And with that she quickly grabbed her things, taking them inside.

After making a few trips, she came back outside to grab the last of her things, but stopped what she was doing when she heard her father' voice echoing from behind her. "Well, look who decided to come back home."

Home? Not even close, and she didn't decide anything she was forcefully brought back. She groaned, dropping her bags on the ground, and turned to face him. "Hello, daddy."

He stood all stoic-like, just like usual, in front of her with no readable expression or emotion on his face. "We have a lot to talk about."

Oh great, she thought, here comes the conversation she was dreading. "Can you give me a few minutes?"

"No."

She glared. "You know, I need to unpack my things before you rip me a new one, General."

"Not happening, Lo. I've waited three months to have this conversation with you, and I'm not waiting another second."

She didn't move, making him even more irritated at her attitude. "Let's go, young lady! To my office, now!"

Typical, she thought before rolling her eyes, and practically stomped her way to his office. Once there, she waited, quite impatiently for the onslaught to begin.

He stared at her for a few minutes before speaking. "I'm not even going to get into the fact that you ran away from home—"

"It's not a home, it's a damn military base!" She interrupted him.

"Don't! I'm not finished." He stepped towards her. "I could care less why you felt the need to leave, but we're going to get one thing straight."

She smirked. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

He growled, low in his throat. "Don't start. From this point forward, I'm going to ensure that something like this never happens again."

"How do you expect to do that? I ran away once. I can do it again."

"No, you won't. I have placed an order to every officer on this base that clearly states that you're not to leave this base unless you're with me, and there will be guards at every entrance and exit of this base every day and every night."

Her mouth fell open. This was a lot worse than she thought. He was practically holding her prisoner! "You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can, and I did. You will not be leaving this base under any circumstances; therefore, you won't be able to leave as easily as last time."

She hmphed. "This is completely unfair! I'm your daughter not a damn prisoner! You can't just keep me locked up here!"

"You're under my care so, yes, I can do this. Just be lucky that I didn't send you to military school instead."

She growled, in annoyance, of course, he would bring that up again. It had been one of the many reasons why she left in the first place. "Yes, sir. Are we done here?"

He glared. "Don't smart mouth me, Lo, you're in a world of trouble right now."

She knew that, but that didn't mean she had to agree or accept anything else he had to tell her. "You've already taken away all my freedom and rights as an American so, what else is there? I ran away, you found me, and now we can move on."

He shook his head. She was absolutely relentless, he thought. "I don't think so. You not only will be on lock down, but you will be doing KP duty for the next six months, and I don't want to hear a single complain coming out of that mouth!"

She gasped, visibly. "KP duty? Are you insane? This is outrageous!"

"I don't care. You will do it whether you like it or not. It's time you deal with the consequences of your poorly decided actions!"

"Whatever!" She quickly stormed out of his office, not even caring if he was done talking to her or not. This was unbelievable! It was bad enough that he had locked down this place like some sort of prison, in which she was the only prisoner, but now he expected her to do KP duty for six fucking months!

Yay! It felt great being back, she thought.

She was almost to her room, albeit in a sour mood when she heard a familiar voice screeching behind her, "LOIS!"

She twirled around noticing that Cassie, someone she had missed very dearly running full force towards her, and broke into a huge grin before running towards her. "CASSIE!"

They crashed together, hugging each other tightly, and swung each other around in circles before collapsing to the ground, in a fit of laughter.

"Oh my god! I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Cass!"

Cassie pulled away from her. "Okay. I need details! Where have you been? What have you been doing? Did you see cool places? How was everything? Did you meet anybody? Were there cute guys, no scratch that, were there smoking hot guys?"

She laughed. "Oh lord, what have I done to you? You have been spending way too much time with me!"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you see, you've been gone for three months so, I had no choice but to bring out my inner Lois."

"That's my girl!" She hugged her again. "I'm so happy to see you!"

She pulled away from her, "Okay, enough of this mushy stuff! I need details! I want to know everything!"

She gulped, not too how she felt about that, but figured she owed it to her since she had been gone for quite a long time. She quickly stood up, and held out her hand. "Fine, but only if you help me unpack."

"You've got yourself a deal!" Cassie slipped her hand into hers, shooting up from the ground, and bounding into Lois' room. She couldn't wait to hear about everything she had done, seen and experienced.

* * *

Chloe laughed, good-heartedly, tipping her head back, as her and Pete sat in The Talon on the couch or their couch, as they had dubbed it, and enjoyed some refreshing coffee. "No way! I'm not telling you anything! Remember what happens in Metropolis stays in Metropolis."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Uh, I hate to burst your bubble, Sullivan, but I'm pretty sure that only works for Vegas definitely not Kansas so, spill the beans!"

She shook her head. "Nope! Not telling you anything, Ross!"

He groaned. "Please! I want to know who the hell this guy is! I mean, you've been going to the city almost every weekend so, who the hell is this guy? Does he treat you right?"

"Yes, he treats me right, but that's all you're going to get. My lips are sealed." She drew an imaginary zipper across her lips, and threw away the key.

"Oh, come on, Chlo. I've never seen you this happy before. Please, please tell me something! Like what does he look like? How old is he? Is he short? Tall? What's his name?"

She laughed. He wasn't going to give up until she told him something about her mysterious boyfriend. "Fine! I'll tell you one thing, and one thing only until I'm ready to introduce you to him."

He sat up in his seat, eagerly listening.

"His name is…Jimmy."

He waited, patiently for more, but it seemed that, that was all he was going to get, and pouted, in dismal. "Really? That's all I get? Not even a last name? I can't even try looking him up."

"Hence why you only get a first name. You know, you're almost as good as me at hacking into things. I think you've been spending way too much time with me."

"Well, what do you expect when we work side by side together at The Torch." He was thoughtful for a few seconds. "You're really not going to tell me anything more about this guy?"

She smirked. "Oh, don't worry, Pete. You will find out soon enough who this guy is."

He fell back against the couch, pouting. "You're no fun!"

She snickered at him before falling into a comfortable silence for a few minutes just enjoying her coffee, and how she managed to yet again get Pete to give up on his tirade to find out more about Jimmy. "I'm glad we're doing this. We haven't done it in so long."

"Yeah, but we both know why that is."

"Yeah."

"So, where is the princess?"

She smiled, at his nickname for her, but honestly, she really deserved that one. "She sent me a text saying that her aunt needed her for something, but she'll be by later."

"Oh great! Well, I better make myself scarce if I want to escape from her constant dawdling on something that can't be changed."

"Yeah…" She started, but whatever she was about to say was lost in translation, as she noticed Clark walk inside, like he hadn't been gone for three months, and dropped the coffee cup she was holding.

Pete jerked, unexpectedly, as coffee splayed on him. "Woah! Chloe!" He looked up at her, noticing that she was staring off into space, and waved his hand in front of her face. "Hey, are you okay?"

She never looked at him. "Clark."

He frowned. "Uh, yeah, who else would I be talking about?"

She shook her head, and pointed towards the front door. "No, I mean, Clark."

He quickly spun around, his eyes widening in surprise, and stared in confusion, as he saw Clark standing by the entrance looking around the room, like he was searching for someone.

He couldn't believe it.

His best friend was actually here.

He was back.

How the hell did that happen? Last time they talked, which was three months ago had made it adamantly clear that he wasn't going to be returning, but here he was.

He never thought he'd see his overly, tall and clumsy best friend again.

He slowly stood up, on shaky legs. "C-Clark?"

Clark turned around when he heard his name being called, and smiled before he started walking towards them. "Hey, guys."

Pete narrowed his eyes. "Clark? Are you really here?"

"Yeah, I am."

He grinned from ear to ear before pulling him into a hug. "It's so great to see you again, man! I didn't think we would ever see you again."

He pulled away from him. "Yeah, well, I figured that it was time I came home." He gave him a pointed look, mentally telling him that they needed to talk later. "Besides, I missed you guys."

He discreetly nodded. He had lots and lots of questions, ones that couldn't be asked in front of Chloe. "I missed you too, bro!"

Clark looked over at Chloe, who was just staring at him with a blank expression on her face. "Chloe?"

Silence.

"Hey, Chloe, are you okay?"

She shook her head, riding away her confused thoughts, and blinked a few times before standing up. "Am I okay?" She glared at him, incredulously. "No. I'm not okay. What the hell did you expect? Were you expecting me to be all excited and happy now that you've returned? You left Clark! You left all of us, even your parents, and you expect me to be okay with that! How the hell am I supposed to feel about that?"

He sighed. He had a feeling that Chloe would have been the one mostly upset by all of this, especially him leaving without saying a single goodbye to anyone. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I really am. I know me leaving the way I did probably hurt you, and I know I don't deserve anything from either of you, but, um, I really missed you."

She sighed. She could never stay mad at those baby blues, which were practically pleading with her, and the well-known Kent puppy dog look. It was frustrating as hell! "I missed you too," she admitted before hugging him, and pulled away from him, smirking. "Don't think this gets you off the hook, mister! I want an explanation, and I want one right now!"

He grinned. She would never change, he thought. "Well, where do I start?"

Pete piped in, "How about from the beginning, that's a good place to start."

He mock glared at him. "Ha! Ha! Very funny!"

"I'm waiting."

"Okay. Okay, well I, um, I—"

But before he could even finish one sentence he was interrupted by a familiar voice, practically screaming his name from across the room. "CLARK!"

* * *

 _ **I'm pretty sure you all can guess who will be in the next chapter. I know this chapter mainly focused on Clark, but I promise the next chapter will have more Lois in it. This was originally supposed to be one chapter about them reuniting with their friends and families, but it was way too long so I had to split it up into two chapters.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-two!**_


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Three:**_

* * *

But before he could even finish one sentence he was interrupted by a familiar voice, practically screaming his name from across the room. "CLARK!"

"Oh no…" Chloe and Pete muttered simultaneously.

Clark glanced at them, warily before turning towards the familiar voice, noticing Lana practically running full force towards him with a splitting grin plastered on her face, and lunged into his arms.

He froze.

He had no idea what he should do, but very, very gently hugged her back before quickly pulling away from her.

She frowned, slightly. "Oh my god! I can't believe you're actually here! I've missed you so, so much!"

He smiled, forcefully. Not really sure what he should do or say at this moment. When he had decided to come to The Talon to see his friends, he hadn't even thought about her, actually he had all but forgotten about her. Three months ago, that would have been surprising, but now, now he knew that what he had felt for her beforehand was never real love. It was a schoolgirl crush.

"Uh…Hi, Lana."

She frowned, even more so. "Is that all you can say for yourself? Where the hell have you been? What have you been doing? Why did you leave? Why did you leave me?"

He quickly took a step back from her, wanting to put some space between them. "Well, um, I just needed to get away for a little while."

She nodded, and stepped closer to him, making him feel very uncomfortable. "So, now that you're back does that mean we can pick up where we left off three months ago?"

His eyes widened to the size of saucers before glancing over at Chloe and Pete, noticing them hiding their laughter behind their hands, and knew they were going to be no help. He decided to play dumb, even though he knew exactly what she was referring to, but he could never, ever be with her like that or anyone for that matter.

"Um…Where we left off?"

She stepped even closer to him, their bodies almost touching. "Yeah, we can be together again."

He stared at her, wide-eyed, like she had grown two heads or something. Was she fucking crazy? Didn't he break up with her or at least insinuate that before he left?

He was pretty positive that he did, literally seconds before he left town so, why was she pretending like they were still together? He was definitely not going back down that road, besides it would be a long, long time before he even contemplated something like that, especially since he was too in love with Lois to even think about being with anyone else. She was it for him.

He stepped away from her, hoping to keep as much distance between them as possible. "Um, Lana, we've been over this. I thought I made things perfectly clear before I left."

"What are you talking about?"

"We broke up," he tried saying it as nicely and gently as possible, but he could see the hurt and pain cross her features before she quickly hid it.

"No. No, we didn't. Clark, you just needed some time to yourself. You were going through something, which you couldn't share with me then, but now, now you can, and we can have our second chance."

He shook his head. "No, we can't."

She frowned, at his words. "But, Clark, didn't you miss me?"

He hesitated.

In all honesty, he hadn't thought about her all but a few times since he left, and in no way was he inclined to be with her again or ever, but he couldn't exactly tell her that. He might not love her, but she was his friend, and he really, really didn't want to hurt her.

He glanced at his three closest friends, and completely ignored the way Chloe and Pete were staring at him with questioning gazes, like they couldn't believe what they were hearing. "Uh, well, I, um, I missed you all…a lot, especially my parents."

She didn't like that answer one bit. "Clark. It's a simple question. Did you miss me or not?"

He sighed, heavily. He wasn't in the mood for this. He just wanted to spend some time with his friends, and try to get some normalcy back into his life. "Look, Lana, can we talk about this later? I just got back into town less than two hours ago, and I really don't want to talk about this right now."

She crossed her arms over her chest, and scowled. "Fine! I'll stop by your house later tonight!"

They all watched her turn on her heels, and walk out of The Talon. Clark sighed, heavily, and plopped down onto the couch, burying his head into the palm of his hands.

Chloe and Pete, sat down across from him, and stared at him.

He could feel their gazes lingering on him, and looked up at them, noticing the confused expressions plastered on their faces. "Okay, say it, I know you both want to."

Pete was the first to speak. "Okay, fess up man. What the hell was that all about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Chloe scoffed. "Yeah right. Come on, Clark. Who do you think you're talking to? What the hell was that about? Why did you just blow her off like that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't blow her off exactly—"

They both raised their brows at him, smirks on their faces, and he relented. "Okay. Okay, maybe I did, but I'd rather not talk about this right now."

Or at all, he thought, silently.

"Nope! You're going to tell us what the hell just happened."

"Yeah," Pete agreed, "Why did you just blow her off like that? I mean, the Clark I know would have never disregarded Lana like that."

"Well, I'm not the same guy who left three months ago."

"That's obvious."

He glared at Chloe. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She threw her hands up in surrender. "Nothing. It was meant as a compliment. You've changed, that's for sure, but that still doesn't explain why you blew off the chance to be with the girl you have all but daydreamed about being with since you were ten years old."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, things change."

"Come on, man, why don't you want to be with her? It's all you used to talk about."

"I just don't, okay?" He glanced between his two best friends. "Look, I won't be getting back together with her anytime soon, if ever, so can we please just talk about something else?"

Pete nodded. He had, had fleeting thoughts over the past few months about his friend's true feelings for the pretty brunette, and now knew that he was right. His best friend didn't love her, and he was starting to wonder if he ever did.

Chloe studied him for a few moments. "There's something different about you."

He raised his brows at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that there is something off about you."

He shared a worried glance with Pete, both of them wondering where she was going with this.

"Yeah, something has definitely changed," she continued, completely oblivious to their shared thoughts. "I mean, three months ago if Lana had even insinuated that she wanted to be with you, you would have jumped on the chance, but now…" She trailed off, as an unbelievable thought occurred to her, and her eyes widened. "Oh, my fucking god! You fell in love with someone!"

He stared at her, completely surprised, and felt slightly uncomfortable underneath her heated gaze, reminding him of the way Lois would glare at him sometimes, hell most of the time, especially when she knew he was hiding something from her.

He shook his thoughts away. He couldn't think about that right now. "Um…"

Pete saw the expression on his face, and grinned from ear to ear, at the truth lingering in his eyes. "It's true, isn't it? You fell in love with someone?"

He flickered his eyes between the two of them, knowing that they wouldn't drop this until he said something, but there was no way in hell he could talk about her again. Not so soon after having that same exact conversation with his mother. It just wasn't a possibility. He wasn't ready to talk to them about her yet, if ever, but he could at least share some of the truth.

He looked down to the ground, and muttered, "Yes."

Pete grinned from ear to ear. It was true. His best friend had fallen in love with someone in his time away, and he couldn't help but feel extremely happy for him. "Clark! Are you serious? Who was this girl? What was her name? What was she like?"

Chloe, on the other hand, couldn't believe this was actually happening. Her best friend had actually fallen in love with someone, who wasn't Lana, which was surprising in itself, but she was starting to wonder if he was ever in love with her. One part of her wanted to be jealous, but the other part of her was extremely happy for him. Over the past three months, she had lots of time to think about her feelings for him, and of course she loved him, she always would, but she didn't want to be with him, not anymore. She had Jimmy now, and she was already falling for the cute, squirmy red-head.

"You need to tell us everything! What does she look like? Where did you meet? How did you meet her? Was it love at first sight? Why didn't she come with you?"

He smiled, sadly at both of them. They had absolutely no idea that what they were saying and doing were only adding onto his pain and suffering, but he couldn't exactly blame them for that. They didn't know, and probably never would.

He was going to sad for quite a long time, he thought, forlornly.

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course, it does, man!"

"No, it doesn't. Can we please talk about something else?"

Pete saw the painful expression plastered on his face, and knew immediately that something had went horribly wrong. He had a feeling that the only reason he was here right now was because of something that had happened pretty recently, and it had everything to do with this girl.

Chloe, on the other hand was completely oblivious to her best friend's pain. "Aww, Clark, come on, you have to tell us something. You've been gone for three months, we need details!"

He sighed. "Look, I can tell you about what I did over the past three months, but under no circumstances will I be talking about her, okay? I-I just can't."

She sobered, immediately, and that's when she noticed his demeanor.

He was sad.

He was in pain.

He was missing this girl.

And now she felt like a complete idiot because she probably only made it worse, and decided that it was best to drop the subject. If he wanted them to know, he would tell them when he was ready, but she had a feeling that he was never going to be ready for that conversation. It was obvious that he loved this girl very, very much.

"Okay then. Well, how about you tell us about what you've been doing for the past three months? Where did you go? What did you see?"

He smiled, softly, completely thankful that she wasn't going to badger him about it. "Well, it all started after I left Metropolis…"

* * *

Cassie laughed, her head falling backwards, and tears fell from the corners of her eyes as she listened to Lois tell her about her cliff jumping experience in Estes Park, Colorado. "What was it like?"

Lois grinned from ear to ear, remembering the thrill of jumping off that twenty-foot high cliff. "It was great! I had never felt anything more freeing—more exhilarating, especially feeling nothing but the open air beneath me."

"You've always wanted to do that."

She nodded, agreeing with her, and continued unpacking her things. She tried keeping a believable smile on her face as a mask to hide what she was really feeling inside.

Pain.

Her heart felt like it was going to shatter even more than it already has since everything she had told her, especially the cliff jumping memory was something she had shared with Clark, and she would never, ever share anything with him again.

"So, aside from the thrilling experience of cliff jumping, what was all the places you visited like?"

She smiled at her best friend, who she missed so, so much before telling her everything. She told her about the piece of shit town she was forced to stay in for a whole week, the beautiful mountains in Colorado, the magically green forests in Montana, and the absolutely mesmerizing beaches in Washington.

As she spoke, she couldn't help but wish that they could stop talking about this since it only reminded her of Clark, who she was never, ever going to see again, but she completely understood that she only wanted to know everything she had done and seen.

But…

It was hard talking about this, especially after it only being a week since she was forced to say goodbye to the one man she never thought she would have to live without—the one man she thought she was going to spend always and forever with.

She wanted to share everything with her, including the most amazing and blissful three months she spent falling in love with him.

But she couldn't.

In all honestly, talking about this—about him made it feel like her insides, especially her heart was ripping apart into a million little pieces. It felt like she was dying, and she just wanted it to stop—she wanted to be happy, but that wasn't possible. Not unless she was with him, and that was something that would never, ever happen again.

"Wow! It sounds like you had a lot of fun!"

"Yeah, I did." She quickly changed the subject, "Um, so, what has your life been like since I've been gone?"

Cassie sighed, heavily. "Hell. It has been absolute hell."

"Wes told me some of what my father put you through, but it couldn't have been that bad, right?"

"It was worse than bad, Lois. The first few weeks were okay, I guess, but it only got worse. I felt inclined to protect you, even though I didn't know where you were so, I did everything I could to find out what he and Wes were up to."

Lois felt like shit. If she would have just stayed then none of this would have happened, but on the other hand if she would have stayed then she wouldn't have never met Clark, and that was something she didn't want to think about. She couldn't imagine never meeting him. It was the best thing that ever happened to her, even if they weren't together anymore.

She looked over at Cassie. "I'm sorry, Cass."

Cassie looked up at her, slightly surprised. "It's okay, Lo, it wasn't your fault." She studied her for a few moments, and couldn't help but notice the flux of emotions cross over her face, as they talked about Wes, and as much as she wanted to side with her best friend she couldn't help but try to intervene. "So, um, about Wes…"

"No. We will not be talking about him."

She was still pissed at him, and knew she would be for quite a long time, but she did understand that he was only doing what her father ordered of him. But that didn't mean she was going to forgive and forget. It would be quite a while before she even contemplated forgiving him after everything he had done to her.

"Come on, Lo, you can't stay mad at him. It wasn't exactly his fault."

"You don't think I know that?"

"Then why are you so pissed at him?"

She couldn't—wouldn't tell her, even if she wanted to, besides it was hard enough thinking about it let alone actually saying the words. "I just can't, okay?" She quickly grabbed a few bags, and took them into the bathroom, starting to unpack her bathroom supplies.

Cassie watched her with a sad expression plastered on her face, and wondered what she wasn't telling her. It was obvious that she was upset about something, and it had nothing to do with what Wes and her father had put her through so, what was it?

Whatever her lovely best friend was pissed about had something to do with her three-month long extravaganza, and Wes was a part of it. She had no idea what it could be, but she was sure in hell going to figure it out.

She started sifting through the last bag on the bed, and was about to put some of her clothes away when a strip of pictures fell to the ground.

She slowly dropped the clothes down onto the bed, picked up the strip of pictures, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers when she realized that it was a group of pictures of Lois and some guy, who looked awfully smitten with each other.

She studied her best friend in the pictures. She looked really, really happy, like she didn't have a single care in the world, and it made her wonder what had happened. She wasn't stupid. She could tell that Lois wasn't telling her something. She seemed sadder and more reserved than normal, which was extremely odd since she was never, ever like that no matter what she was going though. Was it about this guy?

Why hadn't she told her about him?

They told each other everything, at least they usually did so, why wasn't she divulging information about this guy?

"How is it even possible to have this much crap? I swear, I only left with a few essentials, but I come back with a shit load…" she trailed off, and came to a complete stop, as she noticed Cassie was holding the strip of pictures from her and Clark's first date.

Cassie looked up, grinning from ear to ear. "Who's this?"

"It's not important."

She quirked a brow. "Really? Not important? I'm not buying that. This looks pretty important to me. It seems that you have some explaining to do missy."

She groaned, silently before quickly walking over to her, and tried grabbing them from her hands, but Cassie kept pulling it away from her. "Can you please give them back?"

"Why? You said it wasn't important to you so, why should I?"

"Cassie!"

"Lois!"

"Can you please just give them back?"

"No. Not until you tell me who the hell this guy is."

She sighed, heavily and plopped down onto the bed, dejectedly. She didn't want to talk about this, not because she didn't want to tell her, but because it was so, so hard. "I-I, um, I met someone while I was away."

Cassie sat down next to her, and looked down at the pictures. "You looked really happy here."

She glanced down at the photos, her heart twinging in pain, and felt the tears pooling in her eyes, as she saw how happy they both looked, but knew she would never be that happy again. "I was."

"What do you mean you were?"

She shook her head, trying to hold her tears back. "It doesn't matter."

Cassie was not having that. She glanced over at her, and for the first time since they had started talking noticed that her body shaking, her breathing was heavier and more lapsed, and there was tears in her eyes. "Oh god, Lois, what's wrong? What is it? What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

She grabbed her hands, squeezing reassuringly, and forced her to look at her. "You might not want to, but I think you need to. I can tell that this guy meant quite a lot to you."

Tears fell down her cheeks. "He did."

"What happened?"

She took a deep, shaky breath before she told her everything. She explained how they had met not even one day after she left base, how they spent all their time together in Colorado, how they were separated for three weeks, how they spent their remaining time in Montana and Washington, and the night they had to say goodbye to each other.

Afterwards, she just cried—cried over the fact that she had lost the one person that meant absolutely everything to her.

Cassie' heart broke for her best friend, and she slowly wrapped her arms around her. "It's going to be okay. Everything is going to be alright."

She shook her head, vehemently, the tears falling more forcefully. "No. No, it's not going to be okay. I love him, Cass, god, I love him more than anything, and I'm never going to see him again."

She didn't know what to say or even do so, she just rocked her back and forth, trying her damnest to comfort her in her time of need. Several minutes later, after she had seemed to calm down she spoke up, "You really loved him, didn't you?"

"I love him more than I've ever loved anybody, and I-I don't think I'm ever going to stop."

"What was his name?"

"C-Clark. His name is Clark."

She looked down at the strip of pictures. "Look, Lo, I have no idea what you're feeling right now, but I do know that it's good to get things off your chest. It will make you feel better. So, tell me about him."

And she did.

She told her how he made her feel things that she had never, ever felt before-things that she had never felt for a guy before. She told her how sweet, charming, and extremely romantic he was, even to the point of being nauseating, but that was one of the things she loved most about him.

Cassie giggled. "Romantic? Since when do you fall for guys who are romantic and sappy?"

She smiled, sadly. "I don't, but he was different. God, Cass, he was special, and we had a connection from the moment we laid eyes on each other."

"He was really that special to you?"

"Yeah, he really is. I-I love him so damn much. I don't think I could ever love another as much as I love him, and what makes it worse is that I'm never going to see him again."

"What about this day?" She asked, holding up the pictures.

She grabbed the pictures, more tears falling from her cheeks. "It was our first date. The night before, he had finally kissed me, and asked me to go out with him. That day we went to a carnival. We went on all the rides, played all the games, and I had to practically drag him to the photo booth. It was one of the best days of my life."

"It sounds like it."

"Oh, Cass, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I miss him so, so much, and I don't think I'll ever be able to stop."

Cassie forced her to look at her. "Yes. Yes, you will. It might not seem like it now, but one day it will be easier, and you'll be able to move forward."

She shook her head back and forth. It didn't even seem like a possibility, and quite honestly, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to. He was it for her. "I don't think that's possible for me, Cassie. I just know deep inside that he was the one, and now, now I've lost him. I don't think I will ever be able to stop loving him."

She hugged her, holding her tightly. "I'm so, sorry, Lo."

She cried, in the comfort of her best friend's arms until she eventually fell asleep.

After a few minutes, Cassie slowly got up from the bed, covered her with a blanket, and left her room. She had never in her entire time knowing Lois ever seen her so broken hearted before, and she didn't know how to help her or soothe her pain.

But…

She did know one thing…she had a bone to pick with one Wes Keenan. She now understood why Lois was so pissed at him, and she would be too. Lois was happy, and now, now she was miserable. She would be for a very, very long time.

She was a woman on a mission, as she practically marched to Wes' quarters. How dare he tear her away from the man she loved!

* * *

Clark stood in his 'fortress of solitude' leaning against the wooden beams, and looked out across the night sky, like he used to do all the time.

It had been a pretty amazing day.

He had come home after being away for so long.

He had reunited with his parents, which was both bittersweet and emotional.

He hung out with his best friends, who had missed him as much as he had missed them.

A smile crept onto his face, as he thought about his afternoon with Chloe and Pete. It had felt just like old times—like he hadn't been gone for three months, and it felt incredibly nice spending time with them again. They had talked about so many things in such a short amount of town, like what each of them had done in the past three months, but most importantly how much they were looking forward to this school year.

Chloe, of course, had all but demanded that they help her with The Torch, which was a given anyways, besides he honestly enjoyed solving the town' many mysteries with them, even if Pete was the only one that knew the truth.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Lana walking up the steps to the loft, and jumped, in surprise when he heard her voice echoing from behind him. "Hey, Clark."

He groaned, silently, wondering how he could have forgotten that she would be stopping by tonight before turning around, and smiled, slightly. "Oh, hey, Lana. I didn't hear you come up. What's up?"

She stepped towards him, an incredulous expression on her face. "What's up? Clark, you promised that we could talk so, here I am."

More like you demanded it, he thought before nodding, at her words. "Here you are." He didn't know how to have this conversation with her. He didn't know how to tell her that he wasn't in love with her—that he had never been in love with her. He wasn't sure how to say this without hurting her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He cared about her, hell, he had, had a crush on her for as long as he could remember, but he just didn't feel the way she obviously felt about him, and he really, really hoped they could stay friends after this.

She shifted, uncomfortably, from one foot to the other. "Clark, why did you leave? Why did you leave me? Why did you leave us?"

He sighed, heavily. "Look, Lana, I can't really explain why I left, but just know that I had my reasons, and I needed some away to think—some time to be myself."

"For three months?"

"Yeah, for three months. I'm sorry if my leaving upset you."

She moved closer to him. "Clark, you told me that you were leaving, and offered for me to come with you, but when I tried reasoning with you, you just left. That hurt. You didn't just upset me…you hurt me, but I had three months to move past that. I thought that what we shared meant more to you, but um, now that you're back what does that mean for us?"

He looked her straight in the eyes, trying to be as sensitive as possible. "There is no us, Lana. I don't think there ever was."

She stared at him, with questioning eyes. "What are you talking about, Clark? We were together, in love, three months ago, and now that you're back we can have that again—we can be happy again."

"That can't happen."

"Why not?"

He walked around her, making his way over to the couch, and sat down, his eyes fixated on the ground. "Lana, I just can't, okay?"

She wasn't having that. She quickly sat down next to him, and rested her hand on his upper thigh. "Why not?"

He glared down at her hand, trying not to cringe from her touch but couldn't help it. It didn't feel right, actually nothing felt right anymore, but he knew he didn't like her touching him. He didn't want anyone touching him like that, unless it was Lois, the woman he was in love with—the woman he would always be in love with, and that was just something that would never happen again.

He removed her hand from his leg. "I-I just can't, okay?"

She moved closer to him, crowding him against the arm of the couch. "Clark, we were happy before you left, and we can be like that again. I love you, Clark."

He closed his eyes, unable to look her in the eyes. This was going to be a lot harder than he assumed it would be, he thought before whispering, "I don't."

"What did you just say?"

He opened his eyes, looking directly into her own. "I-I don't love you, Lana."

She quickly moved away from him, tears pooling in her big, brown eyes. "That-that's not true. Y-You told me that you loved me a few days before you left."

He couldn't stand looking into her sad, tear-filled eyes, and quickly walked back over to the window, staring out into the star-filled night. "Things change, Lana. I don't think I've ever loved you. Believe me, it took me a while to figure that out, and I'm not trying to hurt you, but what I felt for you was just a school crush. That's all it was ever going to be. I'm sorry."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. He didn't love her? He never had? It couldn't be true. She quickly stood up, and walked over to him, placing her hand on his arm. "You don't mean that. You love me. You wouldn't have told me so otherwise." She could feel his arm twitching, and knew he was going to try to protest, but quickly continued speaking, "No, Clark, feelings don't just change like that. Something had to have happened while you were gone. What was it?"

He turned towards her, effectively removing her hand from his arm. "You're right. Something did happen. Lana, I, um, I met someone."

She backed away from him, tears falling down her cheeks. "Y-y-you cheated on me?"

He groaned, silently, at her words. Why couldn't she get it through her head that he had initially broken up with her, even if he didn't say the words, the day he left?

"Lana, when I left town that was the moment we ended so, no I didn't cheat on you."

"Clark, you can't be serious. It was just a summer love, one you will get over sooner or later, besides you can't seriously stand there and tell me that she meant more to you than what we shared together."

He looked straight into her eyes. "It wasn't."

"What?"

"It wasn't a summer love. You don't understand, hell, even my father doesn't understand. I didn't just meet some girl, and have fun with her for a few months. I met a woman who was special, amazing, and absolutely everything I've been looking for. I fell deeply, madly, and irrevocably in love with her. It's always going to be her, no matter what happens or how much time passes, she will always be the one that holds my heart."

The tears cascaded down her cheeks, faster and faster, and she could feel her heart breaking inside her chest. "How can you say that to me? I thought you loved me! I have spent the last three months searching for you, not only so your parents, Chloe and Pete could all be happy, but so we could be happy again—so we could have our second chance."

He felt for her, he really did, but it still didn't change anything. He didn't love her, and he never would. "I'm sorry, Lana."

She shook her head, vehemently. "No, I don't believe that. I love you, and I know you love me. I can prove it," and with that she clutched his shirt into her hands, pulled him towards her, and kissed him.

His eyes widened, in complete surprise.

His hands flung up into the air for a spit second before resting them on her shoulders, and pushed her away from him, a little forcefully. He couldn't believe that she had just did that. He wasn't expecting it, that was for sure. Normally, he would have been thrilled by the idea of kissing her, but now, now he felt like he just cheated on Lois, even though they weren't together anymore. He knew, in that moment, that he would never, ever be able to kiss another woman unless she had long, blond hair, beautiful hazel eyes, a smart mouth, and went by the name of Lois Joanne Lane.

"Don't!"

She leaned forward, intending on kissing him, but he quickly moved away from her. "Please! Lana! Just don't!"

"Why not?"

He turned towards her, an expression of pure and absolute pain plastered on his face. "Because I can't! Because I'm completely in love with someone else! Because without her my life is meaningless! Because I can't imagine being with anybody but her! She is everything to me, and she always will be!" He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Lana. I just don't feel the same way you do."

She had thought that kissing him would remind him of what they had—of what they shared together, but it was quite obvious that, that wasn't going to work. She could tell that he had feelings for this girl, but she would show him that they were right for each other. Just not tonight. But one day soon she would call him hers. "I'm sorry, Clark. I shouldn't have done that."

He looked down at her, surprised by her words, and smiled, feeling incredibly thankful that she was starting to understand.

"Clark, I know you're hurting over this girl right now, but no matter how long it takes I will wait for you. We'll be together one day, you'll see."

She leaned forward, making him freeze, momentarily, and kissed his cheek before walking away, leaving him standing there completely and utterly dumfounded.

* * *

 _She tried her damnest to focus on the movie they were currently watching, but of course, she could feel his eyes practically boring into her. "You know, it's not nice to stare."_

 _He grinned from ear to ear, loving how beautiful she looked underneath the moonlight. "What can I say? You're just so breathtaking."_

 _She turned towards him, and glared, playfully. "That was sappy."_

 _He moved a little closer to her. "Yeah, but you love that about me."_

" _You know, I'm trying to watch a movie here, and you should be doing the same. We did pay almost thirty dollars for this experience."_

" _True, but I'd much rather watch you."_

 _She rolled her eyes. "Now you're just being silly."_

 _He moved even closer to her so, he was practically looming over her. "Admit it, you love me this way."_

" _Hmm. I'm not too sure about that, but I do know that you're blocking a really good movie with your gigantic head."_

 _He growled, low in his throat, and crawled on top of her, pinning her to the hood of her car. "Say it."_

" _Make me."_

 _He quickly swooped down, his lips capturing hers in a sweet, and passionate kiss before pulling away from her completely, breathless. "Come on, baby, just say it."_

 _She tried catching her breath after that breathtaking kiss. What was it about him and his powerful kisses that always took her breath away? "I love you, Clark Kent."_

 _He grinned from ear to ear, god, he loved it when she said that. "I love you too, Lois Lane."_

" _Always and forever," they spoke, simultaneously before pressing their lips together in a sweet, soft, and tender kiss._

Lois woke up with a start, her chest heaved up and down, as she breathed heavily, and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She replayed the dream—the memory in her mind over and over again, wanting to replay a moment where they were completely and utterly happy.

It was a few days after they found each other again in Montana, and they had decided to go to a drive-in movie, but of course, he had been too occupied with her to pay attention the movie. Which wasn't surprising, since every time they did watch a movie he would either just watch her or fall asleep.

She shook her thoughts away, the tears falling full force down her cheeks, knowing she was never, ever going to watch another movie with him—she was never going to tease him again—she was never going to see those mesmerizing eyes again—she was never going to see his handsome face again—she was never going to kiss him again—she was never going to be with him again.

He was out of her life…forever.

She quickly jumped out of bed, and rushed outside, relishing in the feeling of the cool night air brushing across her skin. She clutched the necklace he had given her the night they said goodbye in her hands, opened the locket, and smiled sadly down at the picture inside before turning it over and reading the message, like she had done a million times over. She missed him, oh god, she missed him so damn much, and she had a feeling that she always would.

She slowly lowered herself to the ground, her salty tears rocking her body, and looked up into the night sky, the twinkling stars reminding her of all the times they used to stargaze together. She closed her eyes, and whispered into the night, "I miss you, Clark, oh god, baby, I miss you so much. I want you to know, even if you can't hear me, that I can still feel your love, and I always will…forever."

Several minutes later, she made her way back inside, and laid down on her bed, just staring up at the ceiling. It would be so easy to fall asleep again, she thought, but she couldn't—wouldn't because if she did she was just going to be miserable. She wanted to attempt to get her mind off things—off Clark, but that was nearly an impossible task.

It was like Montana all over again, except this time she knew that they would never find their way back to each other again, and that hurt worse than any pain imaginable. It hurt the most because she had found her lover—her best friend—her soulmate, and now he was gone. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to deal with that. Where the hell did she go from here?

* * *

He watched as she walked down the loft stairs, feeling completely dumfounded by their entire conversation. So much for understanding, he thought, she would be waiting quite a long time because he would never, ever move on from Lois.

It just wasn't possible.

He walked back over to the window, and sighed, heavily, as he roamed his eyes across the darkened corn fields.

Lana was so, so much different compared to Lois, he thought.

Where Lois was passionate with everything she did and everyone she loved, Lana was only passionate when she felt the absolute need to be. He had never felt the kind of passion with her as he did when he was with Lois. Lois is caring, whereas Lana only seemed to care about her own feelings, wants, desires, and wishes. Lois is selfless. Lana is selfish. Lois is confident within herself and everything she does, while Lana only seemed to be confident in herself when she knew she was getting what she wanted. Lois' heart was filled with warmth and love. He couldn't exactly say Lana was cold-hearted since that wasn't exactly true, but she also doesn't show the true depth of her love or warmth like Lois does.

As much as he regretted leaving his parents and friends, he couldn't help but be glad that he had left because if he hadn't then he wouldn't have met her, and he didn't want to think about what his life would have been like if he had never met her. No matter what he would love her until his last breath, even if that meant always being alone because there was no way in hell he could love another.

"Now, this seems oddly familiar."

He quickly spun around, at his father's voice, and smiled, tightly, not too sure what to say to him after their argument earlier. "Let me guess, mom sent you?"

He walked over to the window, and stood next to him. "Yes and no."

He frowned, but didn't question him any further.

Jonathon looked up at the night sky. "You know, I came up here every night while you were gone, and stared up at the sky wondering if you were okay, but now I know that you were…because of her."

Clark looked over at his father, completely surprised. "Dad?"

"I want to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have gone off like that. I might have overreacted a tad bit."

He smirked, "A tad bit?"

"Don't start. You mother already lectured me about it."

He chuckled. "She's really good at it."

"Yeah, she is, but that's not why I came up here. I know you love her son, and I know I overreacted, but you have to understand where I'm coming from."

"I understand that you're scared that she might tell someone, but she would never do that, and I hope you can trust me enough to believe that."

"Of course, I trust you, Clark. Don't doubt that for a second."

He looked over at his father. "I love her dad. I love her more than I've ever loved anybody before, and when I met her I was at such a low point in my life, but she seemed to lighten up the darkness I was feeling. I was so surprised by the feelings I had for her from the first moment I laid eyes on her, but it's the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"I know that, son."

He frowned, "You do?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I might have eavesdropped on your conversation with Lana."

"Oh…that."

"Yeah…that, but that's not the only reason I know. You showed it earlier when you stood up to me. If you didn't love her as much as you say you do than you never would have done that, hell, you never would have told her your secret in the first place."

He wasn't sure what his mom told him, but he hoped what he said next wasn't going to piss him off…again. "Um, I-I'm not sure how to say this, but um, dad I told her my secret—"

"Within only knowing her for a few hours." He grinned, at the expression on his son's face. "Your mother told me, and while at first I wasn't happy about it. I know that you wouldn't have done that if you didn't trust her right from the start."

"I did. I didn't know what is was about her, but I just knew deep inside that I could trust her, and I was right. I felt a connection—an attraction to her right from the start. I think I've loved her from the first moment our eyes met."

Jonathon smiled, knowing that feeling all too well. "That's called true love, son."

He dropped his head, his fists clenching around the wood, and stared down at the ground. "Yeah. You found yours and married her. I find mine, and have to live the rest of my life without her."

"You don't know that."

He looked over at his father, tears in his eyes. "Yeah, I do. She's gone, dad, and I'm never going to see her again."

"Clark, look at me."

He didn't.

He gripped his son's shoulders, and turned him towards him. "Clark, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something. Your grandfather hated that his brilliant and beautiful daughter was choosing to marry a small-town farmer, and it actually drove a wedge between us."

"It did?"

"Yeah, it did. For almost one year, we were separated, not because we didn't love each other, but because things kept getting in the way."

He stared at his father, completely confused. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it doesn't matter if you're not with her now because one day you will be."

"How do you know that?"

"She's your soulmate, son, and no matter what life throws at them they always seem to find their way back to each other."

He smiled, slightly, at the thought of seeing her again one day, but a part of him just couldn't believe that something like that could happen. "Do you really believe that?"

"Yeah, I do. It might be weeks, months, even years from now, but I have faith that you will be with her again one day."

He really, really hoped so. "Thanks dad, and I'm sorry about our fight earlier."

He squeezed his shoulder, "Don't worry about it. It wasn't out first, and it probably won't be our last."

He chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right."

He slowly turned away from him, and started walking away, but stopped before walking down the stairs. "Clark?"

"Yeah, dad?"

"I know you don't believe me, but I promise one day that everything is going to be alright. It will work itself out. It always does."

He just nodded. Deep inside he wanted to believe that, but despite everything, even the possibilities of that happening, he couldn't. He didn't want to think like that—he didn't want to get his hopes up for something that could very possibly never happen, no matter how much he wanted it to.

He slowly walked over to the corner of the room, and grabbed the large teddy bear Lois had given him before walking back over to the window. He clutched the bear in his hands, breathing in the scent of her, which lingered across the bear.

He missed her so god damn much, and he wished with every fiber in his being that they could still be together. He softly closed his eyes, memories of the good and the bad came rushing back to him, and the tears flowed down his cheeks.

He couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

One week ago, he had been blissfully happy with her at the beach, and now he was back home completely miserable without her. He looked up at the night sky, staring at the beautiful stars remembering all the times that they stargazed together, and whispered, as tears rocked his body, "I miss you, baby, I miss you so god damn much. I know you can't hear me, but I hope that wherever you are, you can still feel how much I love you. I always will, Lois."

He stared into a space for a few seconds, which seemed like hours, and breathed in her scent one last time before setting the bear down on the couch, and very slowly made his way towards the house.

He had absolutely no idea where his life was going, but he knew he was going to take it one day at a time, and that started with spending time with his family.

* * *

 _ **I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to get posted, but I just started a new job, and I've been sick the past week or so. It was killing me not to post this, but I had like zero energy to do anything so, I apologize for making you wait so long. I'm sure a lot of you have several ideas about the perfect way to reunite Clark and Lois, but my version is a little unique, and you will find out soon enough. I know many season three/four plot line stories have Chloe being jealous over Clark and Lois, but that will not be included in this story. I thought that was stupid in the show so, I didn't include it in my story. Now, this was the last chapter in the first segment of this story. There will be three main plot segments in this story so, I hope you enjoyed the first part.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-three!**_


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Four:**_

 _ **Songs used in this chapter: 'I miss you' by Beverly Craven and 'You're gone' by Diamond Rio**_

* * *

"I'm pregnant."

Lois, who had just taken a sip of her soda, practically choked on her drink, at the unexpected and shocking words that came out of her best friend's mouth. She breathed in and out, heavily, trying to catch her breath and took a few seconds to let what Cassie just said sink in. "What the hell did you just say?"

Cassie, who wasn't too sure why she just blurted that out, stared at her for a moment before repeating her words. "I think I'm pregnant."

She couldn't believe it.

Her best friend was pregnant.

Cassie was going to be a mother.

Wes was going to be a father.

And, her, well, she was going to be an aunt to an adorable niece or nephew.

She grinned from ear to ear, at the thought of having a mini Wes or mini Cass to spoil to death before jumping from her seat, and enveloped Cassie in a bear hug. "Oh my god! Are you serious? Are you really pregnant?"

Cassie chuckled before pulling away from her. "Well, at least I think I am. I've been having some symptoms the past week or so, and I'm late."

"This is great, Cass! Wes is going to be so happy!"

She paled, visibly. "Woah! Hold on a minute. We can't tell him anything until I know for sure."

She frowned. "What do you mean until you know for sure?"

"I haven't taken a test yet."

She stared at her, in complete shock. "Why the hell haven't you taken one yet?"

"Well, you know how crazy my work has been the past couple of weeks so, I haven't been able to get off base to buy a damn test."

That was true, she thought. It was like everyone on base was gearing up for something, even Wes, and it had Cass working on overload. What could it possibly be? She didn't know, but figured that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to ask her father, if she even saw him today. He was exceptionally busy lately, even more so then usual.

"Why don't you just tell Wes? I'm pretty sure he would happily buy the test for you."

"No!" She practically yelled out, then took a deep breath before calmly replying, "I can't do that. You don't know how bad he wants this. It's all he talks about. I don't want to get his hopes up, if it's just a false alarm, you know?"

That was understandable, but how did she expect to get the test if she couldn't do it and neither could Wes?

Cassie shifted, quite uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "That's kind of why I'm telling you. I, um, I was hoping that you could try to get me the test."

Of course, she would be the next best option, and she would gladly do it for her, but there was only one problem. "Cass, you know I would if I could, but there is no way I'll get off base, especially after my little escape a few months ago."

"Is he still pissed about that?"

"That's an understatement."

"Doesn't he understand that you were just worried about your cousin?"

A few months ago, she had found out that Chloe, had been in some safehouse explosion, and since the authorities weren't saying jack shit she wanted to find out what exactly happened to her whether she had to go through the small town's authorities or Lionel Luthor himself. She managed to escape base, which was quite tricky, but only made it about two miles before her father had, had her surrounded, and dragged her back to base. Ever since that day, things had gotten so, so much worse. She wasn't able to leave base under any circumstances, not even with him. It was like she was really a prisoner now.

The only good thing that came out of this was that her lovely cousin was safe and sound, and it turns out that she wasn't murdered, but kept under protective services, by her father no less.

No wonder he didn't want her searching around for her, she thought, he already knew where she was. It all worked out. Chloe was safe, and back to living a normal life, but she couldn't help wondering when she could have a somewhat normal life. She couldn't wait to leave for college, that way she could escape from the likes of her father for good this time.

"I highly doubt it."

"Could you at least try to get off base?"

It was going to be hard, she thought, but this was for her best friend. "Alright. Alright, I'll try."

She grinned, widely before wrapping her arms around her, and squeezed, tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Lois chuckled, and pulled away from her. "Don't thank me yet. I highly doubt I'll be able to get off base, but I'll try."

Cassie sighed, and shook her head from side to side. "I can't believe that he still won't let you leave base."

"Yeah, tell me about it," she grumbled, miserably.

"What's it been? Like a year?"

"One year, and three months," she corrected her, and reddened, slightly at the look she received in return for her comment. "I've been keeping count, but I guess that's my punishment for running away for three months, and trying again a few months ago."

"Well, if you want my opinion I'd say that it's completely outrageous and out of proportion. You're eighteen now, Lo, you shouldn't have to follow his stupid rules anymore."

They were both surprised to hear his voice, since they never even heard him come in, and it made Cassie wonder how much he had actually heard.

Lois laughed, and turned to look at her other best friend. "That's great advice, Wes. Maybe you should tell him that. You know, for the sake of your best friend."

"What? Are you crazy? I'll get my ass handed to me, not to mention my job if I even tried to speak on your behalf. I think I'll just leave his bad attitude and temper to you."

She glared. "Wow! I'm really feeling the love, Wes."

He chuckled. "Aww, come on, Lo, you know that I love you."

"Yeah. Yeah, whatever." She turned towards Cassie, winking, discreetly, and said, "I'll do my best, Cass."

She just nodded, not wanting to say too much in front of Wes, and watched as she left her room.

He looked over at his beautiful girlfriend, with a questioning gaze. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing important," she replied before quickly changing the subject, "So? What are you doing here? Did you get a break or something?"

He sighed, heavily. "Yeah, I wish. The next few months are going to be hectic. I'm only here to give you the bad news."

She eyed him, curiously. "What's going on?"

He walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her. "The General has been working us all hard for months, as you know. Well, now we know why."

"What is it?"

She listened, intently, as he told her of what was happening, and all thoughts of her impending pregnancy disappeared, and were transfixed on her best friend. "Has he told her yet?"

"Nope, but I'm sure she'll find out soon enough."

"She isn't going to like it."

Nope, she was definitely not going to like this new turn of events, and there was absolutely nothing either her or Wes could do about it, but maybe this would be good for her. It might just bring her out of her shell that she still seemed to be encased in since she returned from her little extravaganza a little over a year ago, and maybe, just maybe she'd be able to move on from the man she was still completely in love with, but she doubted it.

* * *

Clark kneeled carefully—precisely behind the center, and eyed the other players, as he replayed the last play of the game over and over again in his mind. "Blue 42! Blue 42! Set! Set! Hut!"

He staggered back a few steps after Brad Williams hiked the football to him, and looked for an opportune opening before fake throwing the ball to the wide receiver, Justin Chrisely. Instead of finding another opening, he took off running down the field since their original play was no longer concrete.

He bypassed every player from the other team, even jumping over one of them that attempted to tackle him, and swiftly passed the end zone, as the buzzer ending the game rung loudly.

The crowd jumped up from their seats, in a frantic excitement, just as he tossed the football to the ground, relishing in their big win, and heard them chanting, "Smallville Crows!" over and over again.

The cheerleaders screamed and shouted, as they did their victory cheer routine, and he could hear his parents and friends in the stands clapping and voicing their own excitement to his epic win.

Perks of super hearing, he thought.

It had happened roughly about six months after returning home. He had been shopping at the town' local jewelry store, searching for a gift for his mother' birthday, and of course, it wasn't emerald like he thought it would be—it was green kryptonite. Nathan Dean, another meteor infected teen had attempted to rob the store with his ultra-sonic scream, which was painful as all hell, and when he tried to use his heat vision to stop them he accidentally hit the green kryptonite causing it to reverberate back into his eyes, blinding him. He had to adjust to his downfall, and in the process gained another ability…super hearing, as he liked to call it. In order to save Pete from certain death, he had to rely on his new hearing ability over his other abilities.

It was an incredibly, horrible experience. One that he would hopefully never have to experience again because those glasses he was forced to wear were absolutely atrocious. He would never, under any circumstances, wear glasses of any kind ever again.

Every single one of his teammates, who hadn't taken to him very kindly at first, but were more accepting now, ran up to him, slapped him on his back before lifting him up into the air, and chanted, "Kent! Kent! Kent!" over and over again, as they carried him down the field, and into the locker rooms.

After a very well-versed pep talk from Coach Quigley and Assistant Coach Teague, who was currently dating Lana, which was extremely weird and disturbing, they were all dismissed to shower and relish in their victory.

As he was packing away his uniform into his black duffel bag, one of his teammates came up to him. "Yo! Kent!"

"Hey, Justin."

"The team is all going to The Talon for a little celebration party, you in?"

He thought about that for a few seconds. It would be nice to just let loose for a little while, especially after the week he's had. "Yeah, I'm in."

Of course, he still had to ask his parents if it was okay, but surely, they would let him have some fun just this once. His father would probably protest, while his mother thwarted him into letting him go. It always seemed to work that way, he thought.

"Well, well, if it isn't Smallville's newest super hero."

He grinned from ear to ear, as he exited the locker rooms, and was greeted by his two best friends. "I don't know about super hero."

Pete smirked. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think the way you jumped over that player in the last play would definitely qualify as super hero quota."

He glared at him, mentally telling him to 'shut up'.

Chloe grinned. "Yeah. That was insane! How did you do that?"

He really, really wanted to kill Pete at this moment. Chloe still didn't know the truth about him, of course, he wanted to tell her, but he didn't know how to explain to his journalistic best friend that he was an alien from another planet. "Uh…adrenaline, I guess."

She didn't seem to believe that, but didn't press any further, and clapped her hands together, excitedly. "I think this calls for celebration. Don't you think, Pete?"

"I think you're right, Chlo. So, Clark where are you taking us?"

"Yeah, Clark, where are we going to celebrate on this lovely day?"

He glanced at his two best friends, and shook his head at them. "You two are ridiculous, you know that?"

"Yup! But you love us anyways." Chloe interjected.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay. Okay, fine. How about The Talon? Some of the team are having a little celebration there."

"Oh, fun. A room full of over-confident jocks. Should be exciting."

He glared at her, playfully. "And what would that make me?"

"You're the exception."

"Whatever," he playfully replied, "I'll meet you guys there. I have to talk to my parents first."

"Meaning, he has to convince his dad to let him go," Pete commented.

"Shut up!" He smiled, and shook his head from side to side, as he watched his friends trot towards Chloe's car. They were both pains in his side, but he would be lost without them, especially since they were really his only true friends. His teammates only liked him because he was good at football. The girls only liked him because he now wore a letterman's jacket, and Lana, well she was a completely different story. One he'd rather not think about…at all.

He walked through the parking lot, his eyes roaming as he searched for his parents, and found them waiting by the bright, red truck.

"There's our superstar," he heard his mother say, as he walked up to them.

He groaned, outwardly. "Not you to."

She chuckled, and enveloped him in a hug. "I'm so proud of you, Clark."

"Thanks, mom."

"That was one hell of a game, son."

He smiled at his father, "Thanks, dad."

"Now, about that last play…"

How did he know he was going to bring that up? "I know. I know. I shouldn't have done that, but it was kind of a heat of the moment thing. We really needed this win dad."

"Why? So, you could make it to the championship?"

He was really getting tired of this. He loved his father, but his trust in him when it came to his abilities was beginning to irk.

"Jonathon…" Martha warned, warily. She didn't need them fighting about his abilities right now. "It's not like anyone noticed."

Except someone did, he thought, but he wasn't going to mention that Chloe was becoming more and more curious about him. He really needed to tell her the truth.

He glanced at his parents. "Um, so, there's something I want to ask…"

"What is it, son?"

"Some of the teammates are throwing a celebration party at the Talon—"

"And you want to go?" His mother guessed.

He nodded, and hoped against all odds that they would let him go.

Jonathon crossed his arms over his chest. "And what about your chores?"

Of course, his father would protest, just like he figured he would. He looked at him. "I've already done most of them before the game, besides I can do them when I get home."

"That doesn't mean you can slack off just because you want to have some fun."

"Oh, shut up, Jonathon!" She scolded before turning towards her son, "Of course, you can go, sweetheart."

"Martha…"

"Don't start with me, Jonathon. He wants to go celebrate with his friends, and were going to let him. He will be home by curfew, won't you Clark?"

He nodded, enthusiastically. "Of course." He kissed his mom on the cheek, "Thanks, mom."

"What am I? Chopped liver?"

"Thanks, dad. I'll see you guys at home." And with that, he ran off towards an isolated location so, he could superspeed to the Talon.

They both smiled, as they watched him run off, quite excitedly. It had taken him a very, very long time before he was able to truly smile again after he returned to them, fortunately, six months ago he had started to get back to his old self. He was smiling, laughing, and even spending more and more time with his friends.

"It seems that Clark is finally back to his old self again," Jonathon commented.

"Mhmm," She off-handedly agreed, but didn't comment any further.

Anyone would make that assumption just from seeing the way he acts, and would deduce that he was back to his happy, cheerful self, but she knew the truth.

He was still in pain.

He was still consumed by his sadness.

But, of course, he hides that part of himself from everyone, unless he was completely alone.

She had noticed things—things he had no idea that she knew about. At first, it started out as little things here or there, but as time went on the instances kept coming more and more often. She wasn't as naïve, as he might believe.

He would sit in the barn at night, almost every night, thinking about the one thing that was always on his mind…his three-month adventure and her.

He would zone out several times a day, no doubt thinking about the woman he loved so deeply—so madly—so irrevocably.

Every time someone mentioned his three-month disappearance act or how he needed to find a woman to love he would inexplicably leave the room.

She had even seen him crying, a few times before, but, of course, he didn't know that she had seen him, and it broke her heart.

Her son still missed her—still loved her, and she knew deep inside that he always would.

* * *

Lois sighed, heavily, as she walked, quite desolately, towards Cassie' quarters.

That went well, she thought.

After leaving Cassie and Wes, she had confronted the guards at the main gates with a hell of a lot more determination than she actually felt. It went just as well as she thought it would, maybe worse, but at least she could tell Cassie that she tried.

Because that's exactly what she had done, she even tried bribing them with the normal drinking waivers, and even money, but of course, they refused, repeatedly telling her that it was orders.

Orders from her father no less!

She was completely and utterly sick of this bullshit!

It was bad enough that she was reminded of the consequences of her actions over and over again, especially by her father, but that didn't mean she needed to be treated like a damn prisoner.

 _A few more months…A few more months…A few more months._

She repeated that in her head, consistently, reminding herself that she only had to deal with this for a few more months before she could officially be free.

She was going to college, hopefully Metropolis University, and she couldn't wait until she could leave the life of a military brat behind her…forever.

If only she had the ability to speed time, she thought.

She walked into Cassie' room, without knocking, and immediately regretted her decision. "Oh my god!" She quickly covered her eyes, and turned away from the spectacle she just walked into. Her two best friends were wrapped around each other, making out quite intensely on the couch.

It wasn't the first time that this has happened, but that's her own fault since she kept forgetting that they were in a very heated, and committed relationship.

She was happy for them, she really was, but in all honesty, she hated—despised seeing couples looking so lovey dovey together. It only reminded her of what it was like to be in love, something she had experienced firsthand, but most of all, it reminded her of how she lost the one person who meant everything to her.

She quickly shook her thoughts away, not wanting to think about losing the best thing that has ever happened to her, even though it was always there…every single day and night, eating away at her subconscious. "Um, sorry."

"You can turn around, Lo, were decent."

She very, very slowly did. "Um, sorry for interrupting, but, um, I needed to talk to Cassie."

He quickly stood up. "Don't worry about it. I should get going before The General finds out I've been slacking; besides I need to talk to him about something."

"You and me both," she muttered.

He shared a worried glance with Cassie, both of them wondering the same exact thing. "He told you?"

She frowned. "Told me what?"

"Uh…nothing." He quickly kissed Cassie, and walked out of her room.

"What the hell was that about?"

Cassie shifted, uncomfortably. "I don't know."

She squinted her eyes at her best friend, studying her. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not!"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Really? Then what does The General want to talk to me about?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. Now, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to find out the hard way?"

"I'm sure he'll tell you soon enough." She quickly changed the subject, "Um, so I'm guessing since you're here that means you couldn't get off base?"

She knew that she was keeping something from her, but she wasn't going to force her to tell her, besides if it was important her father would eventually fess up. "You would be right. I tried everything."

"Bribery?

"Duh!"

"Not even the drinking trick worked?"

"Nope."

"Did you bribe them with money and alcohol?"

"What do you take me for? An amateur?"

She chuckled. "Definitely not. So, what do you think I should do?"

"Tell him, Cass. I know you don't want to, just in case it's not true, but whether it is or isn't, he isn't going to love you any less."

"Are you sure about that?"

She quickly grabbed her hands, and squeezed, softly. "He loves you, Cass. I'm pretty sure he loved you long before you two even got together."

She sighed. "Your right. Okay, I'll tell him, but not today, not with everything that's going on."

She narrowed her eyes at her. "And what would that exactly be?"

"I can't tell you, Lo, but I think you should go talk to your father."

A little part of her began to worry, especially with the way everyone was acting, but quickly pushed it away. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

Even though she told herself not to worry, she couldn't help but doing just that as she walked towards her father's office. It was infuriating that everyone except her knew what the hell was going on, and whatever he wanted to talk to her about had to be about why things have been in such an uproar around here lately.

"Lois!"

She stopped walking, and turned towards her father. Just the man she was looking for, she thought. "Hi, daddy."

He gruffly replied, "I need to see you in my office," before brushing past her, and swiftly headed towards his office.

What the hell was going on?

Once they were in his office, they stayed in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, until she couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, what the hell is going on? Cassie and Wes are acting extremely weird, and now you've dragged me in here. Care elaborating?"

He folded his hands in front of him, and stared at her. "Let me ask you a question. How are those applications for college going?"

She was stunned and shocked by that question. When did he start caring about her college education? "Um, well, I've applied to a few campuses, but I'm really waiting for the acceptance letter from Metropolis University."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up because it's not coming."

She frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He opened his desk drawer, and pulled out a few envelopes, tossing them to her. "All of these came in the mail this week."

A heavy mask of disappointment washed over her, as she read the several letters, even one from Metropolis University. Every single college she had applied to, had sent denial letters, but it didn't explain why.

"They're all denial letters," she stated, unnecessarily before looking up at her father, glaring, heatedly, "You kept these from me? Why?"

He stood up, and crossed his arms behind his back. "If I must remind you, Lo, anything that concerns you comes through me first."

She groaned, outwardly. "No need for the reminder, daddy. It's been like this for well over a year now."

"And who's fault is that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever! So, is there another reason why I'm here or did you only want to rehash everything I've done that's disappointed you?"

He ignored that barb. It wasn't that he was disappointed in her, but more so that he couldn't trust her to make rational decisions, especially after her disappearing act a year ago and how she tried to escape again not even a few months ago. "Drop the attitude, Lo. I wanted to inform you personally that you wouldn't be going to college this semester."

She glared at him, ferociously. "You can't stop me from going, daddy. I'm eighteen now. I have choices—rights, and if I want to go to college then I will!"

"I'm not trying to stop you from going, Lois, actually I want you to get an education, but that doesn't change the facts."

"What facts? I'll just reapply. I probably filled out the paperwork wrong or something."

"You didn't fill out the paperwork wrong, Lo. You never graduated from high school."

She frowned. "What the hell are you talking about? I might have missed a few classes here and there..."

"You didn't just miss a few classes, you failed the last semester."

She couldn't believe it. Of course, she knew that she had skipped way more than a few classes, but that wasn't exactly her fault. If her father would stop dragging her around the world like she was a spare piece of luggage then maybe, just maybe she wouldn't have failed.

But, she knew it wasn't entirely his fault either. She just wasn't classroom friendly. The teachers, the students, and worse the homework was just not her style, and it never would be.

"I guess that means I'll be repeating the last semester of my senior year then?"

He nodded. "But not here."

"What do you mean not here? Where the hell am I supposed to finish my last semester? And I swear to god if you say online, just so you can keep an eye on me, then we are definitely going to have a problem!"

"Not online, Lo, I don't trust that you will actually get your school work done."

She huffed at that. She didn't need a reminder of how much he didn't trust her. "Then where the hell am I supposed to finish my senior year at?"

"I'm sending you somewhere where I know you can't get distracted easily."

That perked her interest…immensely. "Your letting me leave?"

He knew this could very possibly be a bad idea, letting her leave on her own, but he had taken precautions. "Yes, but I wouldn't get any smart ideas if I were you. If you're not there within three days' time I will know about it, and if you think this past year has been hell for you then I'd think again. I could still send you to military school."

Back to the military school threat, she thought, it had been about the millionth time she's heard it, and it was getting very, very tiresome.

A small part of her wanted to rebel against his direct orders, and escape from him again, but it was pointless. She knew that for a fact, especially if what happened over a year ago said anything, but it wasn't just that. It was what he had said that caught her full attention.

How the hell would he know if she showed up or not?

And that's when a horrible thought popped into her head. She hoped to all the gods that he wasn't sending her where she thought he was sending her. That was last place she wanted to go. It was his fault that all this had happened in the first place. If he would have just kept his damn mouth shut then maybe, just maybe her life would be a hell of a lot better. She wouldn't be miserable—she would be happy—happy with the man she still loved with all of her heart.

She stared at him, questioningly, before cautiously asking, "Where exactly am I going?"

He smiled, slightly. "Pack your bags, Lo, you're moving to Smallville, Kansas."

That was definitely not what she was expecting. What he said was starting to make more sense. If she didn't show up then her uncle Gabe would be the one that informed him, and Chloe, well she would be the reason she wouldn't get distracted.

How wrong he was about that, she thought. They used to get into all kinds of trouble back in the day, but of course, he didn't know anything about the chaos they caused all those years ago in Metropolis.

One part of her was extremely excited about spending some very much needed quality time with her favorite and only cousin, but the other part of her was not happy about this situation.

Kansas.

That was the last place she wanted to be. It was filled with memories—memories that only made her pain—her sadness increase, tenfold.

It was where she met him. It was where she found out the truth about him. It was where she had felt their undying connection. It was where she said goodbye to him…for the first time.

Yeah, she definitely didn't want to live in the place, where memories of him would flood her mind every minute of every day, but it's not like she had much of a choice in the matter.

* * *

Clark, Pete and Chloe sat on their usual couch in The Talon, talking about trivial things, laughing, and enjoying spending some quality time together. It wasn't every day that they were able to talk about nothing and everything.

Chloe was usually busy with the school newspaper, and her boyfriend, Jimmy Olsen, who lived in Metropolis. She visited him practically every weekend, except for the times he had come down to Smallville for the weekend.

Pete, on the other hand, was usually busy helping Clark solve the mystery of his origins, which was getting more and more confusing by the minute, especially with these stones that Jor-El wanted him to find. He was also helping Clark deal with the meteor infected, that seemed to enjoy causing havoc on the lives of the people they cared about. But, most of all, he was trying to steer the likes of Lex Luthor as far away from Clark's secret. He was the last person that needed to find out the truth.

Chloe was in the process of telling them a story about her and Jimmy, when her phone rang, and she couldn't stop herself from grinning ear to ear at the caller id. "It's Jimmy. I'll be right back."

They watched her disappear out the front door, huge smiles plastered on their faces, at her obvious happiness.

"I can't believe that they've been dating for over a year now."

Clark nodded. "I never thought that Chloe would go for a guy like him, but I think they're kind of perfect for each other."

Pete laughed. "Do you remember the first time we met him?"

It was a month or so after he returned. Chloe had been super secretive about him, to the point of driving them insane, and finally one weekend they all went up to Metropolis to meet the man who had Chloe so smitten. It was eventful to say the least. Jimmy connected with Pete right away, but he was a different story. Chloe had obviously told him about her past feelings for him, and it had caused some uncomfortable tension between them, but Clark had taken care of that before leaving. He had explained their friendship to him, and reassured him that nothing romantic would ever happen between them. Ever since that day, things had changed for the better, and they considered each other really good friends.

"I remember that he was completely terrified of me."

"That's because he thought you were going to steal away his girl."

"You know, after I had that conversation with him he started calling me CK, and hasn't stopped since."

"I think that nickname suits you, perfectly, besides would you rather him call you farm boy or something?"

He cringed, internally, at the nickname. It was the first time he's heard that in such a long time, and it immediately brought back so, so many memories. He definitely didn't want Jimmy or anybody else using that nickname. It was for her and for her only.

He shook away the sadness that started to consume him, and changed the subject, "So, I haven't heard much about this new girl you've been seeing. What's her name again?"

Pete frowned, slightly, at the random change of conversation, but didn't dwell on it. "Natasha. How many times do I have to tell you that? We've been dating for like a month."

Clark smirked. "You mean, you were already dating her in your mind two weeks before you had the guts to ask her out."

"Shut up!"

"Seriously. Tell me about her. I've only met this girl once, and I'd like to know about the girl who has captivated my best friend."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Well, she's beautiful."

Was that all he could say about her? He could care less about what she looked like, actually he didn't even notice things like that anymore. It wasn't something that he paid much attention to. Of course, he noticed a woman's beauty, but he wasn't affected by it, and the only reason for that was because they weren't her. Nobody, in his eyes at least, would ever compare to her.

"Okay, besides that, what is she like?"

He grinned, like a maniac. "She's…perfect. I mean, I know nobody's perfect, but to me she really is. She's loyal and honest. She never lets anybody tell her what she can or can't do. She speaks her own mind. She isn't afraid to tell you what she's thinking, and she is extremely caring about everything and everyone she cares about. I-I can't explain it, but I've never felt this way before. Do you believe it's possible to feel this way after only knowing her a short amount of time?"

As Pete spilled everything he felt inside about this girl, he couldn't help but think about the one woman who had made him feel all the things that Pete was feeling at that exact moment. Love. He might not know it yet, but he was already falling for her, and it made him happy, but also sad. This Natasha girl was just like Lois. They both were open-minded, caring, and most of all, perfect in the eyes of their lovers. Except Lois wasn't his anymore. He remembered feeling all of these things, hell, he still felt them, but it was different. Where Pete could live in the moment with this girl, he only had the option of reliving the memories that were seared into his mind.

He smiled, sadly. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Pete stared at him, wondering, briefly how he could know such a thing since he wasn't in a relationship, but then he saw the expression on his face, and immediately regretted talking to him about this. It had brought back memories of her, the girl he was still completely and irrevocably in love with. "You felt this way with her, didn't you?"

He nodded.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For bringing this subject up. For bringing up things you don't want to think about."

He smiled, reassuringly. "I asked you about her, besides it brought up good memories."

That made him feel a little better, but he could see the pain—the suffering his best friend was feeling, and wanted to find a way to make him feel better. But what could he possibly do or even say to help his friend feel better about the fact that he couldn't be with the girl he wanted—needed, and desired above all else?

Clark felt his heart clenching tightly in his chest. He had lied when he said it brought back good memories. Of course, he had thought about all the times she made him feel like that, but mostly, it only reminded him that he was never, ever going to feel that way about anybody ever again, and that's what hurt the most. He would never feel a connection with someone again—he would never fall in love with someone again—he would never be truly happy again.

It was sad.

It was depressing.

But, it was his choice to make, even if that meant he would be alone and miserable for the rest of his life. It was either her or no one.

Pete was about to change the subject, when Lana waltzed into The Talon, and plopped down on the couch, purposefully putting herself in between them. "You guys would not believe the night I've had! Remember I told you how Jason wanted to take me out for the night, well let's just say that it wasn't what I was expecting…"

They both tuned her out, as she went on and on about her failed date with Jason. Pete could care less about Lana and her constant problems with the assistant football coach. Clark, on the other hand, wished upon all the stars that he could be anywhere but here at this moment. It wasn't that he didn't care about what was going on in her life, it was the fact that it was the same thing every single time they had problems. Her love life was like an overdramatic soap opera.

"I'm glad to have been able to get that out." She quickly turned towards Clark, placed her hand on his thigh, and fluttered her long eyelashes. "But, enough about Jason. I want to hear about you. I heard about the game. I would have been there, but Jason just wouldn't take no for an answer. So, how was the game?"

He immediately became annoyed, with her antics. It was obvious what she was doing. Every single time she had a problem with Jason she would come to him about it, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with wanting support from a friend. No. She was trying to make him jealous, and it was becoming very, very tiring. He had been trying to keep his distance from her, as of late, but not because he didn't want to be around her, it was the fact that she was trying everything possible to win his affections and heart.

It was useless, he thought. His heart, mind and soul were taken, it didn't matter that they weren't together because he would always and forever be hers.

Pete was amused by the situation. It was incredibly fun watching Clark squirm, uncomfortably when Lana flirted with him. It was practically an everyday encounter, and her attempts to attract him were becoming more and more hilarious. He had a feeling that if it was her, the girl he missed more than anything, he wouldn't be so guarded, hell, he'd probably be more at ease. Maybe he'd even flirt with her. Now that was a sight he would love to see, but knew that would never happen because there was no way in hell he would even think about being with another woman, let alone flirt with one.

Over the past year, he had heard very few things about her, and he only got those things out of Clark by provoking him. A part of him wished he could know more about her, but he was scared to ask because he knew it would only make his best friend even more depressed than he already was.

Chloe walked back inside, and towards her best friends, but stopped dead in her tracks, at the scene she had just walked into. Lana was flirting, more than she's ever seen before, with Clark. Pete was refraining himself from laughing, and she couldn't blame him because it was quite hysterical. And Clark, her poor best friend, looked as if he wanted the floor to open up, and swallow him into a dark abyss.

It was quite a scene indeed, she thought.

Normally, she would have basked in his obvious torture, but figured she'd help him out this once, besides she needed to talk to Lana about Jimmy, things she couldn't talk to Pete or Clark about.

She walked up to them, not able to stop the smile from appearing on her face. "Hey guys. Lana, when did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. Clark, here, was just telling me all about the game. I wish I could have been there, but I had no doubt in my mind that he would win the game."

He ducked, in embarrassment. "It wasn't just me, there is other players on the team."

Lana flipped her long, brunette hair over her shoulder. "But, you're the quarterback. That makes you the most important player on the team."

Wow! She was really pulling out the stops tonight, Chloe thought, too bad her attempts were useless. There was no way in hell Clark would ever fall for that, maybe before he fell in love with a woman in his three months away, but now, it was like no other woman could compare to her. It was quite romantic, but also a little sad.

"Lana, how did your date go with Jason?"

She never took her eyes off Clark. "Horrible."

"Really? Well, maybe we should talk about it you know, anywhere but here."

"But, I was about to ask Clark a question."

"And, I'm sure you can ask him later." She grabbed her hand, pulling her off the couch, and away from Clark, "Besides I need some much-needed girl advice."

Clark sighed, in absolute relief, as he watched Chloe pull, a reluctant Lana away, and reminded himself to thank her later. It had been the worst five minutes of his damn life. It wasn't a new or surprising thing for Lana to flirt with him, but she had been more assertive this time, and that was disconcerting.

Pete, who had been holding himself back, burst into a fit of laughter.

He glared. "It's not funny, Pete!"

He laughed, even harder. "I'm sorry, man, but I can't decide which was funnier. The expression on your face or Lana practically throwing herself at you."

It did seem like that, he thought, and he wondered, briefly if she was up to something. He remembered her telling him that she would wait for him the day he came back home, and it wasn't the first time she had said it. When was she going to understand that he didn't want to be with her?

Pete sobered, several minutes later. "I think that's the hardest she's ever come onto you before. Why do you think she's upped the game now?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I know she wants to be with me, and two years ago that would have meant everything to me, but now, it's the last thing I want."

"Because of her, right?"

He stared at him, in complete shock, at his remark. "Am I really that transparent?"

"No, you're not, but you don't exactly hide your feelings very well either. You realize that you haven't even talked about a girl or went on a date in over a year, right?"

"I-I just can't."

"Because of her. Because you still love her. Because a part of you still wishes you were together. Because you can't imagine being with anyone else. Because you miss her more than anything."

He was dumfounded. Pete had never been this forward with him about Lois before, and it made him feel very, very protective over the choices he's made since coming back home. "Yes, it's because of her! Is it so wrong that I still want to be with her—that I wish we were still together?"

"Of course not."

"Then what's with the third degree?"

"Because I want to hear you say what we all know."

"Fine! I still love her! I miss her more than anything! I can't imagine being with anybody else, because she is the only person that has made me feel this way before! I don't just wish we could be together. I dream about it. I think about it. I want it more than anything than I've ever wanted before. I'd do anything to see her again—to see her smile again—to just be with her again."

Pete smiled, slightly. "I know, Clark. It's obvious to everyone except Lana, and you just proved what I have been asking myself for over a year now. She was the one, wasn't she?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"I know you don't like talking about her or the time you spent with her, but I think you should talk about it. What was she like?"

He smiled, sadly, memories of them rushing to the forefront of his mind. "She was perfect. She was everything you said about Natasha, but so, so much more."

"Tell me about her."

"She was unlike anybody I've ever met before. She was fascinating—alluring, but most of all, she captured my heart from the first moment I laid eyes on her."

"Was it love at first sight?"

"I guess you could say that. I-I felt this undeniable connection to her from the first moment we met, and it only took me a few weeks to realize that I had fallen hard. I had never felt this way before, and it only made me want to spend more time with her. She excited me. She cared about me. She loved me. But, more importantly, she healed me."

He frowned. "Healed you? What are you talking about?"

He took a deep breath. It was hard talking about this, but a part of him knew that he needed to share this with somebody who wasn't his mother, besides Pete would be the only other person who would understand. "After leaving Metropolis, I was consumed by the pain—shame, and guilt I felt, but that all changed when I met her. She made me understand that it wasn't my fault. She helped me forgive myself. She's the reason why I came back home."

It was probably the most incredible thing he had heard, and it was amazing that one girl did all of that for him, but it did raise questions, one in particular. "Clark, how could she have helped you through all of that if she didn't know about the real you."

He looked him straight in the eyes. "She did know the real me."

"Y-you told her?"

"Yeah."

"How did she react?"

He smiled, remembering her reaction to his bombshell. It might have been slightly painful then, but now, it was a good memory. "She accepted me, Pete. She didn't judge me or even ridicule me. I didn't even know her at the time, and all she wanted to do was protect me from the world."

"What do you mean you didn't even know her?"

"I-I told her within only knowing her a few hours."

That was surprising, especially since he had always been so careful about who he shared his secret with. "Wow! It really must have been love at first sight."

He smiled. "It was."

Never, in over a year, had he heard this much about her, and he wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know everything. "What was her name?"

"Lois. Her name was Lois Lane."

He smirked. "Another LL? Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up!"

"So, how did you and this Lois meet?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again. It was nice talking to someone about her, but now that he had actually said her name out loud, which is something he hasn't done in a very long time, made him realize what he was doing. In over a year, he had never talked about her this much, and now that he had, it only made him miss her more. "It doesn't matter."

And just like that the walls were back up, Pete thought. They had come so far, but he figured that was all he was going to get out of Clark tonight, and that was okay because he was starting to understand why he was so smitten with this Lois Lane.

He quickly stood up. "Um, I should probably get going. I promised my parents that I'd be back in enough time for dinner." And without another word he walked away, and super sped home.

It was a lie, of course. He still had a few hours before his parents were expecting him, but right now, he just wanted to be alone. He had said way, way too much tonight, and it had brought back a lot of emotions that he had kept hidden within himself. It had been easier than he thought it would be talking about her to Pete, but now that he had gotten his deepest feelings off his chest, he wanted to just live in their memories because that was the only thing keeping him together these days.

* * *

In a matter of a few hours, Lois had all her things packed, which was only some essentials, and a few things Cassie and Wes had given her.

And now, now she was standing near the foot of her bed, slightly hesitating, and she wondered if she was ever going to get her feet to move. It was hard enough looking at those items every single night before she went to bed, but the thought of packing them away made her sick inside. It was one of the only things keeping her going—keeping her from completely breaking down.

It was now or never, she thought, before making her way to the bed, sat down, and slowly lifted her pillow. She stared down at the two items, an emptiness consuming her, and she could feel her heart clenching in unbearable pain.

The first, was a wooden-framed photo of Clark and herself smiling widely at the camera. It was the day he surprised her by taking her to the beach in Washington.

She smiled, tears already pooling in her eyes, as she remembered how she had gotten that elderly woman, Shelia, to take the picture. Clark had teased her endlessly about it, afterwards, but it was so worth it because if she hadn't of done that then she wouldn't have this to remember him by.

A few tears rolled down her cheeks, as she thought about the heart felt words she shared with them, and a part of her wondered if it was a foreshadowing of some kind because that was their very last day together.

The second, the one she cherished the most, was the strip of photos from their first date in Colorado. She felt more and more tears fall down her cheeks, as she remembered that day.

It was one of the best days of her life.

She remembered the Ferris Wheel—the mind-blowing kiss—the bear he had won for her—the photo booth—the way she fell asleep in his arms, which seemed to happen a lot—and the way she woke up the next morning with his arms wrapped around her.

She slowly, and tentatively ran her fingers across the five photos, lingering them over the one where they had kissed…passionately. It had been amazing, and only left her wanting more. She clutched the photo to her chest, and softly closed her eyes, as more and more of their memories washed over her.

It had been the best three months of her life, and now, now she was left feeling utterly empty and completely alone. Instead of packing them away in her suitcase, like she intended to, she put them in her purse.

They were safer there—closer to her there.

She grabbed the locket that hung loosely around her neck, and flipped it around so she could read the engraving, just like she would whenever she needed some faith—some hope. She desperately needed some right now, and he was the only one that could give it to her, even if she couldn't see him or hear him, he was with her always and forever.

The tears fell more fiercely down her rosy cheeks. It had been one of the last things he said to her, and it was true, whenever she felt like the world was crashing down around her, she would grab this locket, remembering all the love he shared with her—all the love she hoped he still felt for her.

She still missed him like crazy, and even though it's been well over a year, she still loved him just as deeply as she did the day she left him.

She left him.

That thought was what made this so hard. As much as she wanted to believe that she had no choice, she couldn't help but blame herself for everything that had happened, even though he had told her that he didn't blame her. She had broken his heart more than once, and no matter what she tried to tell herself, the truth would always come crashing back to her.

It was all her fault, and she would never forgive herself.

A loud, booming knock on the door brought her out of her stupor, and she quickly composed herself, wiping away her tears before opening the door.

It was her father.

"It's time to go," was all he said before walking away.

She grabbed her belongings before leaving her room, and as she walked towards the main gates she prepared herself for saying goodbye to the two most important people in her life. Cassie and Wes.

Several hours later, she drove down the highway, all the windows rolled down, the wind whipping around her face, and listened to soft music coming from the radio.

It had been so hard to say goodbye to Cassie and Wes, but she knew deep inside that she would be seeing them again sooner or later.

Her father, on the other hand, hadn't showed any emotion, as she said goodbye, but of course, she wasn't surprised by that. She knew that he cared about her—that he loved her, but he just didn't know how to show it, and it had always been like that between them.

A song came on the radio, one she didn't know, and was about to switch the channel, but stopped her hand midair, as she realized that it reminded her of him—of Clark.

 _ **Here in the silence I wait**_

 _ **There's nothing else I can do**_

 _ **It feels like my heart's gonna break**_

 _ **And all I can think of is you**_

 _ **And how my aching arms long to hold you**_

 _ **And show you how much I care**_

 _ **But I'm counting the hours without you**_

 _ **And I don't know how much I can bear**_

The words hit her like a jackhammer, but she couldn't stop herself from continuing to listen to it, and slowly lowered her hand.

 _ **'cause I miss you**_

 _ **More than words can say**_

 _ **And I need you here**_

 _ **In my life always**_

 _ **Yeah I miss you**_

 _ **And I'll always be**_

 _ **Waiting here for you**_

 _ **Til you're back with me**_

Just like that, everything faded, and her vision began to cloud, as tears filled her eyes. The words 'til you're back with me' rung in her mind, and she completely broke down because that was never, ever going to happen.

She slammed on her brakes, pulling off the side of the road before jumping out of her car, and leaned up against the car door, as tears strolled down her cheeks.

 _ **You found a place in my heart**_

 _ **From the first moment I saw you**_

 _ **And you are my light in the dark**_

 _ **And I would do anything for you**_

 _ **'cause you're everything I've ever wished for**_

 _ **The answer to all of my dreams**_

 _ **And I want you back**_

 _ **Home is here with me**_

She missed him so god damn much. There hasn't been a single day where she wasn't thinking or dreaming about him, and it seemed that every day that passed she fell in even more in love with him. How was it possible to love someone when you never saw them—never heard their voice?

She didn't know, but she did know what she wanted.

She wanted to be with him again—she wanted to see his boyish, handsome face again—she wanted to feel his touch again—she wanted to feel him holding her—kissing her again.

She just wanted him, and she knew that, that would never happen again.

He was gone.

She would never, ever see him again.

She slowly slid to the ground, her body trembling, as sobs rocked her to the core, and she wished—prayed that she could see him at least one more time.

 _ **Oh I miss you**_

 _ **More than words can say**_

 _ **And I need you here**_

* * *

Clark stood in the barn, leaning against the wooden beams, and stared out into the night sky, as the radio played a song that only reminded him of how alone he felt—how he didn't have her anymore—how he hasn't had her for over a year now.

 _ **And I bless the day I met you**_

 _ **And I thank God that he let you**_

 _ **Lay beside me for a moment that lives on**_

 _ **And the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together**_

 _ **And the bad news is you're gone.**_

As the words consumed every fiber in his body, he slowly made his way over to the treasure chest, opened it, and pulled out the large bear—the bear he had won for her.

He brought it to his chest, and inhaled deeply, sighing, peacefully when he could still smell remnants of her sweet and overpowering scent.

It had been one of the most prominent memories he had.

Their first date.

It was special.

It was unique.

But, most of all, it fitted them perfectly.

He had used his abilities, just so she could have the one she wanted, and it was one of the best decisions he had ever made. He wouldn't have this, right now, if he didn't do that, that day.

 _ **Looking back it's still surprising**_

 _ **I was sinking you were rising**_

 _ **And with a look you caught me in midair.**_

He walked over to his desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out a wooden-framed picture of them. It was the day he took her to the beach in Washington.

He smiled, weakly, as he remembered how she had wrangled that elderly woman to take their picture since he obviously couldn't do it right.

His smile fell, and he could feel the tears prickling behind his eyes, as he remembered that, that was their very last day together, hell, that was their last truly carefree and happy moment together.

He had lost her that day.

If he knew that, that was going to happen than he would have made that day so, so much better, but he couldn't change the past even if he wanted to.

If he could turn back time, they never would have said goodbye to each other, and she would be with him right this minute.

 _ **Now I know God has his reasons**_

 _ **But sometimes it's hard to see them**_

 _ **I lie awake and find that you're not there.**_

He slowly pulled out his wallet, opened it, and pulled out the strip of pictures they took on their first date. He stared down at the five photos, his eyes lingering on her beautiful face, and felt his heart ache in a pain he knew all too well.

After all this time, he was still heartbroken—still in pain, and deep inside he knew that he would always feel this emptiness—this loneliness inside.

He softly closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears that he knew were coming, just like they did every single night, but it was useless, especially when images of their three months together flashed behind his eyes.

 _ **You found hope in hopeless**_

 _ **You made crazy sane**_

 _ **You became the missing link that helped me break my chains.**_

He squeezed the items in his hands, tightly before collapsing to the ground, as their last words echoed in his mind, and he completely broke down, the tears cascading down his cheeks causing his entire body to tremble.

 _ **And I bless the day I met you**_

 _ **And I thank God that he let you**_

 _ **Lay beside me for a moment that lives on**_

 _ **And the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together**_

 _ **And the bad news is you're gone.**_

He missed her so god damn much—he wanted her here with him, like they planned—he wanted to see her beautiful face again—he wanted to feel her touch again—he wanted to hold her and kiss her again.

He just wanted her, and he knew that, that was never going to happen.

She was gone.

He would never see her again.

His head fell back against the wooden beam, the tears falling faster and faster, as he stared up at the ceiling, and wished—prayed that he could see her at least one more time.

 _ **Umm umm**_

 _ **Ohh ohh you're gone**_

 _ **Ohhh you're gone!**_

* * *

Chloe sighed, heavily, and took a deep breath, as she watched Lana walk away from her.

It had been the worst two hours of her life.

They had spent that entire time talking about her difficult situation with Jason, and her feelings for Clark, which was driving her absolutely insane. Lana was either complaining about how Jason wasn't there for her when she needed him to be and how she felt like he was hiding something from her or how much she wants to be with Clark, but doesn't know what to do to make him see that they would be perfect for each other.

It was irritating as all hell.

The only reason she was with Jason was because she wanted to make Clark jealous, which was obviously not working, but that didn't seem to even faze her. She might have loved Jason when they spent the summer in Paris together, but ever since she saw Clark again she had been back to her annoying self.

She really, really wished that she would just give up already and move on because it was quite obvious to everyone else that Clark already had. She has spent most of the past year revolving herself around him, flirting, trying to win his heart, but what she couldn't see was that he didn't share those same affections. Ever since he returned over one year ago, he was different—he had changed, and that was all because of the woman he fell in love with, hell, the woman he was still in love with.

And it changed him for the better, she thought.

It was clear that he was still in pain over what had happened, not that he talked to her about it, but he was at least just a little bit happier since he returned home. He was still in love with the woman, who had stolen his heart, and she doubted that he would ever stop.

RING! RING! RING!

It was probably Lana, she thought, and quickly answered the phone without checking the called id. "What? You know, I'm not really in the mood to rehash this…yet again."

"Well, hello to you to cuz! Is that any way to greet your favorite cousin?"

Chloe was shocked to hear her voice on the other line. "Lois?"

"Well, yeah. Who else would be calling you from this number?"

"I'm sorry, cuz! I thought you were someone else."

"Obviously, and by the sounds of it, it was someone you really didn't want to talk to."

She sighed. "Not particularly. I've been talking to her for the past few hours about the same old bullshit. Can you believe that she is dating one guy, but desiring another, one who wants nothing to do with her by the way."

"Oh great! Something to look forward to."

That comment puzzled her, but she didn't think about it for too long. "Why are you calling me so late? I thought uncle Sam was watching your every move, which included who you contacted since your little escape."

"Don't remind me, and for your information it isn't that late. I just wanted to chat with my lovely cuz!"

She wasn't buying that for one second. "Spill, Lane! I know you, and you don't just call out of the blue. You either want something or something is wrong. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Don't get your panties in a bunch, but I did want to tell you something."

"Well? What is it? Don't leave me hanging here?"

"I hope you have room for one more at your house because I'm currently driving towards that pathetic small town of yours, as we speak."

She nearly dropped her phone, at her words, and quickly calmed herself before replying. "What? Are you fucking serious? Why are you driving here? Does uncle Sam know about this?"

"Woah! One question at a time, damn girl, you're starting to sound like me, and that's scary." Chloe could hear her chuckling on the other line. "Yes, I'm serious. My lovely father enlightened me on the fact that I failed last semester, and instead of sending me back to school near base he is shipping me off to that town you call home."

She couldn't believe it. This was the best news she has received in quite a long time. "Oh my god! I can't wait to see you! It's been what? Over two years?"

"Three, I think, but who's keeping count?"

Something she had said finally registered. "Wait a minute! He actually let you leave? On your own? How does he know that you won't just drive somewhere he couldn't find you?"

"He talked to uncle Gabe, and threatened military school if I didn't arrive within three days."

"My father knows? Why the hell didn't he tell me?"

"I have no idea, but if I had to guess, it would be because you haven't been home in a few hours."

She was speechless. How the hell did she do that? It was like she could read anyone perfectly, whether she could see you or not. "How do you know I haven't been home?"

"Firstly, you just confirmed it, and secondly, do you realize who you're talking to?"

"Whatever! So, when are you going to be here?"

There was a brief silence before she replied, "Well, I've been driving all day and night so, I would say about two days tops."

"Two days!?"

"Jesus! You don't have to scream so loud, yes, I'll be there in two days."

"Oh my god! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see you!"

"Yeah. It's going to be great repeating my senior year and being stuck in yet another small Kansas town."

"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad, besides that town you were stranded couldn't have been that bad."

"Oh, but it was. Look, I've got to go, but I'll see you real soon, cuz!"

Chloe hung up the phone, still unable to believe the turn of events, and started mentally planning all the things they were going to do together. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn't even see or hear Pete. "Hello? Chloe? Earth to Chloe!"

"What?"

He frowned at her. "I've been trying to get your attention for over five minutes now."

"You have?"

He nodded. "What has you so distracted? I don't think I've ever seen you this way before."

She grinned from ear to ear, and practically jumped up and down in her seat. "I just got the best news! My cousin, Lois, is moving to Smallville! She'll be here in two days!"

He smiled, at her apparent enthusiasm. He hadn't heard much about her cousin, only that she was an army brat and that they used to be really close when they were younger. It was obvious that she was super excited about this, and he was happy for her, but that happiness faltered once he realized what she had actually said.

Lois.

Her cousin' name was Lois.

Could it be? Was it even remotely possible? "What did you say her name was?"

She frowned, at that question. "Lois Lane, why?"

He couldn't believe it. It was her. The woman his best friend missed terribly, and loved entirely was Chloe's cousin. What were the chances of that? "Oh my god! I can't believe it!"

Now she was extremely confused. He was acting really weird. Firstly, he wanted to know Lois' name, and now it was like he was having a realization of some kind. "What? What is it?"

He grinned from ear to ear, not able to hide his excitement at what was to come. It wasn't possible, but it was happening. "Your cousin, Lois, is the same exact girl Clark spent three months with."

"What? Are you crazy? Clark's never met Lois before."

"How would you know?"

"Because she would have told me if she met some guy, and fell in love with him."

"Not if she was hurt so badly from the prospect of losing him, and doesn't want to talk about it. Just like Clark. Think about it for a second. Your cousin' name is Lois Lane, and the woman Clark fell in love with has the exact same name."

She shook her head, vehemently. "No, it's just not possible. It's a common name. There could be thousands of people with that name."

That was true, he thought, but he wasn't going to be deterred. He knew he was right about this. "Okay, you have a point. Do you know if she might have gone on a summer vacation or something at the same exact time that Clark was gone for those three months?"

It hit her, almost immediately. Lois had run away from base around the exact same time Clark had disappeared, and she had also returned to base not even a day after Clark returned home.

She couldn't believe it. It was true. "Oh my god! Your right! This entire time I've been in constant contact with the one person he has been missing—the woman he loves!" A feeling of queasiness rolled inside of her stomach, at the thought. "If I knew—if I would have just convinced Clark to tell me her name than they could have been reunited by now! Why the hell didn't I question him more about it?"

"Because you're his friend, and you didn't want to hurt him more than he already was. Neither of us wanted that. But, hope isn't lost, Chloe, we could still reunite them."

"What do you mean?"

"You said she's moving to Smallville, right?"

She nodded.

He grinned, feeling more excitement than he's felt in a very, very long time. "I think I have an idea…"

She listened, quite intently to his plan, and it was a brilliant one. It could work. It would only be a matter of time before her cousin and best friend' lives got turned completely upside down, hopefully for the better.

She couldn't wait.

* * *

 _ **This was one hell of a chapter to write, since it was extremely long, it was a whole 28 pages long, and that's the longest chapter I've written before. I could have split it up again, like I've done before, but I didn't want to keep you waiting too much longer for that promised reunion.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-four!**_


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Five:**_

* * *

Lois Lane was completely and utterly bored out of her mind, as she drove down the endlessly dusty, and dirt-filled roads, in the one state she never, ever wanted to come back to.

Kansas.

The first time she had been to this state, over one year ago, it had been an absolutely horrid experience, and now, now this is where she would be living for the foreseeable future.

It was a horrible, unpleasant, and unimaginable thought.

She didn't want to be here at this moment or at all, let alone live here, but it's not like she had much of a choice in the matter. All because she had failed the last semester of high school, and her father had practically ordered it, only giving her a short few hours to prepare. The only bright side to this new turn of events would be that she didn't have to live underneath her father' thumb anymore. She could do what she wanted, when she wanted, and that was a freeing—liberating, and overpowering thought.

But, it still sucked…majorly.

The past two days, had been absolutely dreadful, as she drove through the many, many states, only stopping for food or sleep, but nothing was more dreadful than driving through the bland state that was Kansas.

It was plain.

It was boring.

It was dusty.

But, most of all, it was filled with stalks and stalks of corn, and quite honestly, if she had to drive past anymore fields filled with them she was going to lose her damn mind.

She knew that she should be feeling more ecstatic—happier about this new change of scenery, especially since she wouldn't have to deal with her father' rules anymore, and would be spending lots and lots of time with her beloved cousin, but all it was accomplishing was bringing back memories—memories she would rather not think about.

This is where she met him.

This is where she found out his secret.

This is where she felt their connection.

This is where she said goodbye to him.

This is where she spent one whole week doing absolutely nothing, but thinking about the man who had saved her life—who had changed so, so many things within only knowing him for a few short hours.

And, as much as she enjoyed—as much as she loved reminiscing about him—about their time together, it only reminded her that he was gone from her life…forever.

That thought alone, which is one she thought about a lot, made her feel all the emotions she had felt in the past year, but being here, in the state where it had all began, only made it so, so much worse.

She felt that overwhelming pain, over leaving him, more profoundly.

She felt that all-consuming emptiness consume her entire being, mind, body, and soul.

But, more importantly, she felt more and more alone than she has ever felt in her entire life.

She could feel the tears brimming behind her eyes, and quickly blasted the stereo, only to stop the onslaught of thoughts—the memories of what had happened, what could have been, and what would never be.

A few hours later, she was still driving down the chalky, dusty dirt-roads, and of course, stalks of corn surrounded her on both sides, but she had finally made it.

Thank god, she thought, silently.

As much as she hated moving here—living here, it was nice to know that in a matter of a few minutes she would be reuniting with her favorite cousin, and she would be the only person in this horrid town to make it all worth it.

The sign that welcomed citizens, immediately caught her attention, as she drove past it. 'Welcome to Smallville, Kansas…The Meteor Capital of the World.'

Meteor capital of the world? They are known for a god damn meteor shower? What kind of welcome is that? Just where in the hell have I moved to?

All these thoughts ran rampart in her mind, confusing her, until she remembered something—something that never strayed too far from her mind.

Could it be? Was it even remotely possible?

When they had first met—when he had told her the truth about himself, he had informed her that he had entered this world through a meteor shower, and now she was moving to a small-town, in Kansas of all places, where consequently a meteor show had occurred.

Was it just a coincidence that they had met each other in this state or was it something…more?

She groaned, loudly, and quickly shook her head from side to side, dispelling those kinds of thoughts. You really need to stop thinking like this, she mentally scolded herself.

It just wasn't a possibility, even if one part of her wanted to believe it, and it wasn't the first time her mind had taken this course.

Every single time something weird—something bizarre—something out of this world came to her attention, whether it be rumors of people with strange abilities or something inhuman he was her first thought. And, as much as she wanted to hope—to pray—to believe that it was true, it just wasn't possible.

He was gone.

They were never going to see each other again, and she needed to accept that fact, even if it meant she would feel this emptiness—this loneliness for the rest of her life.

* * *

Pete parked his black Mustang outside of Chloe' house before they both got out of the car and leaned up against the tail end. "So, when is she going to be here?"

Chloe looked down at her watch, and smiled, widely, as she glanced back up at him. "She should be here in a few minutes, give or take."

"Well, we better make this quick then…You have everything on your side taken care of?"

She nodded. "Yes, once she gets here I will spend the entire day with her, distracting her while everyone else finishes setting up the Talon for tonight. I might even get her to talk about her time with Clark."

He scoffed, that just didn't seem like it would even be a possibility. "Good luck with that, Chlo. It took me over one damn year just to get him to tell me her name. I highly doubt she's going to say anything, especially if she is anything like what both you and Clark have told me."

A mischievous smirk spread across her face. "You do realize who you're talking to, right?"

How could he forget? She was really, really good at convincing people to talk about things they didn't particularly like talking about. "Yes, I know I'm talking to the master of manipulation. Have I ever told you that, that little quirk of yours can be extremely annoying, but in this case, it might actually help us in the long run."

She scowled, briefly, at his first comment before nodding, enthusiastically. "Yeah. I need to figure out if my beloved best friend and cousin feel the same way about each other, or else this plan of ours is going to go to shit."

"Well, it's quite obvious that Clark is still in love with her, even after all this time. The question is, how does Lois feel about him?"

She pondered that for a few seconds. "You know, it's so weird, she always tells me about all the guys she's dated and messed around with, but for some reason she hasn't uttered a word about falling in love with some guy in her time away."

He frowned, slightly. "Is that a good thing or not?"

"I would definitely say it's a good thing. She never loved those other guys so, if she really does love Clark then the fact that she lost him would make her want to close herself off from everyone she cares about." She paused, as a thought occurred to her. "I wonder if Cassie or maybe even Wes knows about this…"

He frowned, even more so. "Cassie? Wes? Who the hell are they?"

She offhandedly waved her hand in the air, dismissing his questions. "It doesn't matter. Anyways, back to the plan, once everything is ready at the Talon I'm going to message you when we get there."

"And that's when I sneak Clark out the back since you and Lois will be coming in the front…" He trailed off, momentarily before asking the question he has pondered several times over the past two days. "You know, I don't understand why we can't just reunite them inside. Wouldn't it be better, more exciting if they saw each other as soon as you guys walked in the door?"

Men! They didn't understand anything, she thought before rolling her eyes, and crossing her arms over her chest. "As exciting as that might be, it beats the whole purpose of a quiet and intimate meeting."

He made a face, full of disgust. "Intimate?"

"Okay. Let me ask you this, what if you and Natasha had been separated for over one hellish long year, and when you got the chance to see her again would you rather it be in a room full of people or would you rather it be just the two of you?"

It would definitely be the latter, he thought. "Okay, I get it, we want them to have more privacy during this reunion. So, I'm going to lead Clark outside, and—"

"And after I've managed to get her away from the onslaught of people who are going to want to talk to her, we will make our way outside, and the rest, well, that will happen naturally depending on how they react to seeing each other again."

He grinned from ear to ear, at the thought of what this night was going to bring.

It was a complicated plan.

They were meddling and manipulating everything that was going to happen tonight, but in the end, it would hopefully bring happiness to his best friend, and the woman he has yet to meet.

Her voice, interrupted his thoughts. "Speaking of Clark, where is he?"

An expression of complete remorse and regret spread across his features. He knew exactly where Clark was, and he felt like shit when he left him alone with the one person he didn't want to be alone with, but he didn't really have a choice, not when Chloe had practically ordered him to pick her up. It was either get a reproachful glare from Clark or never hear the end of how he ruined everything from Chloe. He made the most logical choice.

"He's at the Talon, preparing for the surprise party…with Lana."

Her eyes widened in disbelief before her nose crinkled, and her face distorted into a look of astonishment. "Oh no. That's not good."

He agreed, with a slight nod of his head. "Yeah. Not when Lana has been on a one-woman mission to get Clark back, which is why I should get back before something drastic happens that could screw this whole thing up."

It was quite possible that if Lana tried anything, Clark could refuse to come to the Talon tonight, and that couldn't happen. This was only going to work if both Clark and Lois were there, hell, the only reason they were throwing this party was to reunite them.

"Yeah, good idea."

Just as Pete was about to say goodbye, they heard an engine roaring, and looked up to see a red convertible park directly in front of his car.

Chloe grinned from ear to ear, as she realized that it was Lois, and started running towards her full-force. "LOIS!"

Lois, who hadn't even escaped from the confines of her car yet, was practically trampled to the ground, as Chloe embraced her in an air-escaping bear hug. "Woah! Damn, Chloe. Let me get out of my car first, won't you?"

She ignored that remark, as she pulled away from her. "I haven't seen you in forever! Let me enjoy this moment!"

She chuckled, at her joyous cousin' behavior, and could feel excitement bubble up inside of her, at the thought of spending time with the one person who had brightened her childhood. "I missed you too, cuz!"

Chloe grinned before pulling her towards Pete. "Come on, there's someone I want you to meet."

Lois groaned, inwardly, she hadn't even been here for five minutes, and she was already being introduced to new people. It was going to be a long day, she thought before coming face to face to a short, dark-skinned man, and smiled, softly at him.

"Hey, I'm—"

Her words got caught in her throat, as he swiftly grabbed her hand, kissed the top of it, and smiled, charmingly up at her. "No need. I know everything about the lovely Lois Lane."

She laughed, at his gesture, and instantly took a liking to him. It wasn't every day that a man gallantly introduced themselves, in the way this young man had. "Really? I hope it was all good things, you never know with this one."

"Hey!" Chloe protested.

"Of course, it was all good things. I've heard quite a lot about you, even all your adventures over the years."

She glanced, uneasily, between the two of them. "All of them?"

He grinned from ear to ear, at her apparent nervousness. "Don't worry, I haven't spoken a word about the wild things Chloe has told me, especially about that little rendezvous in Metropolis where you—"

"I thought we agreed that we weren't going to ever talk about that again," she quickly interrupted him, sending him a glare. "Besides, I was drunk when I told you that."

He smiled, victoriously, at the shocked expression plastered on Lois' face, like she couldn't believe that Chloe had actually told someone about that. It was a funny story, but one he wasn't allowed to speak of, not even to his best friend.

Chloe turned towards Lois. "Well, this is Pete Ross, one of my best friends, and as you can see he is quite…particular."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think we're going to get along just fine. He's got spunk. I like that."

He smiled, at her obvious approval, and as much as he'd like to stay here and get to know the woman who had captured his best friend' heart, he had more important things to worry about, like how his best friend was cursing his name over and over again across town. "Why thank you, Lois. I would really like to continue this frivolous meeting, but I'm pretty sure that you two have lots of catching up to do, besides I've got somewhere to be."

She nodded. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Pete."

"The pleasure was all mine." He turned towards Chloe, giving her a knowing glance. "Message me later."

She nodded before wrapping her arm around Lois' shoulders, and dragged her inside, intending to start her part of the plan.

As he drove down the streets, towards the Talon where his best friend was probably in need of some assistance, he thought about his meeting with the lovely Lois Lane.

It made perfect sense, he thought. He could easily understand why Clark was so smitten with her, hell, if she wasn't the woman his best friend loved, and he didn't have his own woman he would definitely be interested in wooing her.

She was beautiful.

She was opinionated.

She had lots and lots of spirit within her.

She was feisty, that was one of her most obvious traits, and it was what made her stand out from everyone else.

He grinned from ear to ear. He couldn't wait to see the look on their faces, when they saw each other tonight.

* * *

Clark was feeling so, so many emotions at the moment, as he listened to Lana prattle on and on about her very uninteresting and complicated relationship with Jason, but the emotion he felt more sincerely than all the others was complete and utter anger.

He was going to kill Pete! How could he have left him alone with her of all people?

For the past hour, he has been hanging up decorations for the surprise party Chloe had planned for her cousin, who was moving to Smallville today, and at first it was fun, but ever since Pete had left him it has been pure hell. She wouldn't stop going on and on about her failed relationship with the assistant football coach, and he was sick and tired of hearing about it.

It wasn't jealousy he was feeling at the moment, hell, that was an emotion he hasn't felt in a very long time, but it was the fact that she was only going into detail about this just to get a reaction out of him. For over a year, she has been doing everything in her power to make him jealous—to make him want to get back together with her.

Well, that was never, ever going to happen, he thought, and silently fumed, as she continued her little rant, and wished—prayed that he could be anywhere but here at this very moment.

"He started blaming me! Can you believe that? I thought that we were past this, but of course, he just keeps bringing it up over and again…"

He stopped what he was doing, completely fed up with this conversation, and looked over at her. "Lana, as interesting as this conversation is, can we please talk about something else?"

She looked over at him, nodded, and turned back to what she was doing. A small, sly smile appeared on her lips. It was working. It was actually working. The only reason she had spent the past hour talking about Jason was to make him jealous, and it seemed that her plan to get him back was working wonderfully. This past week, she had made the decision to win back his heart by being more straightforward, and at first it seemed that it wasn't going to work, but thanks to Pete and Chloe it was starting to look up. They had been spending lots and lots of time together over the past two days, which meant she could be alone with Clark, and that's precisely what she wanted.

She looked over at him, her breath catching in her throat, as he reached to hang some streamers, and his muscles flexed through his dark blue t-shirt.

God, he was incredibly sexy, she thought.

After a few moments of gawking, she regained her composure enough to speak. "So, why do you think Chloe is doing all of this for her cousin?"

He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really care why she was doing this for a cousin he had only heard about a few times, hell, he didn't even know her damn name, but if Chloe wanted to do this for her then he was going to help.

"I mean, what's so special about this girl? Why not just take her on a spending spree in Metropolis? Why does she feel the need to throw her a surprise party?"

He sighed, heavily. "I don't know, Lana. Maybe it's because she hasn't seen her in a long time and wants to do something special for her."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's possible, but I've heard that this cousin of hers hates surprises, and I mean she like literally despises them."

His hands stopped in midair, at her words, and it made his mind travel back to all those times he surprised Lois, knowing she hated them, and got berated for it every single time. A small smile crept up on his face, as he thought about all those times he surprised her. The carnival. The cliff jumping. The romantic date in Montana. The beach. She really did hate surprises, he thought, but in the end, she loved him even more for doing all those little things just for her.

And, just like that, his smile fell, and his heart clenched, in unbearable pain. He took a deep breath, softly closing his eyes, and pushed away the memories. He didn't need to think about that—about her right now. Not with Lana here. She wouldn't understand, hell, the only people who truly understood were his parents and Pete, but even they didn't know the truth depth of his emotions.

No one, other than Lois and himself, ever would.

"Really? Where did you hear that?"

"Pete."

He frowned, slightly. How would Pete know something so personal about a woman he has never met before? It just didn't make sense, unless, Chloe had told him, but that raised the question, why didn't she tell him about it?

His thoughts were interrupted by Lana' voice. "You know, they've been spending quite a lot of time together…"

He looked over at her, not liking the way she had uttered those words. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, but if I was Jimmy or Natasha I would be wondering why they are spending so much time together all of a sudden."

He ignored the hidden message behind her words. What she was insinuating just wasn't a possibility. Chloe was completely in love with Jimmy, and Pete was already falling hard for Natasha, besides they would never do something like that, especially with each other.

But…

It was weird. Over the past two days, they have been spending more and more time together, which was unusual since they all usually hang out together, but for some reason he was being left out of the loop. It was like they didn't want him to know something—like they were hiding something from him, but what?

It was driving him crazy! What was so important that they felt the need to hide things from him? What could they not be telling him?

A few hours later, they had finally finished setting up the Talon for tonight, and scanned their eyes over everything they had accomplished in a matter of a few hours.

Lana smiled. "It looks great in here! I can't believe we did this in just a matter of a few hours. It's going to be one hell of a surprise party!"

"Yeah." He started gathering his things, wanting to get back home in time for dinner before getting ready for the party tonight.

She felt like the world was coming to an end, as she watched him prepare to leave, and knew she needed to think on her feet to stop him from leaving. One way or another, tonight would be the night that she got what she wanted…Clark.

She gradually walked over to him, swaying her hips from side to side, and fluttered her eyelashes. "So, Clark, who are you coming to this party with?"

He looked over at her, and sighed, heavily, at the way she sauntered over to him and at the predatory look in her eyes. For the past few hours, she hadn't tried talking about them or even tried making a move on him like she usually did, and he had thought that she had finally understood, but that obviously wasn't the case. When was she going to give up?

"I'll be coming with Pete since he is getting ready at my house."

She frowned. "Isn't he going with Chloe?"

"Uh, no. She's going with her cousin. You know, the whole reason we spent all day decorating this place."

She nodded, and walked closer to him, making him very, very uncomfortable at her close proximity. "What about Natasha? Why isn't Pete going with her?"

"She's not coming tonight."

"Why not?"

He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really care about who was coming with who to this damn party, especially when all he was worried about was getting the hell out of here, and away from the woman standing in front of him.

"Well, why don't we go together?"

He stared at her wide-eyed for several seconds. So, that's why she hadn't acted like her normal self today. She wanted to put his guard down, and hopefully convince him to go to this party with her. Well, that wasn't happening, he thought to himself.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I'll give you two reasons. Firstly, I don't think it's a good idea, and secondly, I don't think Jason would appreciate it very much."

She moved closer to him, making him take several steps backwards until his back was pressed against the wall, and she was practically looming over him. "It doesn't matter what he thinks."

He really, really wanted to be anywhere but here at this moment, especially since, she was coming onto him stronger than she ever has before, and it wasn't appealing. It was like he was her prey, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings, but if that's what he had to do to get her to back off then that's exactly what he was going to do.

"I-I can't go with you, Lana."

She pouted, slightly. "Why not? It's not like your dating anyone so, what's the problem?"

He didn't dare answer that question. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was currently single or that she was obviously on the outs with Jason. It was because of her. It would always be because of Lois. If Lana wanted to go just as friends than he wouldn't have a problem with it, but he knew better than that, especially with the way she was acting right now. She wanted him to be her date, as in romance—chivalry—gallantry, and that was something he wasn't even remotely interested in, especially with her. There was only one woman he could ever imagine doing those things with, one woman he still loved with all of his heart after all this time, and she would be the only woman for him.

But…

She was gone, and it didn't matter if he was never going to see her again because it was his choice, even if a part of him knew he should try to move on from her, but he couldn't. If he had to he would live the rest of his days alone because she was it for him, and it would only ever be her.

Lana watched as emotion after emotion crossed his handsome features, and fumed, silently at what she saw in his eyes. He was thinking about her—about the woman, who had stolen him away from her over one year ago, and as much as she hated to admit it, it was obvious that he was still in love with her, but that wasn't going to stop her from getting what she wanted, desperately.

She slowly traced her fingers up his chest, grasping his face in her hands, and pressed her body against his.

He pushed himself further against the wall, wanting to escape from their current predicament. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to make you realize what's been right in front of you all this time, and in the process make you forget all about her…" And with that, she quickly closed the space between them, and pressed her lips, hungrily against his.

He reacted, quicker than a normal human being, by gripping her slender shoulders in his large hands, and forcefully pushed her away from him. He couldn't believe that she had actually done that…again. Didn't she understand that he wanted nothing to do with her? Didn't she understand that he was still in love with Lois? Didn't she understand that being with her or anyone for that matter was the last thing he wanted?

He quickly moved away from her, putting much needed distance between them. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious."

"We've been over this, Lana."

"I don't care! I want this! I want you!"

He sighed, heavily. "What about Jason, huh? How would he feel knowing that you were here with me instead of trying to fix what's left of your relationship?"

She huffed and puffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "He doesn't care! I broke up with him last night!"

He stared at her, wide-eyed for a few moments, in utter disbelief. "So? What? You thought that since you and Jason weren't dating anymore that it would be okay to kiss me?"

"Why not? We are both single, and don't pretend like you don't want to be with me because I know you do. It's all you've ever wanted."

"It's all I used to want, but things change—feelings change, and I haven't felt that way about you in a very long time."

"You're lying to yourself if you actually believe that. Don't you see that we are perfect for each other? Can't you see how much I want this—how much I want you?"

Oh, that was quite obvious, he thought. "I know what you want, Lana, but what you seem to not understand is that I don't want to be with you."

She moved closer to him, making him take several steps back from her. "Why are you fighting this? Why are you fighting us? I love you, Clark!"

He sighed, heavily, as much as he didn't want to hurt her feelings, it seemed it was the only thing that was going to work in a situation such as this one. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but I don't love you, Lana."

"Why? Because of her?"

He looked her straight in the eyes. "Yes."

Now, she was pissed. After all this time—all this hard work she put into getting him back, a part of her believed that it was actually working, that he was actually moving on from her, but it was obvious that he was never going to stop loving this woman.

"Wow! You're still in love with her, aren't you?" She didn't wait for an answer, her anger making her speak before thinking. "Do you really think she feels the same way about you? It's been over one year since then, and she still has you wrapped around her little finger. The stupid, little whore has probably been with hundreds of men since her little summer romance with you."

Everything evaporated around him, as her words rung in his mind, and he immediately saw red. It didn't matter if they weren't together anymore. It didn't matter if he was never going to see her again, but no one, not even his friends talked about her like that.

He quickly closed the space between them, their faces inches apart, and glared, menacingly at her. "Don't! Don't you ever talk about her like that again!"

She took a few steps back from her, feeling slightly terrified, at the expression on his face, one she has never seen before. "What does she have that I don't?"

He didn't hesitate. "My heart."

"W-what about us? What about everything we have shared together?"

"There is no us, Lana. There never was." And with that, he quickly walked away, leaving her standing there completely and utterly speechless.

He stormed outside, in a complete rage, his fists clenched at his sides, and quickly hurled himself into a nearby alleyway. Every part of his body was fuming with undeniable anger and frustration. Anger because Lana had brought out the worst part of himself, the Kal part of himself by trashing Lois. Frustrated because a part of him wondered if she was right. Was she still in love with him? Does she ever think about him? Has she really moved on with someone else?

His heart felt like it was being ripped out of his chest. It didn't matter if Lois didn't think about him anymore. It didn't matter if she didn't love him anymore. It didn't matter if she was with someone else because no one would ever change the way he felt. He still thought about her every single day and night. He still loved her. He would never let anyone else into his heart.

Lois Joanne Lane was the love of his life—his soulmate—the one and only person he could imagine himself being with.

In his mix of anger and frustration, he felt as if the world was crashing down on him, and spun around, plunging his fist into the brick wall, pieces falling to the ground into shattered little pieces.

"What the hell, Clark!"

He looked over, at the familiar voice, and frowned. None of this would have happened if he hadn't have left him alone with her. He wouldn't be questioning everything, at this very moment. Over the past year, he hadn't ever questioned Lois or what she was feeling, but now, now he was wondering if Lana was right, and that's what hurt the most. Not knowing how she felt about him after all this time because he still felt the same way he did the moment he said goodbye to her.

Pete had never seen his best friend in this state before, it was like he was looking at Kal, not Clark, and that terrified him, slightly. Just what the hell had happened? "Clark, what's going on? Why do you look like you want to kill someone?"

"Ask Lana."

He sighed, heavily. Figures she would have something to do with this new attitude. "I'm sorry, Clark, I never should have left you with her."

He glared, his emotions overriding his judgement. "Your right. You shouldn't have left me with her."

He dropped his head, feeling like complete shit. "I'm sorry, man."

Clark softened his gaze, his hands unclenching, and felt himself calming down, at the regret his best friend was obviously feeling. It wasn't his fault. He was just angry, and was taking it out on the one person who didn't deserve his anger. "No. I'm sorry, Pete. I shouldn't take it out on you. It's not your fault. Lana just pissed me off so god damn much, and I needed to let off some steam."

He looked up at him. "What did she do? I've never seen you like this before…"

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course, it does. It's obvious that she said or did something to piss you off so, how about we go back to your house, and you can tell me about it while we get ready for the party."

Clark looked at his best friend, with regret. "I'm not going."

Pete felt all the color draining from his face, and his heart started beating frantically in his chest. "W-what? You have to come!"

He frowned at him. "Why?"

"B-because, Chloe wants us all to meet her cousin."

He shook his head from side to side. "I'm sorry, but I think I've had enough excitement for one day. I'll meet her some other time. Tell Chloe I'm sorry."

Before Pete could respond, he super sped away, and he blinked several times. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

He never should have left Clark alone with Lana, especially today of all days, but now, he needed to figure out how he was going to fix this because there was no way in hell this night was going to be ruined. It might be more hazardous than WWIII, but he would be convincing Clark to come to this party tonight, even if he had to tell him the truth.

His best friend would be reuniting with the love of his life…tonight, no matter what it took.

* * *

 _ **Well, things have definitely taken a turn for the worst. Clark is now refusing to come to the surprise party, and questioning Lois' feelings towards him all because of Lana. And Chloe and Pete's plans have definitely crumbled into a million pieces. The Clark and Lana scene wasn't particularly easy to write, especially since I don't like writing her as a complete bitch, but it had to be done for what's to come in the next chapter. I know you all probably expected the reunion to happen this chapter, but there's lots of things that lead up to that moment, and I promise the next chapter you won't be disappointed. It will either be posted tomorrow of the next day so, you don't have to wait terribly long.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-five!**_


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Six:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'Falling into you,' By Celine Dion**_

* * *

Chloe laughed, good-heartedly, and clutched her sides in her hands, as she felt a twinge of pain shoot through her. "No way! You didn't do that!"

Lois laughed right along with her, enjoying sharing this particular story with her, but also just enjoying spending time with the one person who had brought happiness into her life after her mother passed away. "I really, really did. You should have seen Wes' face. It was priceless."

"I bet it was." She paused momentarily before continuing, "So, how are Wes and Cassie doing?"

She grinned from ear to ear, as she remembered the conversation she had with Cassie over the phone just yesterday. "Well, Wes is Wes, you know how he can be, but I'm pretty sure he got some news he's been dying to hear for a few months now."

Chloe looked at her, completely intrigued by this new information. "Well, don't leave a girl hanging. What is it?"

"You're not going to believe this, but…. they're having a baby!"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and her mouth dropped open before she squealed with complete and utter joy. "Oh my god! No way! Are you serious?"

"Yeah. She told me before I left base, unfortunately, I left before she could tell Wes…" She smirked, mischievously, "Now that, that would have been priceless to see."

She laughed, her head tipping back. "I bet it was, I wonder what his reaction was…"

"Are you kidding me? He probably fainted like the wuss he is!" A small grin appeared on her face. "Oh, I'd bet all my money on that. When we were kids he used to freak out over the smallest things so, I definitely wouldn't be surprised if he fainted when hearing the one thing he's been wanting to hear for a while now."

She nodded, mentally agreeing with her. "So, that means…you're going to be an aunt or how does that work exactly?"

It would be quite confusing to anybody on the outside, she thought, but it didn't change the way she saw Cassie or even Chloe for that matter. "Yeah, well, sort of. We kind of see ourselves a lot more like sisters than friends…kind of like us."

Chloe sobered, immediately, at her words. "Y-you still think of us as sisters?"

Lois enveloped her hands in hers, and squeezed, softly. "Of course, I do. No matter what happens between us or how much time separates us, we will always be closer than cousins."

She stared at her for several moments, enjoying spending this quality time with her, and also relishing in everything she was feeling at the moment.

Lois, who didn't particularly like it when people stared at her, was beginning to feel a little unnerved, at the sincerity in her cousins' eyes. "What?"

"I've missed you, Lo."

"I've missed you too."

As much as she was enjoying this moment with the one person she had missed more that she realized, it was time to get down to business, besides she needed all the information she could get for tonight. "So, Lo, we've talked about pretty much everything you've done in the past three years, but there's something you're leaving out…"

She frowned. "And that would be…?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe that little escape you pulled off a while ago from the likes of your father."

Lois' smile fell, immediately, and she looked to the ground, moving her hands, nervously. How did she know that Chloe was going to bring that up, especially when that was the last thing she wanted to think about, let alone, talk about. At first, she felt okay talking about it, but as more time passed it only seemed to be getting harder and harder, and she wasn't sure she wouldn't break while talking about her time away—while talking about him.

"What's there to know? I escaped from my father, had some fun for a few months, then got dragged back to base, only to live my worst nightmare. There's not much to tell."

Chloe immediately went on alert, at her dramatic change of behavior, and it proved the one thing she was trying to figure out. Lois had met and fell in love with Clark in her time away, while also escaping from her father. But that didn't answer the question she was dying to know. Was she still in love with him?

"Oh, come on, Lo. I was promised details. It's been over one year, and all I've gotten from you is a rundown version. I want to know everything! Where did you go? What did you do? Who did you meet?"

Lois really, really didn't want to talk about this—about him, but she knew that Chloe wouldn't let up until she got what she wanted, and even though this was the very last thing she wanted to talk about, it wasn't fair to Chloe. She had promised her that she would fill her in, and she figured that she owed it to her, especially since her father had dragged both her and her uncle into it, but that didn't mean she had to breathe a word about Clark.

She took a deep breath, "Okay, well, it all started while having a drinking competition with some of the soldiers…"

Chloe listened, intently, as she explained why she had left base, what she encountered, and all the adventures she experienced in those three months. She could clearly picture everything she was explaining, especially the cliff jumping in Colorado, and the hiking extravaganza' in Montana. Even though, this was all exciting to hear, she couldn't help but notice that she became a little…depressed, as she talked about Washington, and figured that, that was where her and Clark had said goodbye to each other.

This was getting her nowhere, she thought. She wanted to know about Clark. She needed to know if she was still in love with him. She needed to know if this reunion she was planning was going to be either a good or bad thing for her cousin.

"So, while you were out gallivanting around the country, did you meet someone?"

Lois stared at her, with a perplexed expression, and wondered why she was asking her a question like that. "Um, I met a few interesting people…"

She sighed, internally, it seemed that she was going to have to be more straightforward about this. "I mean, did you meet someone…special?"

Her breath caught in her throat, at her words, and wondered briefly if she asked that question because it was that obvious or if her cousin was more perceptive than she realized. The direction of this conversation was starting to make her feel very uneasy, especially since she didn't want to talk about it, but she knew that Chloe would figure her out faster than she could blink, besides maybe it wouldn't be so bad telling her the truth. When she had told Cassie, she had gotten her support, but it didn't really help, especially knowing that she was happily in love with Wes, and even though Chloe was in love as well, her insightful brilliance might help her deal with the loss of the one person she never wanted to lose.

"Yes."

Chloe smiled. Now they were getting somewhere, she thought. "Really? Why haven't I heard about this beforehand? You usually tell me about these kinds of things…"

"Because I don't like talking about it."

"Why not?" She questioned, even though she had a feeling that she already knew the answer to that question.

She tried holding back her tears, not wanting to break down in front of Chloe. "I-I don't like talking about it because it brings back memories."

The sadness etched on her features, the way her eyes were filled with tears, and way her body seemed to tense up made Chloe want to stop this tirade of questions for her cousin' sake, but she needed—wanted to know the truth. "Bad ones?"

She shook her head from side to side. "No, not bad ones. Most, if not all of our memories were good. That's what makes this so much harder because I know that we will never, ever make anymore, and that kills me inside."

Chloe was so, so tempted to just stop this charade, and tell her the truth. Tell her that Clark was here—that he lived here—that she didn't have to be sad anymore—that she could be happy with him again. But, she couldn't, even though she hated seeing her in so much pain, it would make their reunion that much sweeter, and she was looking forward to what tonight would bring.

"Are you still in love with him?"

As much as she didn't want to break down in front of Chloe, she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. "Y-yes. Both Cassie and Wes told me that I should let him go—that I should move on, but I just couldn't. I love him too much."

She wanted to delve deeper, learn more about how she came to fall in love with her best friend, which was a notion she never thought would be possible, but it was obvious that this was hurting her more than it was helping, and it was time for a drastic change in conversation. "I'm sorry, Lo. I couldn't imagine what you're going through, but I think I know exactly what you need to make this night better."

She looked up at her, slightly confused, but mostly intrigued. "What would that be?"

"What would you say to having a girl's night out?"

It was an intriguing idea, that was for sure, and it would be nice to just have some fun before her life literally became complete hell. "I think that's a great idea, Chlo."

Chloe grinned from ear to ear. She was one step closer to changing the lives of her best friend and cousin…forever. "I'm glad you agree because I've got some great ideas for tonight so, we better start getting ready."

Before Lois could even think about replying to that, Chloe' bedroom door slammed open, and Pete rushed into the room, looking extremely panicked and breathing heavily. "Chloe. We have a problem."

They both stared at him, perplexed expressions plastered on their faces for completely different reasons. Lois was wondering what the hell had him so wound up, while Chloe was wondering what the hell had happened, because she knew without a doubt that it had everything to do with their plan.

She quickly stood up, and walked over to him. "Pete? What's going on?"

He glanced over at Lois, who was staring at them like they grown second heads or something. "Um…it's nothing. I just, um, I just need to talk to you about something…important."

Lois quickly stood up, easily reading what he wasn't saying on his face. "I can take a hint, you know."

Pete turned to her, feeling a little bit like an asshole. "No, Lois, I didn't mean it like that. There's just something personal I need to talk to Chloe about. I'd talk to someone else, if anybody else knew about this, but she's pretty much the only person I trust."

She smiled, and patted his shoulder, as she walked up to him. "It's okay, Pete. I understand; besides, I should start unpacking before Chloe takes me out on the town tonight." She walked towards her room, frowning, slightly, and wondered what the hell was going on because whatever it was, was seriously bothering Pete. She might not know him very well, but she had already taken a liking to the man, and didn't like seeing him so wound up. What could have happened?

Chloe shut her bedroom door before turning towards him with a worried expression. "Okay. What's going on? What happened? You look like the world is coming to an end."

"That's because it is, Chloe."

She raised, and inquisitive brow. "Seriously…what happened?"

He took a deep breath. "The entire plan is falling apart…"

"What are you talking about? I thought we went over this already. I've got Lois handled, and you know what to do with Clark…"

"Clark' the problem. He, um, he isn't coming tonight."

"What!?" She screeched, loudly, making Pete cringe, slightly. "What the hell happened?"

"Lana."

Figures as much, she thought. As much as she loved and cherished her friend, it seemed she had a knack for ruining things without even realizing what she was doing. "I need to know exactly what happened, Pete."

"That's the thing, I don't know. I went back to the Talon, only to find Clark extremely pissed off, and upset. She must have said something or done something to him…"

She pondered this for a second. Either Lana said something insulting about Lois, which kind of ticked her off, or she had flirted with Clark so much that he completely broke from frustration and anger. "Okay, well, we need to figure out what Lana actually said to him, and you need to convince him to come to the party tonight."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" He didn't dare mention how he had punched a hole through a brick wall, mainly because she didn't know the truth, but also because he wasn't sure how she would react to something like that. It was like being around Kal again, and that was something he'd rather not have to relive.

She moved closer to him. "Okay, this is what we're going to do…"

* * *

Pete parked his car outside the Kent farm, and took a deep breath before making his way inside the yellow farmhouse, where he saw Jonathon and Martha getting ready to leave for the surprise party.

Martha looked up at him, as soon as he walked inside. "Hey, Pete. Aren't you supposed to be at the party already?"

"Uh, yeah, but I kind of need my wingman, and he's been conventionally missing for quite a while now."

Jonathon sighed, heavily, remembering the way his son had stormed into the house, only sharing curt words with them before rushing to the barn. "Yeah. I kind of got the impression that he wasn't in the best of moods when he came home. Do you know what happened?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I think Lana might have said something to him…"

Martha sighed, completely annoyed that, that girl had once again wound up her son, especially when he was starting to get back to his old self. "Is she still trying to get back together with him?"

He nodded. "Yeah, and I think she might have taken it a little too far this time."

"I wonder what she said to him. Clark is pretty strong-willed and determined, it would take a lot for him to shut himself off like he is now. It's kind of like when he first came back home."

Pete groaned, visibly annoyed. He remembered those first few months after he had returned, and it wasn't a pretty sight, that was for sure. He had pretty much shut himself down from everyone that cared about him, only leaving the loft for school.

"I think she will let up after tonight…" He immediately regretted his words after saying them, especially with the way they were staring at him, quizzically.

Jonathon stepped forward. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, um, nothing. Chloe just really wants Clark there to meet her cousin, but um, the Lana situation, I think that will just take some time to resolve…"

Martha didn't buy that for one second. It was obvious that something more than just a surprise party for Chloe' cousin was going on tonight, and it had everything to do with her son, but what could it possibly be?

Pete quickly changed the subject, not wanting them, especially Martha to figure him out. She was really good at that. "Um, do you know where Clark is?"

"Yeah. He's been locked up in the loft since he came home, maybe you can figure out what's going on."

"I hope so. I'll see you guys at the party." He quickly made his way towards the barn, where Clark was probably sulking and brooding. He hoped beyond hope that he could convince him to come tonight because this entire night was depending on him showing up.

Pete stopped dead in his tracks, at what he saw when he got to the top of the stairs of the loft. Clark was definitely brooding. He was sitting on the ground, his back leaning against the couch, as he stared down at the ground, and was clutching a framed photo in his hands.

Clark looked absolutely miserable, he thought.

He slowly walked over to him, and sat down next to his desolate best friend before glancing down at the photo. It was Lois. She was a beautiful woman, that was for sure, but this picture definitely did her wonders. Her long, blonde hair fell freely around her shoulders, her hazel eyes shined brightly, and the largest smile was spread across her face, as Clark had his arms wrapped around her waist. It was a sweet, romantic, and lovely picture of them. They looked incredibly happy, which is why he needed to convince Clark to come tonight because he would do anything to see that lively smile on his face again.

"Is that her?"

He didn't say anything, just handed over the picture, and Pete took it, smiling. "Wow! She's really beautiful."

Clark smiled, unable to stop himself from remembering all the times she gave him that exact same smile over and over again in the short time he had spent with her. "Yeah. She really is."

"Clark, what happened earlier?"

He sighed, heavily, and softly closed his eyes. It had been the only thing he could think about, and it was causing him to feel worse and worse by the second. A part of him wanted to believe that Lois still thought of him as much as he thought of her—that she still loved him as much as he still loved her—that she hadn't moved on from him like he hasn't been able to do, but Lana's words kept ringing in his mind over and over again, and he didn't know what to believe anymore.

"Didn't you get the story from Lana?"

Pete didn't actually talk to her, too afraid of what he might hear, and he really didn't want to blow a casket over what he sure wasn't anything good so, he had gone straight to Chloe. "No. I want to hear your side of the story."

He took a deep, deep breath before relating everything that had happened earlier, starting from the annoying conversation about Jason to the final blowout about Lois.

After hearing everything, he understood why Clark was so pissed off, and at this moment, he really wanted to knock some sense in Lana. Why did she have to do this on today of all days?

"I'm sorry, man. I know how much you love her, and it probably wasn't easy hearing Lana talk about her like that."

Clark looked over at his best friend. "I don't want to believe it, but what if she's right?"

His eyes widened, and his mouth slightly dropped open. This couldn't be good. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if everything Lana said is true. I don't want to believe it, hell, I've never even thought about it until today, but I can't help but wonder if I've just been holding onto something that she doesn't believe in anymore."

Nope. This couldn't be happening right now. It was about the worst possible time for Clark to be questioning everything, especially since he knew for a fact that Lois still loved him, missed him, and thought about him all the time, but, more importantly, that she was here only a few minutes away from him.

"What are you saying? Are you ready to move on from her? Are you ready to forget that part of your life?" He really, really hoped that wasn't the case.

Those words hurt him more than he thought they would, and he knew immediately that, that wasn't an option for him. Not ever. "No! God no. I-I can't do that to her—to me—to us, even if I tried, I couldn't move on from her, but I just can't help wondering things. Does she still love me? Does she still think about me? Does she remember us as clearly as I do?"

That was a loaded question, which he knew all the answers to, but it's not like he could exactly tell him that. It would ruin everything. "I believe that she still does, Clark."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

He lifted up the photo from the ground, glancing down at the two of them, and noticed for the first time that when he had seen her earlier—when she had smiled, it looked nothing like this. In that moment, he knew that she probably hasn't smiled like that since being with him. "I don't know this Lois woman you love so much, but I'm one hundred percent positive that she hasn't been as happy as she was when you guys took this photo. I believe that she still loves you—that she still thinks about you—that she still remembers all those things you shared together."

He looked at his best friend, dubiously. "Do you really think so?"

"Yeah. I really do. Come on, Clark, after everything you've told me, I think it's safe to say that she feels the same way you do."

"But I don't really know, do I? I mean, I'm never going to know if everything I hope to be true is actually true because I'm never going to see her again, and that's what hurts the most."

Pete smiled, discreetly. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, Clark."

He frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You never know the possibilities, Clark, who knows maybe one day you'll meet again."

He wanted to believe that, he really did, but it just didn't seem like a likely scenario. "I don't think that's possible."

"Why not? Think about it. It's a big world, sure, but it isn't out of the realm of possibilities. You plan on going to college. She is probably going to do the same, and it wouldn't be completely impossible if you two ended up going to the same college or better yet getting the same job."

He smiled at his best friend, feeling thankful that he was at least trying to cheer him up, but it didn't really make him feel any better about the situation. "Yeah, like that would ever happen. It's like you said, it's a big world. There are hundreds and thousands of colleges out there, let alone jobs across the country. It just doesn't seem likely, besides, even if that did happen, what if she's already moved on?"

"I don't know, Clark, but I do know one thing for sure. Soulmates always have a way of finding each other again, no matter how much time passes."

A chuckle escaped him, as he remembered someone saying those same exact words to him before. "You know, you kind of sound like my dad right now."

He frowned. "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

"It's a compliment. The night after I returned home, my father pretty much told me the same exact thing after we had a fight about her."

"See! I'm not the only one who thinks it's possible!"

He smiled at him, "Thanks, Pete."

"No problem." He clapped his hands together, excitedly. "But, now that, that's taken care of can we get ready for this party or not."

"Didn't it already start?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't show up without my best friend."

Clark sighed. "I don't know if I should go or not."

Pete was definitely not having that. He had already come this far, and he wasn't giving up until he got what he wanted. "Oh, come on, Clark, it'll be fun, besides Chloe would be really, really disappointed if you flaked out on L—her cousin' big debut party."

He was forever thankful that he caught himself before letting her name slip because that would have ruined everything, but thankfully Clark didn't notice anything amiss.

"I don't know. I mean, Lana' going to be there, and I'd really like to avoid her as much as possible, especially with what happened earlier."

"Are you really going to let Lana Lang stop you from enjoying yourself for one night? It's not every day where we get to have some actual fun in this town, and I can guarantee that tonight is going to be one hell of a night, one you're never going to forget."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, it's just that I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a great night for everyone."

Clark pondered it for a few seconds. It would be nice to have some fun, which is something that they didn't do very often, and he really did want to meet Chloe's cousin, but there was only one problem. Lana. He didn't want her hanging all over him or worse trash talking the woman he loves.

Pete noticed that he was hesitating, and needed to think fast on his feet because there was no way he was leaving this house without him. "I have an idea. What if you could avoid Lana altogether?"

"How do you suppose I do that?"

"That's easy. How about you just wait outside, while I grab Chloe and her cousin, and we'll have our own little celebration outside." It would work perfectly, especially since it still meant that they could have a quiet and intimate reunion. "If after meeting her you still want to leave then you can, but I highly doubt you'll want to leave after meeting her."

He frowned. "You've already met her?"

He grinned. "Well, yeah, she was at Chloe's when I went to over there to talk to her about trying to convince you to come tonight, and let me tell you she definitely left an impression."

As much as he was trying to fight this, he couldn't help, but be a little curious about this woman. "What's she like?"

Might as well give him a taste of what he already knows about her, he thought.

"Hmm. Where do I start? Well, first off, she's probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. She's got a great and fantastic personality or at least what I've seen so far. She's feisty. She also has quite a mouth on her, you know, your complete opposite, and I bet she would be able to put a smile back on your face."

He chuckled at his description, and quite honestly it intrigued him, not because she seemed like the type of person that would get a kick out of riling up the small-town farmer, but because she sounded so much like Lois. It would be nice to meet someone new, and hopefully she would be able to cheer him up—be able to keep his mind off things for a little while.

"Okay. Fine. I'll go."

Pete cheered, internally. "Great! We should probably start getting ready then because we are already late."

They both quickly stood up, and started walking towards the farmhouse, feeling better about everything for completely different reasons. Clark was feeling good about this because it could possibly help him get his mind off things he didn't want to think about, and meeting this woman just might do the trick. Pete, on the other hand, was about to burst into a fit of joy—excitement, and happiness.

His best friend was about to get the greatest surprise of his life, and it was going to be one of the most monumental things he's witnessed in a very long time.

* * *

Lois grumbled, for about the hundredth time, as they walked towards the front doors of the Talon. "Is there a reason we're going to a coffee shop? When you said girl's night out, I was thinking more along the lines of karaoke, drinks, and possibly a delicious steak dinner."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "This is Smallville, Lo, not Metropolis besides I just need to talk to someone really quick, and then our girl's night can begin."

"Okay. Okay, whatever you say."

It was pitch black when they walked into the once movie theater now coffee shop, and it was really, really quiet. Too quiet. "Why is it so damn dark in here? I thought this place was open?"

"It is."

In what seemed like a flash, the lights turned on, and tons of people, who she had never seen before, popped out of nowhere, screaming out, "SURPRISE!"

She was completely and utterly shocked, as she looked around at all the unfamiliar faces, and spotted the huge banner hanging above the service counter. 'WELCOME TO SMALLVILLE LOIS!'

It was unbelievable.

She slowly turned towards her cousin, who was having an extremely hard time containing the laugh that was seconds away from escaping. "What is all this?"

"This, my dear cousin, is your surprise party!"

Surprise party? How did she not figure out that Chloe would do something like this? It was something that only she could come up within a matter of days, and on top of it all, got the whole town involved. "You didn't have to do all of this."

Except that she did, but she couldn't exactly tell her the true reasons for this surprise party, but just because the only reason there was a party was so that they could reunite her and Clark, didn't mean they couldn't welcome her to the town. "I know you weren't too thrilled about moving here so, I wanted to make it special for you."

She smiled at her. "I appreciate it, I really do, but don't you think it's a little too much?"

She smirked, knowingly. "Oh, I wouldn't say that just yet, dear cousin. The night has only just begun."

And what the hell was that supposed to mean?

Over the following two hours, Chloe had introduced her to more people than she could count, and she doubted that she would remember all of their names, but a few of the people she met stuck out, colossally.

First, there was Lex Luthor, and there wasn't much to say about that man, except that she didn't like him one bit. Not because of what his father, Lionel Luthor, had done to Chloe, but because he just seemed like a real slimy character, and for some reason she got the impression that he was sizing her up. It was really, really creepy.

Then, there was Lana Lang, and even if she didn't have the right to judge the girl from a first meeting, she couldn't help but not exactly liking her all that much. It wasn't that she didn't seem like a very nice and sweet person, but she got the feeling that she could be very petty if she wanted to be, and it seemed that her mind was elsewhere while they were talking anyways.

Better for her, she thought, since she wasn't here to make friends. She just wanted to finish her senior year, as peacefully as possible, and move on to better things, like college for instance.

Now, there were two people, who had stood out above the rest, and she had taken an immediate liking to them, much like she had done with Pete. Martha and Jonathon. Martha was a very, very beautiful woman, and she had a strong and independent personality, a lot like herself, but it wasn't just that, it was the fact that she seemed to be as loving, charming, and insightful as she appeared. Jonathon, on the other hand, was impossible not to like. He was funny, very handsome for a man for his age, but most of all, he reminded her of Clark for some odd reason. It seemed that her farm boy, and this farmer had quite a lot in common, and as much as that pained her inside, it was nice knowing that Clark wasn't the only man out there like that.

She had a feeling that she was going to be spending lots and lots of time with these two, especially if they were a big part of Chloe' life, and it seemed that they were.

* * *

Outside the Talon, Clark and Pete were standing outside the back doors. "Is there a reason we came to the back doors and not the front?"

Pete smiled, knowingly. It was better if this was done out of earshot and eyesight of others. "No reason, I just thought it would be better this way. Anyways, I'll just grab Chloe and her cousin. So, don't go anywhere."

He nodded, watching Pete rush inside, and walked a little ways down the dark alleyway before sitting down on the ground.

Pete was acting really strange, he thought.

At first, it just seemed like he really wanted him to meet this cousin of Chloe's, but the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if something else was going on. It just didn't make any sense to him. Why did Chloe and Pete want him here so much? It was like they knew something he didn't, which wouldn't be too surprising, since they've been hiding things from him the past few days. But, what could it possibly be?

He looked over towards the back door, which he could see clearly, and sighed. He wanted to go inside, and greet Chloe's cousin like any other normal person would, but he didn't want to face Lana, even though he knew it was going to be inevitable.

If he liked this woman, which he figured was most likely going to be the case, especially after everything Pete has told him, then he would have to get over himself, and face her. He just hoped it didn't come to that because quite honestly, if he really did enjoy this woman' company than he definitely didn't want Lana spoiling the moment.

For some reason, he had a feeling that tonight was going to be a lot more exciting then he previously perceived it would be.

* * *

Chloe and Lois were standing near the center of the room with Martha and Jonathon, and over the past thirty minutes or so, they had talked about pretty much everything that involved Lois' life.

As Martha and Jonathon had just finished relishing in yet another one of Lois' many, many adventures, Chloe off-handedly mentioned her little escape from base over a year ago, which got her a glare in return. She didn't want them to think she was some kind of troublemaker, which she wasn't, but that didn't mean she didn't act out every once in a while.

Jonathon grinned, at her obvious change in demeanor. "Oh, yeah, I think I remember you telling us about that when you found out."

Lois looked over at Chloe, glaring, fiercely. "You told them that?"

Martha chuckled. "Don't worry, dear, I kind of forced her to tell us since it was obvious that something was troubling her."

She smiled at her. It did seem like she had a knack at getting people to confess things they were trying to keep hidden, and she hoped that she never did anything to deserve that kind of speech from this woman.

Chloe noticed Pete walk inside of the Talon, and turned back towards them. "Pete's here. I'm going to go talk to him for a minute." She turned towards Lois. "Will you be alright here?"

She smirked. "Well, this is my party after all, besides I don't think I can get into too much trouble with these two around."

Everyone chuckled before Chloe walked away, and pulled Pete aside once she found him. "What's going on? We've been here for hours already."

He sighed. "I know. I know. I'm sorry, but it took more than a few minutes to convince Mr. Broody pants to come to this party."

She raised a brow. "But you did, right?"

He grinned. "Yeah. He's outside waiting to meet Lois."

"How did you manage to keep him outside?"

"Actually, that wasn't hard at all. He didn't want to face Lana after what happened so, he happily accepted after I suggested he stay outside."

She grinned from ear to ear. "Well done, Ross!"

"Why, thank you, Sullivan!" He grew serious, all of a sudden. "Okay, now that I've got him here, what's our game plan?"

He listened, as she laid out her brilliant plan, and couldn't help but smile. It was definitely going to be a night that not only Clark, but none of them, would ever forget.

* * *

Lois was seriously enjoying the company that these two provided, which was weird since she never took a liking to elder people, but for some reason she felt at complete ease with them, and quite honestly, they made her feel at peace, like nothing else mattered in the world.

Jonathon smiled at the woman, who had already captured his heart. She was sweet, caring, and most of all, he felt like he was already connected to her in some way, kind of like the daughter he never had. "So, Lois, what made you want to move to Smallville of all places?"

She cringed, slightly. "Um…I didn't exactly have a choice."

Martha frowned. "What do you mean?"

She really didn't want to get into details, but for some reason she felt comfortable enough to tell them things that only a select few knew about her. "Well, um, my father is a US Army General so, I was raised moving from base to base throughout most of my life. Last Spring, I ended up failing the last semester due to that, and well, my father decided he was going to ship me to the middle of nowhere to finish high school instead of staying on base with him."

Jonathon nodded. "I guess, I don't need to ask why you ran away then."

She ducked, in slight embarrassment, hating the fact that they already knew that about her.

Martha noticed it, immediately. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. It happens. As a matter of fact, our son did the same exact thing a little over a year ago."

Her eyes widened at that. It just didn't make any sense why any son of theirs would run away, especially since they seemed like such great people. She would have done anything to have parents like them. "You have a son?"

Jonathon frowned. "Chloe didn't tell you? That's surprising since they're always together, same with Pete, actually he was supposed to try to convince him to come tonight."

Now it was her turn to frown. "Convince him? He didn't want to come?"

Martha smiled at her, reassuringly. "It has nothing to do with you, honey. Actually, he pretty much decorated this entire place just for you." She paused for a few seconds. "But, um, he got into an argument with Lana, and was feeling really upset afterwards."

She nodded, completely understanding. "Let me guess…trouble in paradise?"

Jonathon chuckled, at her choice of words. "I wouldn't say that exactly."

She frowned at him, wondering what in the hell he was talking about.

Martha shook her head. "What my dear husband is trying to say is that Cl—"

"Sorry that took so long, but Pete needed some advice about something," Chloe interrupted, in the nick of time she might add, especially since Martha was about to ruin everything without even realizing it.

Lois nodded. "Was it the same problem he was having earlier?"

"Yeah, but everything's all good now. Anyways, Lois, I have something to show you."

She groaned, and rolled her eyes. "Another surprise? Chloe, you know much I hate them! Haven't you done enough for one night?"

Both Martha and Jonathon chuckled.

Chloe grinned. "I did tell you that I had a few aces up my sleeve, but I promise you're going to love this one."

Without giving her a chance to protest, she dragged her through the crowd. "This better be quick, cuz! I was actually having a good time in there."

She mumbled underneath her breath, "You're about to have an even better one."

She narrowed her eyes at her. "Say something, cuz?"

Chloe just smiled at her, and Lois saw so, so many things in that smile, which made her question what her cousin was really up to. It couldn't be anything good.

She slowly made her way outside, with Chloe hot on her trail, and her confusion rose sky high when she noticed Pete waiting outside for them. "Okay. You've got me outside. What's so damn important that you had to interrupt my conversation with Martha and Jonathon?"

Silence.

She stared at them, cryptically. "I don't know what you two are up to, but there better be a damn good reason why I'm standing in the freezing cold for this surprise."

They just grinned at her, like complete maniacs. Just what in the hell was going on? "Seriously, guys, what am I doing out here?"

"Just wait for it."

"Wait for what?"

Clark, who had been sitting in the darkness waiting for Pete to come back outside, literally stopped breathing for several seconds, as he heard a voice—a voice that was forever engrained into his mind, and for a split second believed that his mind was playing tricks on him.

He very, very slowly stood up, and walked towards the voice he had dreamed about—the voice he had prayed he would hear at least one more time. Once emerging from the darkness of the alleyway, he came to a dead stop, as he saw the one person he never thought he would ever see again.

It was her.

Lois.

She was really here.

His mind wasn't playing tricks on him, and even though he couldn't see her face, it was obvious that the past year had done her justice. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered.

His hands trembled, nervously.

His heartbeat quickened its pace inside his chest.

And, his throat felt dry all of a sudden.

He croaked out, "L-L-Lois?"

Lois, who was becoming more and more frustrated by the minute by Chloe and Pete' nonchalant attitude, felt all the color draining from her face, as she heard a voice coming from behind her.

But…

It wasn't just any voice.

It was his voice.

Clark's.

It just couldn't be possible.

He wasn't really here—he wasn't really standing behind her.

It was something that she had dreamed of happening, but never thought that it could be possible.

She very, very slowly turned around, expecting her mind—her ears to be playing tricks on her, but instead, came face to face to the one person she never thought she was ever going to see again.

Clark.

Everything seemed to fade away from her. Pete and Chloe's presence. The cold night air chill. The buildings surrounding her. It all just faded away until it was just them. Lois and Clark.

The entire world felt like it was spinning around her.

It wasn't just a figment of her imagination.

He was really here—he was really standing in front of her.

She took a small, unsteady step towards him, "C-C-Clark?"

He breathed out slowly, not realizing that he had been holding it inside until he heard his name falling from her lips, and the sweet and captivating sound of her voice made him smile. He simply nodded his head up and down, unable to form any coherent words, as the feeling encompassing his body made his already dry throat even drier.

A small smile appeared on her lips, from just the mere sight of him, and hot, sticky tears rolled down her cheeks, as she stared at the man she was still completely in love with. "C-Clark? Is it really you?"

Her words, filled with so much love—longing—pain caused his heart to clench inside his chest, and he couldn't stop the tears from falling down his cheeks. "It's really me, Lois."

They stared at each other, smiling, widely for what seemed like hours, but in reality, was only a few seconds before simultaneously rushing into each other's arms. He quickly wrapped his arms around her slender body, pulling her into his chest, tightly, and buried his face into her soft, blonde curls, breathing in her scent—the scent he still remembered so clearly. She wrapped her arms around his hard-muscular back, squeezing as hard as she could, and pressed her face, firmly against his steel chest, loving the feel of his body brushed up against hers again.

He softly closed his eyes, relishing in this moment, and whispered into her hair, "Are you really here right now? Am I really holding you right now?"

She smiled against his chest, and pulled herself even closer to him. "I'm really here, baby, and I'm never, ever going to leave you again."

He pulled away from her, slightly, and stared into her beautiful hazel eyes. "Promise?"

"I promise, baby."

And just like that, the world turned brighter all of a sudden. He quickly picked her up off the ground, and spun her around in circles. She giggled over and over again, tossing her head back until he gently set her back down on the ground, and stared into his tear-filled baby blues. "I can't believe this is actually happening. You're really here? I'm not imagining this or dreaming?"

He pulled her closer to him, their bodies inches away from each other, and ran his hands down her body, resting them on her waist. "I'm really here, Lo, and I'm never going to let you go again."

Tears ran down her rosy cheeks. "I-I never thought I was going to see you again. I-I thought I had lost you forever. Oh, Clark, I've missed you so much!"

He smiled down at her, tears also falling down his cheeks, and squeezed her waist. "I've missed you too, baby, god, I've missed you so god damn much, Lo!"

They leaned their foreheads together, staring into each other's eyes, as emotion after emotion consumed every fiber of their being, and felt such happiness—such joy encompass them. It was something they had always dreamed of happening, but never thought was possible, and now, now they were living their best dream come true.

His heart felt like a jackhammer in his chest, as he stared at the woman he loved with all of his heart, and it filled him with such excitement, but those questions rampaged his mind again. "Lois, I-I never thought this was ever going to happen. I-I thought you were lost to me forever, but I need you to know that I l…I mean, do you still…"

She wanted to chuckle, at his loss for words, but couldn't make herself do it because he wanted answers to the questions she had also been wondering. She gazed up at him, lovingly, "Yes, Clark, I never stopped. I love you!"

He grinned from ear to ear, at hearing the words he never thought he would hear again, and without contemplating his decision, swiftly lowered his head, pressing his lips against hers.

It was soft, sweet, and showed all the passion he still felt for her.

She quickly responded to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his soft, black locks, and pressed her body firmly against his.

It was like fireworks had exploded around them, as their lips molded together in a sweet and passionate kiss, and in that moment they both knew that there was nothing better that the feeling that was currently consuming their minds, bodies, and souls, as they reclaimed their undying love for each other.

He slowly and reluctantly pulled away from her, completely out of breath. "I love you, Lois. I never stopped loving you. It just wasn't possible for me. I thought about you—dreamt about you every night, never thinking that this was possible, but here you are."

She smiled up at him, wanting to say so, so many things to him—wanting to ask him questions, but the only thing that mattered to her in this moment was feeling his lips back on hers. He wasn't the least bit surprised when she pressed her lips back against his. It thrilled him. It excited him. And he knew that he would never, ever get enough of this woman.

They kissed, passionately for several minutes, as their bodies molded together, perfectly, and their hands roamed over each other's bodies—bodies they knew and remembered so well.

A combined burst of laughter and loud, rupturing clapping came from behind them, making them quickly pull away from each other, and stare at their onlookers. Chloe and Pete, who seemed to be very amused by the situation. How had they forgotten that they were there?

"Wow! I was expecting fireworks, but that was definitely something else! Wouldn't you agree, Pete?"

He nodded, enthusiastically. "Yeah, I would have to agree with you, Chloe. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't that!"

Clark and Lois stared at them with wide-eyes, and mouths dropped open, as they realized that both Chloe and Pete had known all along. They stared at their intended targets, and spoke, simultaneously, "You knew?"

They just laughed. "I think the love birds are starting to figure it out, Chlo."

"About damn time too. I was starting to wonder when they were going to put all the pieces together."

Lois was growing very, very annoyed at their little spectacle, especially since they were talking about them like they weren't actually standing there. "Hello! We aren't deaf, you know, we're standing right here!"

Chloe smirked, "Oh we know! Just let us enjoy this victorious moment for a few seconds, first."

Nope. Not happening. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. "Oh, no you don't, Sullivan! I want to know how the hell you knew about us!" She looked over at Pete, "And you, I just met you, how the hell did you know about this?"

Clark enveloped her hand in his, trying to calm her down, but also himself because he couldn't believe what his two best friends had done. It was great, that was obvious, but how the hell did they even know?

Pete grinned. "Oh, I've known about you, for the past three days, and I've been waiting, quite impatiently, I might add for this moment."

Clark narrowed his eyes at him. "How did you guys know about her? I only told you her name…" He trailed off, as an idea came to him, and it finally clicked. "You told Chloe, didn't you?"

He smiled. "Not exactly."

"Three days ago, I got a shocking and surprising call from Lois telling me that she was moving to Smallville, and Pete was the first person I told…"

"And he connected the dots because I told you her name that night." Clark interjected.

"Precisely."

This was so much information, and it was giving her a damn headache. "Hold on a second! You two, matchmakers, knew all along, but decided to wait to tell us…why?"

Chloe grinned from ear to ear. "Look around you, Lo, we didn't just want to throw you a surprise party. We wanted to find a really special way to reunite you two love birds."

They couldn't believe their ears. Lois was completely speechless, while Clark was starting to understand everything that had been happening over the past few days. "Y-you planned this whole party just, so we could see each other?"

They smiled at him, "Of course!"

Lois finally found her voice, and looked between the two of them. "You did all of this for us?"

Chloe stepped towards her, and wrapped her hands around hers, squeezing, softly. "Yes, Lois, we did this for both of you. It wasn't easy keeping this from you, especially during our conversation earlier…"

Her eyes widened, as realization dawned on her. "That's why you were asking me all those questions."

She smiled. "I knew how Clark felt about you, but I needed to know if you still loved him."

Lois turned towards Clark, tears in her eyes, and smiled, widely at him. "How could I not?"

He never took his eyes off her, her words causing a volcanic reaction to erupt inside of him. He had spent the better part of today wondering if she still loved him—if she missed him—if she thought about him. Now, he knew the truth. She still loved him, and that made him the happiest man in the world because he had never stopped loving her, not for even a second.

Pete glanced between the longing looks between them, and quickly intervened. "Well, as much as I've enjoyed this heartfelt moment, I think it's time we go back inside."

Chloe was quick to agree. "Are you two love birds coming?"

They smiled at them before intertwining their fingers together, and walked into the Talon, not sure what was going to happen next, but were ready for it because they were finally together again after all of this time.

* * *

Lois stared up at Clark, as he stood in front of her, his body mere inches from hers, and his hands spread out across the wall behind her, blocking her from everyone' sight except his. "I can't believe Chloe and Pete did all of this for us."

He moved a little bit closer to her. "Me either, but I'm glad they did."

She smirked. "Really? Are you? I think I need proof of that, farm boy."

He grinned, moving so close to her that she could feel his breath on her skin. "You're still as snarky as you were before."

"Admit it, you missed that about me."

"I just missed you."

She smiled up at him. "I missed you too, Clark."

He rested his forehead against hers, and softly closed his eyes, at the sensation. This was about the best thing that could have happened to him, especially after the day he had, had, and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of the night with her.

"Clark!"

He quickly pulled away from Lois when he heard his parent' voice, and enveloped her hand in his. "Hey, mom, dad."

Lois stared at the two-people walking towards them, with wide-eyes, and a slightly ajar mouth. It was no wonder why she connected to them so profusely. They weren't just two people who she felt comfortable with, they were Clark's parents. All of a sudden, she began to feel very, very nervous. They knew things about her—things she would never want his parents knowing about, but it wasn't like she could change it. This new revelation did raise a few questions…

What did they know about her, exactly? Did they know anything at all? Did they know that she knew about Clark's abilities? Would they like her when they found out she was the woman Clark had spent all of his time with?

Jonathon smiled. "Well, I'm glad you could finally make it, son."

"Yeah, Pete convinced me to come, and I'm really, really glad that I did." He said all of this while looking directly at Lois.

Martha noticed the look, but didn't comment on it, and figured her son would tell them if he wanted to.

"I see you've met Lois then."

He grinned, like a maniac. "Yeah, but tonight's not the first time I've met her."

Jonathon frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Martha studied her son, extremely carefully. She noticed the magnetizing smile plastered on his face, one she hasn't seen in quite a long time, the way his eyes lingered on Lois, a little longer than necessary for someone who had just met the girl, and the way their hands were intertwined together, like they were a couple or something.

She gasped, loudly. "Oh my god!"

Jonathon turned to his wife, completely worried. "What? What is it?"

She glanced between the two of them before her eyes rested on her son. "This is her, isn't it?"

He nodded, looking down at Lois, lovingly. "Mom, dad, I'd like you to be properly introduced to Lois Lane, the woman who captured my heart all those months ago."

Lois felt her cheeks redden, and part of her wanted to berate Clark for outing her like that, but she couldn't help but smile at the looks she was receiving from both Jonathon and Martha.

Jonathon was completely shocked by this news, but one part of him knew that this would happen one day, he just didn't think it would be like this. He smiled at Lois. "So, you not only ran away from your father, but you kept my son away all that time too?"

"Jonathon!" Martha scolded.

"Dad!" Clark glared.

He chuckled at their reactions to his words. "Relax, I'm only kidding." He looked down at Lois, who had an embarrassed expression plastered across her face. "Honey, don't worry about it. I don't judge you for running away from your father, actually it's quite the opposite. If you hadn't of done that, you wouldn't have been there for my son when he needed someone, and I'm incredibly glad that he chose someone like you to trust."

That answered her original question, she thought. They definitely knew that she knew the truth about Clark.

Clark was enjoying this moment so, so much. Not only was he spending time with the woman he thought he had lost forever, but his parents seemed to like her…a lot, and that meant a lot to him. He heard a soft, slow song begin to play through the speakers, and grinned, as an idea came to him. "I think we've embarrassed her enough for one night." He held out his hand towards Lois. "Can I have this dance?"

She smirked up at him, "He dances, what a shocker."

He chuckled before grabbing her hand, and dragging her towards a secluded part to the Talon, intending to share this moment with just her, and her alone.

 _ **And in your eyes, I see ribbons of color**_

 _ **I see us inside of each other**_

 _ **I feel my unconscious merge with yours**_

 _ **And I hear a voice say: "What's his is her's"**_

He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her right up against his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, curling her fingers through his hair. "So, has your dancing gotten any better?"

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "I'm not that bad, but no, I haven't danced with anyone in over a year."

She smiled up at him. "Me either."

They leaned their foreheads together, their eyes locked on each other's, and softly swayed to the music.

 _ **I'm falling into you (falling into you)**_

 _ **This dream could come true**_

 _ **And it feels so good falling into you (falling into you)**_

Martha and Jonathon watched their son, and the woman they already felt so connected to dance, like nothing else mattered in the world—like they were the only two people in the world.

She smiled at them. "They look so perfect together."

"Yeah, they really do."

She looked over at her husband. "It's so obvious that she is the one that he has been waiting for."

He nodded. "He's been waiting for her for over a year, and I'm really happy that he finally has her again."

"Me too. I have a feeling that she is going to be really, really good for him."

He turned towards his wife. "May I have this dance, Mrs. Kent?"

She grinned from ear to ear, "I'd love to, Mr. Kent."

 _ **I was afraid (I was afraid) to let you in here**_

 _ **Now I have learned**_

 _ **Love can't be made in fear**_

 _ **The walls begin to tumble down**_

 _ **And I can't even see the ground**_

Pete and Chloe watched them dance from the corner of the room, they had been watching them pretty much all night, and couldn't be happier about the pure happiness, and joy they were obviously experiencing.

Pete looked over at her. "Well done, Sullivan, has anyone told you that you are a great matchmaker?"

She grinned. "We're great matchmakers."

"I wasn't sure what I was expecting tonight, but one thing is for sure, I don't think I've seen Clark as happy as he seems right now."

"Lois was never one for falling in love, but I'm really happy that they have each other."

Pete held out his hand, "How about it, partner, would you like to dance?"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Why not? We did put all of this together, might as well enjoy it while we can."

 _ **I'm falling into you (falling into you)**_

 _ **This dream could come true**_

 _ **And it feels so good falling into you (falling into you)**_

Clark and Lois were completely, oblivious to everything around them, as they stared into each other' eyes, holding each other close, and relishing in the feelings that erupted through their bodies.

She loved being here with him—loved dancing with him, but right now, it felt like all eyes were on them, and quite honestly, she wanted to be alone with him. "Clark, I—"

He pressed a finger against her lips, stopping her from finishing her sentence because he could read in her eyes what she wanted, hell, it's what he's wanted from the moment they saw each other again. "I know, baby."

He grabbed her hand, and pulled her through the crowd, trying his damnest to not run into his parents'. He wanted to spend time with her, the woman he had missed above all else, and he intended on being alone with her.

They quickly rushed out, excitement consuming both of them, at the notion of finally being alone since every time they tried to be alone someone came up to them or they could feel everyone's eyes on them. He pulled her into a nearby alleyway, and swooped her up into his arms.

She chuckled, as she was lifted off the ground. "So, where are you taking me, Mr. Kent?"

He grinned, and wiggled his eyebrows, mischievously. "Somewhere no one can interrupt us, Miss Lane."

He was seconds away from super speeding them out of there when he heard a familiar voice, one he really didn't want to hear at this particular moment.

"Where do you think you two are going?"

* * *

 _ **Clark and Lois have finally been reunited! Yay! It was such a thrill writing this chapter, especially since this was one of the scenes I pictured in my head before even writing this story. It took a while to get here, but now that they've been reunited, it can only mean good things are in store for our power couple. Sadly, I won't be able to post another chapter for at least a week, two weeks at most. I'll be babysitting my three-month old niece, and she is definitely a handful.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-six!**_


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Seven:**_

* * *

He was seconds away from super speeding them out of there when he heard a familiar voice, one he really didn't want to hear at this particular moment.

"Where do you think you two are going?"

Clark groaned, inwardly, at the accusatory tone in her voice before slowly spinning around towards her, and gently lowered Lois back onto the ground. One part of him wondered if he could have escaped from seeing, let alone speaking to her if he would have suggested leaving earlier, but another part of him was kind of glad that this happened because maybe, just maybe she would finally understand that he wasn't interested in her, and that he was completely in love with the beautiful woman standing next to him.

Lois, on the other hand, was feeling all kinds of different emotions at the moment, but the most prominent one was pure confusion. Her hazel eyes stared straight at her, Lana, the woman she didn't take a liking to from the first moment they met, and noticed almost immediately that she seemed pissed off about something. What the hell was her problem?

She glanced up at Clark, noticing how tense he seemed, and there was a look in his eyes that revealed he wasn't particularly happy about seeing her. And that's when realization dawned on her. It was quite obvious to anyone who looked between them, that they had been an item at some point in their lives, and it seemed that Lana was still hanging onto that memory, unlike Clark or at least she hoped he wasn't. A small, minuscule part of her didn't feel the need to question him about his past relationships, but she couldn't help feeling a little insecure about the current situation, which wasn't like her at all. It only proved that her feelings—her love for Clark were making her feel this way, especially since she was terrified that he had indeed been with someone else in their time apart. She sure as hell hoped not.

The mere thought of Clark being with another woman, whether it be before they met or after they met, was something she never, ever wanted to think about, especially since it sent that familiar shiver of jealously through her body, and that was a feeling she hasn't felt in a very, very long time.

Out of it's on accord, her hand found Clark', and she intertwined her fingers with his, gingerly. It wasn't that she wanted to make a clear statement to Lana, that wasn't really her style, but she wanted to feel him—touch him, if only to prove that he was really here with her, and nobody else.

He was hers.

She was his.

They were back together, after all of this time, and nothing else mattered, no matter what happened.

He smiled, inwardly, as he felt Lois grab his hand, and intertwined their fingers together. He knew she did it because she wanted to feel his comfort—his love throughout this. He gently squeezed her hand, hoping that she'll understand that he wanted her comfort—her love all the same, and that no matter what happened he wasn't going to go anywhere.

"Well? Are you two going to say anything or do I need to repeat myself?"

He stared at Lana, a slight frown etched upon his features. "Lana, what are you doing out here?"

She took a small step towards them. "I could ask you the same thing, especially since we're all here to celebrate Lois' triumphant move to Smallville. So, I ask again, where do you two think you're going?"

"We're leaving."

"Why?"

"The why doesn't really matter, and quite frankly, it's none of your business, but if you must know, we wanted to get some fresh air, and I figured that I would show Lois around town."

She narrowed her eyes at him, dangerously. "Why would you do that? Isn't that Chloe' job? I mean, she is her cousin after all…"

"She isn't just Chloe' cousin."

That definitely piqued her interest, but she had a feeling that it wasn't something she wanted to hear. "Really? Last I checked, none of us had even met her until tonight so, why is it up to you to show her around town?"

He stared at her, completely annoyed, and was becoming very, very tired of this conversation. It wasn't her damn business, but she needed to understand one way or another. "Tonight's not the first time I've met her, actually, I've known her for quite a long time now."

"What are you talking about?"

He hesitated, not really sure what he should tell her since he wasn't too sure of that answer anyways. They hadn't really discussed what this all meant now that they were back in each other's lives, but deep inside he believed that the moment they concealed their love for each other was the moment that they made the decision to start right where they left off.

He looked over at Lois, who was practically glaring daggers at Lana, and conceded that she was wondering what the hell her problem was. "Um, well, she's my…um, we're…I mean, I'm her…"

Lois wanted to chuckle, at his complete loss for words, knowing that he wasn't sure how to answer that question, especially since they haven't had the time to talk about it. But, in her eyes, the moment she saw him again was the moment that she decided to be with him again, not only to pick up where they left off, but to start this new, exciting life together.

She stared straight at Lana, who was directing all of her attention towards Clark. "We're together."

If he had, had doubts about where they stood, he sure as hell didn't now.

They turned towards each other, simultaneously, and smiled, knowing the truth behind her words. They were together, and that's all that mattered, to them at least.

Lana took a step back, at her words, not quite believing what she was hearing, at least not until she took into account the loving grins plastered on their faces, and the way their fingers were intertwined together. At first, she had felt confusion—surprise, but now, now all she felt was complete and utter anger.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Wow! You're together, huh? I find that incredibly hard to believe…"

Lois narrowed her eyes at her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She chuckled, maliciously. "It means exactly what I said. Clark, here, has been obsessed over some summer love he encountered over one year ago. He refuses to let anyone in, including the girl that he used to love once upon a time. A girl, I might add, that is still in love with him."

A conversation that Lois had, had with Chloe over the phone before arriving in this small-town came back to her, and in that moment, she realized that she was talking about Clark and Lana. Lana was the girl who was dating another man, but was swooning over Clark at the same time, but Clark had moved on from her.

She couldn't help but smile, outwardly, at the thought that she was the one he had moved onto, and it just proved that they were meant to be together because neither of them have moved on from the other. She had a feeling that, that was something that would never happen. No matter what life threw at them, they would always be together—be one.

Clark' voice brought her out of her thoughts. "It wasn't a summer love."

She scoffed, and rolled her eyes. "Of course, it was Clark. You ran away, met a girl, and had some fun for a few months. That's all it was. It wasn't true love. What we had, that was true love, and this girl—this girl that you supposedly love so much is never coming back. She's gone. You're never going to see her again so, stop screwing with Lois' head, making her actually believe that she has a chance with you."

"You're wrong. She did come back, actually, this entire party was put together so, we could reunite, and you're looking at her." He looked down at Lois, lovingly, for a few seconds before glancing back at Lana. "Lana, I'd like you to be properly introduced to Lois…the woman I met all those months ago—the woman I fell completely and undeniably in love with—the woman who hasn't left my heart, even after all of this time."

Lana couldn't believe what she was hearing, and stared at them, completely gobsmacked, as his words sunk deep into her mind, soul and body.

This was the girl, Chloe's cousin, who he had claimed to love over and over again in the past year. A fear seeped deep into her bones. If this was true then that meant that she would never, ever have a chance with him, but she quickly pushed that thought aside. She wouldn't let this woman stop her from getting what she wanted…Clark.

She smirked, evilly. "If that's true then why were we in a jaw-dropping, passionate lip-lock while preparing for this little surprise party?"

All the color drained from Lois' face, at her words, and she could feel her heart pounding rapidly inside her chest before looking up at Clark, with a questioning gaze.

She whispered, which was only audible to his ears, and his alone. "What is she talking about, Clark?"

He felt Lois' entire body tense next to him, and heard the strain in her voice when she spoke softly to him. His aquamarine eyes glared at Lana, furiously, as everything inside of him wanted to set her straight—wanted to put her back in her place, but his immediate attention went to Lois. He wouldn't, under no circumstances, let her believe anything that Lana was saying.

He softly squeezed her hand, sliding his fingers across the top of her hand, and turned towards her, staring deeply into her confused hazel eyes. He mentally pleaded her to not believe anything that was coming out her mouth—pleading her to trust him—pleading her to believe in him—in them.

She felt a little reassured, at the sincerity in his eyes, and she knew that she could trust him—that she could believe in him—in them. She needed, no, wanted to hear the entire story before she did something stupid, like slapping the shit out of Lana or worse, saying something that could hurt Clark.

He smiled, softly down at her.

She was trusting him.

She was believing in him.

In them.

And, that's all he wanted.

Seems like nothing has really changed, he thought, happily before turning back towards Lana. "Are you being serious right now? We've went over this again and again. You kissed me, without my permission, not once but twice, and if that wasn't bad enough you did it knowing how I felt about Lois."

She would not back down. "I did it because I needed to prove to you that we belong together." She glanced over at Lois, glaring. "Not some girl you met over one year ago." She smirked, menacingly. "I bet she hasn't even given you a second thought in all that time."

A dark, deep, and raging anger dispersed throughout Lois' entire body, but she took a deep, deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Under no circumstances, would she let this woman get underneath her skin, no, she was going to go about this as calmly as possible. "Excuse me?"

Clark gulped, silently, at the calm tone of voice she was using, and knew that if Lana said the wrong thing than shit was definitely going to hit the fan. He really, really hoped it didn't come to that. It would only end badly.

Lana took a step towards her. "Chloe, Pete, and even myself know how much Clark claims to love you, but the question I keep asking myself is did you even think about him in all that time? I bet you didn't even give him a second thought, especially since I have no doubt that a woman of your beauty has been with hundreds of guys since your little summer extravaganza."

That was definitely not the right thing to say, Clark thought, miserably.

Lois couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth, and quickly dropped Clark' hand, ignoring his protests before striding over to her. She stood mere inches away from her, glaring, their faces nearly touching. "Are you insinuating what I think you're insinuating?"

Lana wouldn't back down, even though she felt slight fear spread throughout her body, especially with the way she was glaring at her like she wanted to murder her or something, but that would not deter her.

She stood taller, glaring right back. "You heard me loud and clear. You might be able to fool Clark, Chloe, and even Pete, but you can't fool me. I know what type of woman you really are…"

Clark quickly darted over to them, wanting to stop this argument from progressing any further because he knew that it wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

Lana had no idea what she was getting herself into, he thought, before placing a hand on Lois' shoulder, gently. "Lois, come on. Don't listen to her. Let's just go."

Lois turned towards him, glaring daggers, and quickly shook his hand off her shoulder. "No! I want to hear what she has to say!"

He took a step back, slightly terrified at the look in her eyes. It was pure venom—pure hate, and that's something he had never seen from her before.

This wasn't going to be good, he thought.

"So, Lana, what type of woman do you take me for then?"

She spoke with a confidence she didn't really feel at the moment, and hoped against all hope that her voice didn't crack. "You're the type of girl that tells men that you love them when in all actuality you don't. You probably forgot all about Clark the moment you left him, and I wouldn't be surprised if you shacked up with the first guy that gave you attention."

Lois clenched her fists together, trying to stop herself from doing something rash, not because she didn't want to put this girl in her place, but because she was terrified that Clark would look at her differently after this. He had never seen her this riled up before, and she hoped—prayed that Lana didn't say something that completely broke her resolve because she wasn't sure she could stop herself from strangling this woman.

 _Deep breaths, Lois. Deep breaths._

"How about you stop playing this little game, and say the word you've been dying to say all night. Say it. I dare you."

Lana glared, not backing down. "Fine! You want me to say it, then I will! You, Lois Lane, are nothing but a woman who plays with men's hearts and emotions. You've probably done this to lots of men before. You've played with their hearts. You've made them believe that you actually cared about them—that you actually loved them. But, the truth of the matter, is that you were only fooling them, making them believe that so, you could relish in the thought that you have them wrapped around your little fingers."

Lois stepped closer to her, trying to squelch down her anger, but it was becoming merely impossible to achieve. "Say it."

She stared directly in her eyes. "You, Lois Lane, are nothing but a dwindling, two-timing, whore."

And just like that, her entire resolve broke. She quickly reared her hand back, and slapped her across the face, as hard as she could, the sound so incredibly loud that she was sure people inside could hear it.

Lana grabbed her face, trying to hold her tears back from the unbearable pain that was stinging her cheek, and took several steps back from her, muttering, "Bitch."

She ignored that remark, not wanting to do something any rasher than what she's already done. "You want to know how I feel about Clark? You want to know what I've been through in the last year without him? I'll tell you."

She took a deep breath. "Over one year ago, I met this handsome, extraordinary man, who was unlike anyone I had ever met before. Our first meeting wasn't exactly ideal, but we had a connection from the very start, hell, I'm pretty sure that I fell in love with him the moment our eyes met. I tried fighting the connection—the feelings I felt, but I couldn't—I couldn't because it was too late. I had already fallen…hard for him, and somewhere along the line he did the same.

Those three months were the happiest of my damn life, as well as his. I didn't have to ask him, and he didn't have to ask me because it was in our expressions—in our eyes—in our love every single time we were together. We were in love, hell, were still in love, and let me make something absolutely clear to you…I didn't leave him. We were torn apart.

Over the past year, I have lived in complete and utter hell. I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I didn't even spend time with my closest friends like I used to. Instead, I became a desolate, depressed, and heartbroken person. I shut everything out. My father. My friends. People who were dearest to me. I even shut out everything that used to make me happy.

I spent most of my time in the comfort of my own room, completely and utterly miserable because I wanted to be alone—because I knew the truth—I knew that I was never going to see him again. I would daydream about everything we shared together over and over again in my head. I would think about what our life would have been like if we were still together.

It took me a long, long time to start to get back to my old self, but that pain—that heartbreak was always there, and I knew it was never going to go away. I thought about him every single day and night. I dreamed about him constantly. I missed him more than I've ever missed anything in my god forsaken life. I refused to listen to my friends—my loved ones telling me that I should move on—that I should forget about him.

I made a decision to live in this pain, even though I knew that we would never be together again. I knew that I would never, ever love another, and no matter how many times a man flirted with me or tried to make a pass at me, I always turned them down. Because of him. Because of Clark.

So, the answer to your question is yes. Yes, I love Clark. I've loved him from the moment I saw him, and I've never, ever stopped. I'm never going to stop."

Lana took several staggering steps back, and stared at her, wide-eyed, completely and utterly speechless. She didn't know what to say to that, especially after all the emotions—the feelings—the love that she had uttered. She could concede that she had never felt that intensely about someone before, but she knew one thing for a complete fact. She was wrong about Lois Lane.

Clark, who had listened quite intently to Lois' long and heartbreaking speech, stood completely shell-shocked, mouth hanging wide open, and heart beating rapidly inside of his chest. She had shut herself off from her friends and family, just like him. She had been hurt—in pain—heartbroken, just like him. She had missed him, just as much as he had missed her. But, more importantly, she never stopped loving him, just like he never stopped loving her.

He slowly walked closer to her, and placed his hand on her shoulder, turning her towards him. "Lo, d-di-did you really feel like that? Did you love me—miss me that much?"

She refused to look at him, afraid of what she would see there, especially since she never, ever wanted him to know everything that she had felt—everything she had dealt with in their time away from each other. Everything she said was the complete truth, and she didn't regret saying it out loud, but a part of her wondered if he felt any of that—if he had missed her as much as she had missed him.

"Yes," she mumbled, her eyes trained on the ground.

He grinned, at her obvious nervousness. "Lois, baby, look at me."

She did…very, very slowly.

He placed his hand on the side of her face, his thumb softly caressing her skin. "Lo, I-I have felt everything that you have felt over this past year, hell, I started wondering if this was normal because I was in so, so much pain, but I realize now that I wasn't just feeling my pain. I was feeling yours. We're connected. We always have been, and even being apart I felt that connection. I felt you.

I felt so alone this past year. I felt empty. I felt like I would never, ever heal from what I lost—from losing you, the best thing that has ever happened to me, but then you came back to me—you came crashing back into my life.

I've been having doubts—doubts about whether you still loved me—if you missed me—if you thought about me as much as I thought about you, and now I know that you felt the exact same things I was feeling. Pain. Hurt. Heartbreak. Loneliness. Emptiness. I've been absolutely miserable without you, almost dead since the moment we were forced to say goodbye to each other, but now, now I feel alive—even more alive than I felt all those months ago when I fell in love with you."

She stared up at him, with tears pooling in her eyes. "You really mean that?"

He leaned his forehead against hers, and stared deeply into her hazel pools. "Yes. I've loved you from the moment our eyes met, and I've never stopped. I love you so damn much, Lois Lane."

She smiled, widely, a few tears of joy escaping down her cheeks. "I love you too, Clark Kent. I never stopped, and I never will."

They smiled at each other, feeling nothing but complete and utter happiness, and were about to kiss, but Lana, who they had completely forgotten was even there, spoke before they could. "You really love each other, don't you?"

They looked over at her, speaking, simultaneously, "Yes."

She took a step back from them, tears running down her cheeks. "I-I'm so sorry. Clark, I'm sorry for everything I've done this past year, and Lois, I'm sorry for insinuating things that were obviously not true. I'm just so, so sorry. I hope you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me for everything I've done."

They just nodded at her before looking back at each other, and smiled, like Cheshire cats, feeling more complete—more alive that they have ever felt in their entire lives.

Lana quickly walked away from them, heading back inside of the Talon, out of sight of the two lovebirds' outside.

As soon as Lana was out of sight, Clark placed both of his hands on the sides of her face, his fingers curling into her beautiful, long, blonde locks. "Are you okay?"

She smiled up at him, stepping closer to him, and placed her hands on his chest, clenching his shirt into her fists. She knew he was referring to the confrontation with Lana, but that was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment, especially after the revelations they both received tonight. "I'm better than okay, Clark."

He grinned down at her. "Are you ready to get out of here?"

She nodded, enthusiastically. "I'm more than ready."

He quickly swooped her up into his arms, making her giggle, and super sped them far, far away from prying eyes and ears.

* * *

Lana was completely lost in thought, as she walked through the many crowds inside the Talon, and headed straight for the stairs, intending to get up to her apartment as soon as possible.

It was over.

Clark didn't love her anymore, hell, he hasn't in over one year.

He was completely and irrevocably in love with Chloe' cousin.

Lois was completely and indefinitely in love with Clark.

It really was truly over.

Deep inside, she knew that this was going to inevitably happen, especially with the way Clark has kept blowing her off and telling her, repeatedly, that he wasn't in love with her anymore. But of course, over the past year she kept pushing and pushing until he literally started distancing himself from her, and quite honestly, she'd be surprised if he ever wanted to be friends with her again.

She had made a complete fool of herself, and not only did she know that, but so did Clark, Chloe, Pete, hell, even Lois knew it.

As much as she hated it, it was time she moved on from the past, and moved onto the future. Clark was her past, and Lois was his future. It would remain that way…forever. She needed to except that, and move on with her life.

She needed to find herself again.

One part of her would always love Clark, but he has moved on, whether she liked it or not, and it was about time she did the same.

She was so lost in her never-ending thoughts, that she wasn't exactly paying attention to where she was walking, and bumped into two familiar people.

Chloe and Pete.

"Whoa! Lana, where are you off to in such a hurry?"

She looked up at Chloe, one of her closest friends, and shook her head from side to side, not wanting to get into details, especially not with Lois' cousin. "It's not important."

Chloe was not having that. "I'm not buying that. Something is definitely bothering you. What is it?"

Pete stared at the girl, who had driven him completely crazy this past year, and frowned, prominently, when he noticed how depressed and forlorn she seemed to be. "Chloe' right, Lana. You don't look so good. Are you okay?"

She glanced between them, uneasily, not really sure what to say to either of them. Their concern was appreciated, but she couldn't help feeling guilty, especially for the way she acted, not only tonight, but this past year. She had probably driven them just as crazy as she had Clark, and she needed to make up for it in some way.

Had to start somewhere, she thought.

"I'm sorry."

Chloe and Pete looked at each other, concern etched on their features before glancing back at her, speaking, simultaneously, "What?"

She took a deep, deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry for everything I've done tonight, and this past year. I've been a terrible friend to both of you, but especially Clark, and I'm pretty sure Lois hates me right about now."

Chloe frowned, at her words. "Lana, what are you talking about? Why would my cousin hate you?"

"I, um, I might have confronted Clark and Lois when they were leaving…"

"Clark and Lois left? When was this?"

Chloe rolled her eyes at him. "Not really important right now, Pete." She glanced at Lana, and noticed the guilty expression plastered on her face, and immediately became defensive. "What did you do?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure you guys know about what happened earlier between me and Clark…"

"You mean, when you kissed him…" Pete interjected.

"You what?" This was the first she was hearing about it. "Why didn't you tell me about that?"

Pete stared at her like it should have been completely obvious. "Um, you know, we were kind of busy with the whole…thing." He didn't want to say too much in front of Lana, not sure how she would take knowing that Clark had truly moved on from her.

Lana smiled at them. "You don't have to be evasive about it. I know what you did."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at her. "You know what exactly?"

"I know why you wanted to throw Lois a surprise party."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You wanted to reunite Lois and Clark. I know she's the woman that Clark fell in love with all those months ago, actually, I kind of just found out."

Pete wasn't too sure what to say to her, not knowing whether she was super pissed about this revelation or pretending like it wasn't bothering her. He was hoping it was the latter.

Chloe, on the other hand, had figured that she would find out about that sooner or later, and she could care less about that, no, her main concern was her cousin and best friend. "You said that you confronted them, and that Lois might hate you. What did you say to them?"

She looked towards the ground, completely embarrassed and ashamed, but they needed to know. How else was she supposed to make up for everything she's done? As much as she hated to admit it, it was obvious that Clark and Lois were happy together, and she needed to accept that as soon as possible in order to move on with her life.

"Well, um, earlier I noticed them talking to the Kent's, and they seemed to be really, really cozy with each other, and then I watched them dancing. I couldn't help feeling jealous over the fact that Clark would feel so comfortable with her after only knowing her a few hours, especially knowing how he had continuously turned me down. So, after they left, I, um, I followed them outside, and questioned them."

"That's how you found out about them," Pete assumed out loud.

Chloe ignored his commentary. It wasn't what was concerning her the most. "Lana, why do you think my cousin hates you? If all you did was question them about their relationship then I don't see how that could make her hate you…unless you said something you shouldn't have, especially to Lois." She was getting a very, very bad feeling about this. "Lana, what did you say to her?"

She gulped, silently, and refused to look into Chloe's eyes. "I-I might—I might have called her a whore…"

Pete was completely and utterly speechless.

Chloe about fainted, at those words. How the hell was she still alive at this point? How did she survive the Lane wrath after saying something like that? How did she escape her grip unscathed?

"Lana, you didn't…"

She looked up at Chloe, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Chloe. I really am. I-I wasn't thinking. I thought that if I could prove that Lois wasn't the woman he fell in love with, then he would realize that we were meant to be together, but, I, um, I soon realized that, that wasn't the case…"

Pete frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that Lois made me realize that what I feel for Clark is nothing compared to what she feels for him."

"We know that."

She looked at Chloe, shaking her head from side to side, and smiled, softly. "No. No, you really don't. After she slapped the living shit out of me for what I said, she, um, she literally laid her heart out on the line, not only to me, but to Clark as well. I love Clark, both of you know that, but I've never felt that much passion—that much love for him. She loves him more than life itself, and so does he. They belong together. I don't think I could ever give him the love he wants—the love he deserves, but Lois can."

They stared at her, dumbstruck by her words, and were at a loss for words themselves at that moment.

Pete was the first to speak. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Are you really going to move on from Clark?"

She sighed, heavily. "As much as I don't want to—as much as I want to be with Clark again, I know that it's only going to put a wedge between all of us. Not only Clark, but with the two of you, and I really don't want to lose your friendship over my obsession with Clark."

"Your serious, aren't you?"

"I am. I've been living in the past for way too long. Clark has already moved on, hell, he moved on the moment he met her. It's time that I moved on as well."

Pete grinned at her, slightly surprised at her new confidence. "I'm proud of you, Lana."

She smiled at him. "Um, are we okay? I mean, you guys don't hate me, right?"

Pete hugged her. "I don't hate you, Lana, but to be honest you were driving me absolutely crazy."

She chuckled, as she pulled away from him. "I know, and I'm sorry about that."

Chloe watched her friend, intently, looking for any signs of mistrust, but found none. She was being sincere. She really was going to try and accept Clark and Lois' relationship. She really was going to try to move on with her life. "Lana, you could never lose my friendship, but I have to warn you that my cousin comes before all of you, and I might not always agree with her, but I will always be on her side."

"I know that, Chloe." She stared at her for several seconds. "Um, Chloe, how long does your cousin hold grudges?"

She laughed. "You're joking, right?"

"I'm being serious. I feel really, really bad for what I said to her, and I want to make it up to her somehow."

Chloe sobered, immediately. "Don't do that."

Pete and Lana gave her puzzling looks.

"Look, I understand that you want to make amends to her for everything, but, it will only make matters worse. Lois is a very caring person, but she can also hold a grudge like no other. My advice for you is to just give her some space. Lots and lots of space. You will probably never be the best of friends, but one day she'll be able to understand where you were coming from."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but if I were you, I wouldn't try to force the reconciliation. She'll come around sooner or later."

She quickly hugged them both. "Thank you. Both of you. I really appreciate it."

"It wasn't a problem."

"As long as you keep your promise. Clark has moved on, and it's time you do the same."

She smiled, tightly. "I promise."

They watched her walk away, both feeling completely surprised by this change of heart from their friend, but had a feeling that it was the best thing for everyone involved.

"Well, that happened."

Chloe shook her head at him. "I want to believe her, I really do. I hope she keeps her word, and stays away from Clark and Lois' relationship. They're happy, and I don't want anything or anyone ruining that."

"It will be fine," he reassured her before frowning, immensely, "Speaking of Clark and Lois, where do you think they went?"

She grinned, mischievously. "I think I have a pretty good idea."

"Well, are you going to tell me?"

"Let me ask you this. If you were finally reunited with the love of your life, and found the chance to be alone, where would you go?"

He stared at her, completely confused, and like a blast of fireworks it dawned on him. "Oh."

She chuckled. "You know, you can be more inept than Clark sometimes."

"Hey! That's not fair! I am the one that ended up making sure this plan of yours worked to perfection."

"Yes. Yes, you did."

He wrapped his arm around her. "We make a pretty good team."

She copied his movements. "Well, teammate, how about we enjoy what's left of this party since our guests of honor have abandoned us."

They both laughed, good-heartedly, with their arms wrapped around each other, and started walking towards the many, many crowds, intending on making the most of what was left of this night. It was their idea after all.

* * *

 _ **This was a difficult chapter to write. I wanted a full-blown confrontation between Lois and Lana, but I also didn't want it to be too much at the same time. That scene was mainly intended for Lana to actually notice what everyone else knows to be the truth. It might have seemed like I was rushing her acceptance of the situation, but that' not exactly what's happening. It will take quite a long time before she completely moves on from Clark, but like I've mentioned a few times before, I have plans for her in the future.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-seven!**_


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Eight:**_

* * *

Clark super sped them from the alleyway behind the Talon, coming to a complete stop outside, a few yards away from the yellow farmhouse, and gently lowered Lois back to the ground.

As soon as she realized that her feet were back on level ground, she blinked a few times as she looked around her surrounds, feeling slightly dizzy from their impromptu trip, and slightly stumbled.

He quickly grabbed her waist in his hands, steadying her. "Are you okay?"

She smiled up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bit dizzy."

He slowly released her, and looked towards the ground, feeling a tad bit guilty for not thinking about how his speed could have affected her. "I'm sorry, Lois. I shouldn't have gone so fast…"

A part of her wanted to roll her eyes at him, but the other part of her knew that he was just concerned about her. "No. You didn't. It's just that I kind of forgot what it was like taking the Clark Kent Express."

He groaned, outwardly, and rolled his eyes to the sky, as the term she has used more than once to describe his superspeed brought back memories. That same exact word had been used several times, actually, it was uttered almost every single time, but the first time she said it was the most memorable, and it seemed she was still saying it.

Some things never change, he thought.

A chuckle escaped past her lips, at the annoyed expression plastered across his face. She knew exactly what he was thinking about. It was in the very beginning of their friendship, and the look on his face had only enthused her, which only made her want to continue to tease him about it every single time he took her on one of his famously known rides.

She slowly glanced around their surroundings, spinning a few times, as she took everything in, and even though it was dark she could still see the large yellow farmhouse, and red barn.

It was quaint.

It was lovely.

It was homey.

And, it was definitely not what she expected.

"So, this is where my farm boy grew up? You know, I remember when you used to talk about this place, and I've got to say, it's not what I exactly had in mind."

He quirked a brow, at her words, and smirked. "Really? And what were you expecting exactly?"

"Well, when you used to mention this place, I figured that there would be a little farmhouse, and an old barn, but, um, I wasn't expecting it to look like this or feel so…homey."

"Homey, huh? I would have thought that you would say something like…bland, boring, plain, but definitely not homey." He smirked, mischievously, "You wouldn't be getting soft on me, now, would you?"

She glared at him, playfully. "You wish, farm boy!"

He just chuckled at her, a teasing glint in his eyes, and it made her smile up at him. Quite honestly, it caught her off guard, and it was surprising that, that little action caused a flutter in her chest from the mere sight and sound of it.

It was something that she had never thought she would ever experience again, hell, she never even thought she would see him again, let alone, be standing arm's length away from him in the place where he had been raised—in the place where he had grown up—in the place where he had discovered himself—in the place where he had become the man she fell completely and irrevocably in love with.

It was exciting.

It was exhilarating.

But, it also filled her with an imminent sadness.

A sadness that had been so painful over the past year, and now, it seemed to be less painful, but it was still there, nonetheless.

They had been apart for so, so long, and she deeply regretted missing all that time with him. She quickly pushed that regret—that sadness deep down inside of her, wanting to relinquish things she has felt for a very long time, but also because she knew that, that was something she didn't have to think about anymore. They had all the time in the world to make up for that missed time.

Nothing else mattered. She loved him. He loved her. They were back together, after all of this time, and nothing was going to stop her from making more and more memories with the man she loved, entirely.

He watched, quite intently, as the smile slowly fell from her face, how her eyebrows knitted together in thought, and how a lingering sadness filled her hazel eyes. It pained him to see that expression on her beautiful face, whatever she was thinking about was upsetting her, and that upset him.

He didn't like it at all. Nope. Not one bit.

He took a small step towards her, closing the space between them. "Lo? Baby, are you alright?"

She rose her head, and smiled when she noticed the concern etched upon his handsome face, quickly realizing that she had blanked out for a few seconds. It was obvious that he could read every single emotion that spread across her face. "I'm fine, Clark."

"Lois, please. Please don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Shut me out."

Somethings never change, she thought, as he gave her that all too familiar concerned expression. He had many traits that she loved. That one in particular was her most favorite and also the most irritating one, but she loved him all the same.

She grabbed his hand, and squeezed it, reassuringly, with her own. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about something…"

He tilted his head to one side, slightly, and studied her, intently, for a few seconds. "What were you thinking about?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. I can tell that whatever you were thinking about is bothering you, and you know how much I hate to see you upset, so whatever it is you can tell me. You can tell me anything, you know that."

It was useless to hide anything from this man, she thought, with a small smile. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell him what was going through her mind, but she also didn't want to ruin their reunion by bringing up something that was in the past—something that couldn't be changed. It didn't matter anymore. But, she knew that he wouldn't drop this until he knew, especially with the way he was staring at her with such sincerity—such worry, and concern.

"I was just thinking about all that time we lost together…"

He sighed, and flipped their hands so, his were now enveloping hers. "I thought you might be."

"Do you think about what might have been if we had never been separated?"

A small smile turned up at the corners of his lips. "Yeah. I think about it all the time. I would picture us leaving Washington that very next day to come here—to come home. You would meet my parents—my friends, and we would be very, very happy together."

She smiled back at him. "I used to dream up crazy scenarios about things we could have done together. Things like…going on dates, racing whether it be on foot or on horseback, early-morning or late-night swims in either the ocean or lake, and midnight strolls. You know, things we used to do together."

The smile fell from her face, and she became serious. "Do you think things will be the same as they were before?"

He shook his head, softly. "No, but not for the reasons you're thinking of." He continued, after she gave him a quizzical look. "Lois, when we first met we were both running from something. I was running from my past. You were running from your father. That day on the bridge wasn't a coincidence. I believe we were always meant to cross paths because we needed each other—because we were meant for way more than just being friends. We were connected from the very start, hell, we still are, and we fell madly in love with each other, whether that's what we intended on doing or not, but all of that's in the past.

That was just the beginning, baby, it was the beginning of our relationship—of our love, and now, well, now we get to be with each other without worries. We don't have to worry about the pain of our pasts. We don't have worry about the prospect of being torn away from each other. But, most importantly, we get to make more and more memories with each other.

So, yes, Lois things will never be the same, but it will be so, so much better because the new memories we create are going to mean so much more than what we've already experienced."

She looked up at him, with tears in her eyes, taken aback by his proclamation of love. "You promise?"

"I promise, baby. I know a lot of time has passed between us, but that doesn't matter—it doesn't matter because I will love you until the day I take my last breath."

She grinned from ear to ear, exclaiming, "Oh Clark!" Before she wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him, tightly. "I love you, Clark! I will love you forever and for always!"

He quickly responded to her, clinging her to his chest, and softly closed his eyes, as he breathed in her scent. After several minutes, she slowly pulled away from him, quite reluctantly, not wanting to let go of him just yet. "Well, now, I think it's time you took me on that all too famous Clark Kent tour of the galaxy, don't you think?"

He chuckled, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and slowly led her into the house.

Twenty minutes later, Lois sighed, quite audibly, as they walked hand in hand towards the barn, and she couldn't help wondering what the hell was so important inside of a damn barn.

He had given her a full-blown tour of the house, where he had been raised, and even shared some stories about what his childhood was like growing up here.

That was understandable.

But, the thing that was incomprehensible was what was so damn special about a god damn old, red barn.

"Clark, is there a specific reason you're taking me inside a barn?"

"I've pretty much showed you everything, including the storm cellar, but there's one place I haven't showed you yet, and it's a really, really special place to me."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't see what's so special about a barn, but whatever you say, farm boy."

He shook his head at her, but didn't comment further, and lead her towards his loft. Once they got to the top of the stairs, she stopped in her tracks, and glanced around at everything surrounding them. From the red couch, to the wooden desk, to the large two-pane window.

It was incredible.

It was like she had just walked into a different dimension, well different from what his bedroom looked like.

It was nothing like she had ever seen before, it sure as hell beat her and Chloe's treehouse they had, had when they were kids.

"What is this place?"

He stretched out his arms in front of them. "This is my loft, but, um, I like to call it my Fortress of Solitude."

She quirked a brow at him. "Why do you call it that?"

"I don't really know, but it kind of fits me, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was a kid I used to come up here all of the time just to think, especially when I kept gaining new abilities or when I was dealing with something I couldn't quite understand. When I found out the truth about myself, this place became more like a second home to me, I guess. It was the only place where I could be alone with my thoughts—where I could feel normal, at least for a little while."

She listened, intently, as she walked around the spacious loft, her fingers running over every piece of furniture, and her eyes taking in everything around her. It made complete sense why he would enjoy spending so much time up here, especially since for most, if not all, of his life he had felt alone—he had felt like no one really understood him.

"I understand why you would choose to spend most of your time up here. You probably felt like this was the only place you could be yourself, even if you had your parents and friends, here you were free to just be you."

That obviously hadn't changed either, he thought, as he remembered how she understood him—accepted him more than anyone else ever has before, that was one of the million reasons he fell in love with her.

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Clark? I thought you only made one copy…"

He frowned, as he walked towards, but his confusion dissipated once he reached her, and realized that she was holding the framed photograph of them at the beach in Washington. "Oh, um, a few days after I returned home I printed out another copy. I wanted something I could hold—something I could look at, instead of just my memories. I come up here every night, and look at that photo, not only to remember everything we shared together, but also so I could see your face every night."

She smiled up at him. "I kept mine underneath my pillow every night, and before I would go to sleep or at least try to go to sleep I would look at this picture."

He smiled, widely. "It made me feel closer to you somehow, actually, I was looking at this before I decided to come to the party tonight."

She looked up at him, intrigued. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Your parents mentioned that you pretty much decorated the entire Talon for me, but decided not to show, and I can take a pretty big guess why, but what made you decide to come?"

He knew exactly who she was referring to, and he wasn't going near that with a ten-foot pole. It would be a very long time before those two could even be in the same room together, but he understood, and he didn't blame Lois for how she felt. Lana kind of deserved it.

"You did."

"Clark, what are you talking about? You didn't even know I was going to be there, let alone, that I was even in town."

"I didn't, but Pete did. I really, really wanted to meet Chloe's cousin, which surprisingly enough was you, and when he tried to convince me to come for you and Chloe I asked him to tell me about you. His description reminded me so much of you so, I couldn't refuse, besides it was definitely better than staying at home. Who knows where we'd be if I didn't come tonight."

"We'd still be here. It's like you said about the bridge. We were meant to meet that day, and we were meant to reunite tonight, besides I doubt Chloe or Pete would have let anything stop them from achieving what they had so thoughtfully planned out." She shook her head from side to side. "I still can't believe neither of us figured it out."

He frowned. "How would we?"

"Well, when I first got to town I saw the cheerful welcoming sign, and at first I thought it was outrageous, but then I thought about you. A part of me wanted to believe that you were actually here, in this small town, but I ignored it because it wasn't the first time something like that happened. When I was talking to your parents, they mentioned how their son ran away, like I did, and it didn't even cross my mind that it could possibly be you, even though I knew that you had done just that."

"It wouldn't have mattered how many clues we got, neither of us would have figured it out because we strongly believed that we would never see each other again."

"How glad I am that we were wrong about that."

"Me too."

They smiled, widely, at each other, both thinking about how things have drastically changed for them. They weren't in pain anymore—they weren't sad anymore—they didn't need to miss each other anymore, and neither of them could wait to see what was next for them.

She placed the picture back on the desk, gently, slowly walked towards the window, and rested her hands on the wood, glancing out across the darkened fields. "I'm going to take a wild guess, and say that you spend most of your time looking out this very window."

He slowly walked towards her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her into his chest. "I used to."

She turned in his arms, frowning, "You don't anymore?"

"Do you remember when I told you that I used to look up into the night sky to stargaze?" At her nod, he continued. "Well, after I came back home I looked up into the night sky, and it only reminded me of what I had and what I had lost."

She felt a growing lump squeeze her throat, and swallowed down the tears that were threatening to fall. "You were reminded of all the times we used to do that, and how we could never have that again."

He nodded, a lone tear falling down his cheek, which she quickly wiped away. "Clark, baby. We don't have to worry about that anymore. We don't have to be sad anymore. We don't have to miss the things we used to do together anymore. We don't because everything's changed. We found each other again. We're back together again. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

He leaned his forehead against hers, softly. "Promise?"

She smiled. "I promise, Clark. We will never be separated again."

"God, Lois, I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, baby."

As he stared into her hazel eyes, feeling emotion after emotion consume every fiber of his being he felt alive again—he felt complete again—he didn't feel alone anymore—he felt like he was home again.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Instead of responding to her, he slid his hand behind her head, twisting his fingers into her soft blonde hair, and swiftly crashed his lips against hers, passionately. She quickly responded to his demanding and overpowering kiss, feeling his love in just that one kiss, trailed her hands up his broad shoulders before intertwining her fingers behind his head, and pressed her body against his.

He slightly tilted his head to one side, deepening their kiss, and pressed his lips a little firmer against her own, wanting—needing to just feel her. One of his hands, slowly trailed down the side of her body, finding her waist, and squeezed, gently, before slipping it underneath her shirt, his fingers caressing the soft skin of her stomach.

She moaned, softly, against his lips, pressing her body even harder against his own, and he quickly took advantage of her pleasure, slipping his tongue past her parted lips. He slowly, delicately ran the tip of his tongue across every crevasse inside her mouth, tasting her—the taste he knew so well—the taste he remembered so well before finding her own, and swirled, twirled, and danced the all too familiar battle.

She felt that tingling sensation, the same one she would get every single time he kissed her, burn deep inside of her abdomen from his ministrations, and slowly traced her fingertips across the back of his neck, down his shoulders and back before resting them on his stomach. She grabbed the hem of his shirt in her hands, and slowly lifted it off his body, revealing his strong, taut muscles.

He pulled away from her, momentarily, to help her remove his shirt, and stared down at her intensely before attempting to kiss her—taste her—feel her again, but before he could she placed her hands on his chest, pushing him away, slightly. He frowned, but that confusion turned into a large smile after she quickly spun them around, pushed him against the wall, and ran her fingertips across his abs and chest, making him moan, softly, before crashing her lips back against his.

He felt like his skin was burning with a fiery flame, as her fingertips touched every crevasse of his chest, abs, sides and back. It was intoxicating as all hell. It was a sensation he had only experienced when she was kissing him—when she was touching him—when she was just with him, and he wanted more—more of her. He slipped his hands down her perfectly curved body, quickly gripping the hem of her shirt in his hands, and pulled away from her slightly, so he could take off her shirt, revealing the fair-skin of her upper body. His desire filled eyes roamed up and down her half-naked body, the mere sight of it spurring a jolt of heat deep inside his abdomen down to his nether regions. He looked back up into her eyes, and smiled, at the blush that spread across her cheeks before quickly yanking her back to him, his lips molding with hers.

She had seen the expression plastered on his face, as he literally devoured her with his eyes, it was filled with desire—with lust, and it was the exact same desire—lust she was feeling. It only made her hotter, and more aroused than she already was. She wanted him, and she wanted him now. She slowly, gingerly scraped her nails down his hardened chest, stopping her ministrations, which she knew was driving him absolutely crazy, below his waistband, and grabbed his already hardened member through his jeans, and squeezed softly.

He gasped, loudly, and pulled away from her, slightly, as pleasure consumed his entire body…completely. "Jesus, Lois!"

She smirked, and squeezed him a few more times before pulling away from him, and took a few small steps back. As soon as her hand left his arousal—as soon as he couldn't feel her heat pressed up against his body anymore, he opened his eyes, frowning, not liking that she wasn't next to him—that she wasn't pressed up against him—that she wasn't touching him. He took a few steps towards her, wanting to close the space between them, but her hands pushing him back against the wall stopped him from taking another step towards her.

"Be patient," she uttered, flirtatiously before her fingers slowly unbuttoned her jeans. She could feel his eyes practically eating her alive, as she pushed them past her hips, and down her legs before tossing them across the room with her foot.

He felt like he would come undone right then and there, just from the mere sight of her almost, completely naked body, and from the way her eyes were challenging him—daring him to do something. He took a small step towards her, but was once again stopped by her hands raising in the empty air between their bodies. He looked up into her eyes, confused, and that's when he saw the teasing glint lingering in her hazel eyes. She was teasing him—she was egging him on, and as much as he loved that particular trait of hers, it's not what he wanted at this very moment. He wanted her, and he wanted her right now.

"You're playing with fire, Lane."

She grinned from ear to ear, knowing exactly what her little game was doing to him, and had to admit that she enjoyed riling him up to the point of no return…immensely. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing that I enjoy the flames."

He growled, low in his throat. "Lois…"

She smirked, loving what she was doing to him. "If you want it then you're going to have to strip, farm boy."

He narrowed his eyes at her. If she wanted to play like that then two could play at that game, he thought before slowly loosening his belt buckle, pulled it through the loops of his jeans, and dropped it to the floor, next to him. He looked up into her eyes, and grinned, internally when he noticed how she seemed to be regretting what she had put him through only a few minutes ago, especially since he was now returning the favor.

Payback's a bitch, he thought, mischievously before slowly unbuttoning his jeans, pushing them down his legs, along with his boxers, and tossed them across the room, right next to all their other clothing. He fully intended to keep teasing her, just like she had him, but as soon as his eyes met hers, all playfulness vanished, and it was filled with one simple thing…desire.

They stared at each other, unblinking for a few seconds before rushing towards each other, their lips meeting in a passionate, lust filled kiss, and their bodies molded together perfectly.

She pushed him back against the wall, her body following his, wanting absolutely no space between them, and combed her fingers through his soft, dark locks, her fingernails scraping across his scalp. He moaned against her lips, the sensation of her nails on his scalp—a sensation he remembered very well turned him on even more than he already was, and slowly trailed his hands up and down her smooth back, enjoying the way her soft skin felt underneath his fingertips. She felt like her entire body was on fire—like it was ablaze with flames—like it was burning from just his touch, and she couldn't stop her hips from undulating against his own.

He growled, from the sensations her movements were spurring deep inside of his body, and slowly traced his fingertips down her body, cupping her ass in his large hands before pushing her moist mound against his hardened erection. Her moans of pleasure mixed with the heat pooling deep inside of his lower abdomen only made him hotter—more aroused, and he pushed her hips into his over and over again, loving what the sensation was doing to him.

She couldn't take this anymore. The things he was doing to her—the sensations he was spreading throughout her entire body—the noises he was making almost broke her completely, and she wasn't sure how much of this she could take before coming undone. She hitched one of her legs around his waist, as best she could in their current position, the movement causing his rock-hard erection to brush against her clit, and she moaned, loudly at the sensation, pressing her wet heat harder and harder against him.

"Lois…"

He knew what she wanted. It was obvious in the way she was moving against him—in the way she was tangling her tongue with his, just like their lower bodies—in the way she breathed soft moans into his mouth. He grabbed her other leg, wrapping it around his waist before spinning them around, and pressed her against the wall, his body fitting against hers, magnificently. She tightened her legs around his waist, her hands clinging to his shoulders, as he pushed his hips into hers, hitting the right spot every single time.

At her gasps of complete and utter pleasure, he removed his lips from hers, giving her some much needed air, and peppered soft, light kisses across her jawline, down the side of her neck before finding her pulse point, sucking the soft flesh there. She tossed her head to one side, giving him the room, he wanted to devour her skin, and scraped her nails down his back, loving the feel of his muscles flexing from just her touch.

He pulled her away from the wall, slightly, his fingers expertly finding the clasp to her black satin bra, and practically ripped it off her body before slamming her back against the wall. She closed her eyes, in utter bliss, her breathing becoming shallow and heavier, as he pressed soft, delicate kisses across her collarbone to the tops of her breasts. He kept one of his arms securely wrapped around her waist, his fingers digging into her skin, while his other hand traveled up her body, finding one of her sumptuous breasts. His fingers pinched, flipped, rolled, and squeezed her nipple into a hardened bud, as his mouth descended down to her other breast, kissing everywhere except where she wanted him to, before he wrapped his lips around her nipple, and sucked, softly.

He was driving her absolutely crazy!

Her senses were on overload—they were lit aflame, at every single thing his hands and mouth were doing to her body, and she wanted more—she wanted so, so much more. She pushed her hips into his, letting him know exactly what she wanted from him—where she wanted him, and he quickly responded to her request.

He kissed his way back up her chest, finding her lips once more, and cupped her ass into his hands before moving his hips in a circular motion, pushing his erection against her mound, slowly at first, but then started moving faster and faster, feeling her wetness leaking through her black, satin panties.

She moaned, slightly begging, "Clark…Please…"

He grinned against her lips before pulling her away from the wall, and carried her to the couch, laying her down flat on her back, as he hovered above her.

He stared down at her for a few seconds, and breathed out, "You're so beautiful, Lo," before pressing his lips against hers in a feathery kiss once, twice, three times, loving how her body responded to every single one of his touches—his caresses.

He pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses down her neck, across her chest and stomach before stopping his ministrations on her body directly above where he knew she wanted him the most, and softly, gently kissed her though her panties. He grinned against her, at her soft moans of pleasure, and kissed his way up to the hem of her panties, gripped the fabric with his teeth, and slowly pulled it down her long, soft, slender legs. He kissed every inch of her flesh, as he worked his way back up her body, and spread her legs apart, breathing in her arousal before swiping his tongue in between her folds, the sweet, succulent taste of her consuming every single one of his senses.

She closed her eyes, her breathing becoming heavier and heavier, and moaned his name over and over again, as he latched his lips around her clit, sucking softly before pushing one of his fingers deep inside of her. She spread her legs wider, as wide as she could, and pushed her mound into his face, enjoying every single thing he was doing to her.

He swirled, twirled, and flicked his tongue across her enlarged clit, as he slipped one more finger then another deep inside of her wet heat, and began pounding them in and out of her, using a tad bit of his superspeed. She clenched his hair into her fists, pressing his face harder and harder against her, and felt that all too familiar shockwave hit her like a tidal wave, as her orgasm rushed throughout her entire body. She screamed out, "Clark!"

He quickly removed his fingers from her, replacing them with his tongue, pushing it deeper and deeper inside of her, hitting her g-spot every single time he dove back in, and sucked up all her juices, as he rode out her orgasm. He slowly moved up her body, licking his lips, and hovered above her, his very hardened—very aroused cock brushing against her entrance, making them both moan.

She reached between their bodies, grabbing his cock in her hand, and rubbed him up and down a few times, as she stared deeply into his desire-filled aquamarine eyes. He stared down at her, his senses becoming more alive than they already were from the way she was looking at him, and gently dipped his tip into her entrance.

He whispered, "I love you, Lois."

She whispered back, "I love you too, Clark."

He slowly pushed inside of her, burying himself to the hilt, but stopped moving once she had enveloped every inch of him, wanting her to get used to his size.

She gasped, loudly, as he stretched and stretched her, his tip gently nudging her g-spot, and clung to his shoulders, as waves of pleasure coursed through her. It felt like heaven. It had been so, so long since she had experienced this—since she had been with the one man that made all of her senses come alive, and now that it was happening, she felt like she was in heaven. After a few seconds of getting accustomed to his size again, she pushed her hips into his, letting him know what she wanted—letting him know that she was ready for him.

He smiled down at her, and pressed his lips against hers, as he slowly began to move in and out of her, creating a steady rhythm. He slipped in and out her softly, smoothly, delicately, as her juices surrounded his hardening cock, just like he remembered, and softly closed his eyes, in utter pleasure, at the familiar sensations—at the sensations he never thought he would feel again—at the sensations he desperately wanted—needed, and now, now he felt more alive—more complete than he did when the woman he loved with all of his heart came back into his life. He clenched the couch cousins into his hands, curling them into fists, his breaths becoming heavier and heavier, as he dove his cock in and out of her faster and faster.

The feeling of how she fit him like a glove—the feeling of her walls clenching around him spurred him to move faster and faster, harder and harder within her. He ripped his mouth away from hers, his head falling to her shoulder, and his lips pressing kisses across her collarbone, as he rasped out, "Oh…Lois…Oh…God…Baby!"

She wrapped her legs higher around his waist, pulling him closer—pulling him deeper within her, and met him thrust for thrust, as their lower bodies slapped together, relentlessly. She slowly trailed her fingers down his broad, muscular back before cupping his ass in her hands, and pushed him harder against her, and she pushed up against him.

She groaned, at the blissful pleasure consuming her, "Yes…Clark…Yes…More…Baby!"

The sound of her words—The movement of her hips—The touch of her hands on his body lit a flame deep inside of him, and he quickly started moving faster and faster, harder and harder within her tight cavern, the movements of his thrusts spurring on his incoming orgasm, but he pushed it down, wanting her to come with him to paradise. He gripped her legs in his hands, raising them even higher around his waist, adjusted his hips to the perfect angle, and slammed in and out of her, his pelvic bone brushing against her clit with every thrust, as his tip pressed against her g-spot every time he dove deeper and deeper inside of her.

It didn't take long before her eyes snapped open, her back arched, and that fiery explosion spread throughout her entire body. She screamed out, "Oh god! Clark!"

He thrusted in and out of her a few more times, hard and fast, as he felt her pelvic muscles spasming around him—milking him, and seconds later his orgasm hit him like a tidal wave, his seed spurting deeply inside of her. He screamed out, "Oh fuck! Lois!"

As he rode out both of their mind-blowing, and ecstatic orgasms he slowly moved in and out her, each thrust slower than the last. He slowly pulled out of her, and collapsed beside her, careful not to squash her or accidentally push her off the small confines of the couch.

They both stared up at the wood ceiling, breathing heavily, their hearts racing, with huge smiles plastered on their faces, as they relished in the feelings—emotions—sensations consuming every fiber of their being.

* * *

Back at the Talon, which was filled with people still celebrating, drinking, eating and having a good time—people who had no idea that their guest of honor was nowhere sight, consequently not even two people who had taken an immediate liking to their son' girlfriend knew of her whereabouts, hell, they didn't even notice their sons' sudden disappearance.

Jonathon and Martha smiled at Gabe Sullivan, as he walked away from them, intending on finding his daughter and niece since he hasn't spoken to either of them the entire night.

He turned towards his wife, a small smile on his face. "Are you tired, honey? Do you want to go home?"

She nodded, smiling at him. "Yes, dear, but we should find Clark and Lois before we leave. I want to invite Lois to breakfast tomorrow."

"Martha…" He said, warningly.

"What?"

"Sweetheart, don't you think you should leave the poor girl alone? I've already antagonized her enough for one night, besides she just got to town, and she probably doesn't want to be questioned about her life all morning."

"Who says I was going to talk to her about her life?" She grinned, mischievously. "I just want to get to know the woman who stole my son' heart, and hear about the things he refuses to talk to me about, besides I doubt I'll have to pressure her to come over anyways."

He frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Clark will be there, and we both know that both of them are going to want to spend as much time together as they can."

He shook his head from side to side, chuckling at her. "Okay. Fine, but before you get all excited about it let's go find the two lovebirds'."

Ten minutes later, they stood in the middle of the Talon searching through the many, many crowds, coming up empty handed, and soon realized that their son and Lois were nowhere to be found.

She looked over at her husband, slightly worried. "Where do you think they are?"

He frowned, also feeling a little bit worried, but another part of him screamed at him that wherever they were, and whatever they were doing, it wasn't anything innocent, but he ignored the feeling. He spotted Chloe and Pete talking to some of their friends. "Chloe! Pete!"

They smiled at them, talked to their friends for a few more seconds, and made their way over to the Kent's. "Hi, Mrs. K, Mr. K, are you guys enjoying the party?" Chloe greeted, happily, but then she saw the worried expressions plastered across their faces. "What's wrong?"

"We can't find Clark and Lois anywhere…"

She spoke before thinking. "I don't think you're going to find them here."

Pete quickly nudged her in the side with his elbow, and glared down at her. They knew exactly where Clark and Lois were, and exactly what they were doing, but that didn't mean they had to rat them out to Clark' parents, nonetheless.

Chloe rubbed her ribs, which were twinging in pain, and was about to say something, but Pete' glare stopped her. She looked back towards the Kent's, realizing what she had said, and who she had said it to. UH-OH. This wasn't going to be good, she thought.

Jonathon noticed the secret glances passed between the two, and narrowed his eyes at them. "Do you two know something we don't?"

They both looked anywhere but at them, their faces becoming flushed, and their hearts racing in their chests before speaking, simultaneously, "Um, no…"

Martha gave them the look—the same one they were all too familiar with—the same one, which they caved under every single time. "Chloe Sullivan, Pete Ross. You better spill right this instant. Where are Clark and Lois?"

Neither of them looked at her, hoping against all hope that, that would help the situation, but it only made things so much worse, especially with how they could practically feel her burning holes into their skulls. It was so, so hard lying to them, especially Martha, but there was no way in hell that they were telling them the truth.

Jonathon watched them, very intently. He noticed how they avoided eye contact, how they moved around uncomfortably, and how their cheeks were a bright, bright red. It hit him, almost instantaneously, and that feeling he felt earlier—the feeling he ignored came back up to the surface. It made perfect sense, he thought. "I know where they are, come on, Martha."

She looked up at him, surprised. "Where?"

He looked straight into her eyes. "The farm."

She frowned for about two seconds before her eyes widened, at the implication of his words, and in that moment, she knew exactly what those two were up to. He quickly grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the Talon, intending to get back to the farm as soon as possible.

Jonathon was angry, disappointed, but most of all, he was livid because he knew exactly what they were doing, and he was going to be having a very serious talk with both of them as soon as he saw them. Martha, on the other hand, smiled secretly to herself, of course, what they were doing wasn't alright, especially since it was breaking the house rules—rules that Clark was well aware of, but she couldn't help being happy for her son, and the woman she already considered to be the daughter she never had.

Chloe and Pete watched them leave the Talon, feeling a little bit better since they weren't under the scrutinizing stare of Martha Kent and the disappointed glare of Jonathon Kent, but they also knew exactly what was going to happen to Clark and Lois as soon as his parents got there.

"Should we warn them?"

He shook his head. "No. That's only going to complicate things, especially since neither Clark or Lois know that we know where they are and what they're doing."

She sighed. "This isn't going to be good."

"Nope."

An idea popped into her mind, and she grinned, mischievously, as she gathered up her things. "Well, um, I should get going home, you know, for support."

Did she think he was blind? He had seen the smile on her face, and the glint in her eyes. He knew exactly what she really meant by that. "You mean question her nonstop until she gives you the answers you want."

"Same difference."

"You're going to milk this for all it's worth, aren't you?"

"Yes, of course. What else are cousins for?"

He shook his head at her, and before she could get out the front doors, he yelled out, "I want all the details, Sullivan!"

"As soon as I do, Ross!"

And with that, she disappeared into the crowds, leaving behind a chuckling Pete. He knew his best friend and new friend were about to get their asses handed to them, and he couldn't wait to hear all the juicy details.

* * *

Clark and Lois were cuddled up together, a thick, red blanket covering their bodies, as she laid on top of his chest, her fingers tracing invisible designs on his chest, and he trailed his fingertips up and down her bare back.

He buried his face into the side of her neck, breathing in her sweet, sweet scent before nuzzling her, and placed open-mouth kisses across her pulse point and collarbone, softly sucking the skin there.

She giggled. "Stop it. That tickles."

That only egged him on more. He continued kissing, licking, biting, and sucking on her neck. She pulled away from him, straddling his lap. "Clark Kent, I swear to god if you gave me a hickey, I will not hesitate to kick your ass!"

He snickered, silently, as he glanced at her neck, and noticed a few of them, but he definitely wasn't going to tell her that.

Seeming satisfied with her threat, she laid back down on him, loving how his arms instinctively wrapped around her body, resting on her lower back, and she continued tracing her fingers across his chest. A frown overtook her features, as she touched his bare skin.

Something was different.

She could sense it—feel it.

And that's when it hit her.

She quickly shot up back into a sitting position, startling him, slightly, and stared down at his chest. "Your scar! It's gone!"

He chuckled, loudly. "Are you seriously just now realizing that?"

She glared at him before smirking. "Well, you know, I was preoccupied…"

He grinned from ear to ear, wiggling his eyebrows, suggestively, and slowly began to sit up. "Oh yeah? I think I like the sound of that."

She quickly pushed him back down to the couch, not letting him start what she knew he was about to start. "Nu-huh, mister. Not until I get some answers. Where did it go? How did you get rid of it? Did it hurt?"

He sighed, heavily, and looked down at his now bare chest then back up to her. "Um, well, after you and Wes left I was about to get on my motorcycle to head back home when all of a sudden, my chest started burning, painfully, and it just disappeared."

She quirked a brow. "Just like that?"

"No. Not just like that." He sighed before continuing. "Afterwards, I heard my biological father' voice in my head telling me that it was time."

She thought about that for a few seconds before something occurred to her, and she softly voiced her opinions. "So, you're telling me that as soon as you decided to go home that, that was the key to getting rid of the scar—to healing from what he did to you?"

"Yeah," he said, but then realized what she was subtly hinting at, and quickly corrected himself. "No, Lois. I know what you're thinking, and it's not that. I promise. Please believe me when I tell you that this wasn't your fault."

"Of course, it is, Clark! Don't you see? You said that the key to getting rid of the scar was deciding to go home. If I hadn't been holding you back then maybe, just maybe you wouldn't have had to deal with the pain of that scar, and you could have been back with your family and friends sooner."

"You don't understand."

"I think I understand perfectly, Clark."

She tried climbing off his lap, but he quickly sat up, pulling her back down to him, and wrapped his arms around her body, securely. "No. No, Lois, you don't understand. It wasn't your fault, and I can prove it to you, but I need you to listen to me, okay?"

She nodded.

"As you know, I was in a hell of a lot of pain after I ran away from home, and you know exactly why, but when I met you everything changed. I was still in pain over everything, but it was less—it was less because I had you—because I fell in love with you. This scar disappearing had nothing to do with me deciding to come home. It had everything to do with you."

She frowned, "Clark, what are you talking about? That's not e—"

He pressed his finger against her lips. "Shh. Let me finish." He slowly removed his finger, making sure she wasn't going to say anything before he continued. "If I would have decided to go home after Colorado, I still would have had the scar because I wasn't ready—because I wasn't healed yet. In Montana, you started to heal my broken heart and mind, but it wasn't until we were in Washington that you healed me completely."

"What are you saying, Clark?"

He smiled at her. "I'm saying that you healed me in those three months we spent together, hell, I didn't even know what was happening until it was too late. Your love—your forgiveness—your caring nature—everything good about you healed everything broken about me, and that's what made us work perfectly. I needed you. I needed your love. I just needed you. Just like you needed me.

You, Lois Joanne Lane, are the only reason that scar disappeared. If I would have never met you, I would still have that scar because there is no one in this entire universe that knows me—that understands me—that accepts me—that loves me like you do, and there never will be anyone else who can affect me like you do. Our time together not only healed me, and made me a better person, but it brought me closer to you—the woman I love with all of my heart…my soulmate."

She stared at him, completely awestruck by his heartwarming words, and a tear fell down her cheek. "S-s-soulmate? You think I'm your soulmate?"

He wiped away her tear with the pad of his thumb, and softly caressed her cheek. "I don't think. I know. You are my everything, Lois. You're the only thing that matters to me. I love you, and I always will."

She didn't know what to say to that so, she did the only thing she could think of…she kissed him—she kissed him with all of the love she felt for him, and melted against his chest, as his strong arms wrapped around her body.

Somehow, several minutes later, she ended up lying flat on her back, as he hovered above her, his mouth devouring hers, and her skin felt like it was on fire as his hands touched every single part of her. He slowly kissed his way across her jawline, down her neck, and very gently nipped at her pulse point.

"Clark…"

He smiled against her skin before moving his focus towards her chest, but before he could get where he wanted to go he stopped, and opened his eyes when he felt something cold touch his lips. He pulled away from her, slightly, looking down at the offending item that had interrupted his attention, and felt his heart stop beating for a split second before it started beating, rapidly inside his chest at what he saw.

The necklace.

The one he had bought her.

The one he had engraved a message on.

The one he had given to her the night they said goodbye.

Her eyes fluttered open, when she couldn't feel his lips on her skin anymore, and frowned, immensely, at the expression that was plastered across his face. "Clark? What's wrong?"

He never took his eyes off the necklace, as he picked it up with slightly trembling fingers, and read the inscription he had written for her. "Y-you-you still have this?"

She looked down at the necklace, noticing his sudden sadness, and smirked at him, trying to lighten the mood. "You're just now noticing this?"

He smiled, briefly, knowing what she was trying to do, but it quickly faded. "I'm serious, Lois."

She sighed before gripping his face in her hands, and forced him to look at her. "Yes, Clark, I still have this. I never take it off."

"You don't?"

She shook her head, tears in her eyes. "I would hold this every single night, and reread the engraving over and over again just so, I could have a reminder of you. Somehow, it made me feel closer to you, like you were still with me. I always felt your love for me when I held this. It's the only thing that kept me going."

He smiled, weakly, tears in his eyes, as he remembered the words he told her minutes before they said their last goodbyes to each other. "You kept your promise."

"Of course, I did."

He stared into her beautiful hazel pools. "I love you so much, Lo."

"I love you too, baby."

He slowly leaned forward, intending on picking up where they had left off, but stopped when his lips were a breath's away from hers, and slightly tilted his head to one side. "Oh shit!"

"What?"

He quickly crawled off her, stumbling a bit when his foot got caught on the table, and gathered up their clothes faster than humanly possible. "My parents' are home, and if they catch us like this…let's just say that my father won't hesitate to kill us."

"What!?" She said, a little more loudly, and quickly sat up, covering her body with the blanket.

He ignored her, quickly super speeding both of them into their clothes, and cleaned up the mess they had made of the barn before sitting down on the couch.

She blinked a few times, feeling slightly dizzy, looking around her surroundings with a frown since she had been sitting down less than a second ago, and now she was standing, with her clothes on no less. She looked over at him, realizing what he had done, and smiled. "Whoa…That is so cool!"

He grinned, at her reaction before pulling her down to the couch next to him, and clasped her hands in his, trying his best to make it look like they haven't been doing anything…nefarious. He hoped his parents, especially his father believed them.

She smiled, at his apparent nervousness. It was obvious that they didn't know the full extent of their relationship, which she was thankful for, but she had a feeling that if they did know they definitely wouldn't allow them to do what they had been doing in their house or barn or whatever. She frowned, as a thought occurred to her. "Wait! How did you even know that they were here? I don't even hear a car coming…"

"I heard them. They're driving up the driveway, as we speak."

She raised her brows at that. "You heard them? How the hell did you do that?"

He looked over at her, frowning, but then realized that he hadn't exactly told her about that yet, and smiled, sheepishly. "Oh, um, I kind of forgot to tell you, but, um, I've gained a new ability. I can hear things extremely well now…"

"Super hearing," she whispered before glaring daggers at him. "Super hearing! You have freaking super hearing, and you didn't think that would be something that you should tell your girlfriend!"

Everything she had said vanished, all expect one word registered in his mind, and he grinned from ear to ear, "Girlfriend…I've missed hearing that. Say it again."

"Clark! I'm being serious!"

"I know, and so am I. Please. Please baby, say it again."

She couldn't help but laugh, at his excitement over a damn pet name, but relented, unable to refuse him. "I'm your girlfriend, Clark Kent."

He felt his heart flutter inside his chest, at her words, and moved closer to her. "And, I'm your boyfriend, Lois Lane."

She groaned, outwardly, at the look in his eyes. It was like he was seconds away from super speeding them far, far away so, they could be…alone. If the way he was looking at her said anything, and as much as she tried to fight the desire she felt pooling in her abdomen, she couldn't resist flirting with him. "That's so hot."

He moved even closer to her, their legs touching, and his lips only mere inches away from hers. "Your hot."

She about broke her resolve, but quickly shook her head, clearing away her hazy thoughts, and pushed him away from her. "Stop that! Your distracting me! I want to know about this new ability!"

He sighed. "Fine, but it'll have to wait because in about five seconds were going to be reprimanded by my parents'."

Not even two seconds after those very words slipped out of his mouth, they heard Martha and Jonathon arguing, as they walked into the barn, and up the loft stairs.

"Jonathon, I think you need to calm down."

"Calm down! Martha, I can't calm down! Our son took advantage of the house being empty for a few hours! He knows the rules. We've had this conversation with him before, and it doesn't matter if Lois knows them or not. I will not tolerate this nonsense."

"Honey, you never know…maybe they spent the past two hours just talking."

"Well, were about to found out."

They stopped at the top of the stairs, where they found Clark and Lois sitting on the couch, holding hands, trying to contain their laughter. It was obvious that they had heard them talking on their way up here.

Jonathon crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you two think this is funny?"

"Jonathon…" Martha said, warningly, but he ignored her, and waited, patiently for them to acknowledge their presence.

Clark turned towards them, the remnants of his laughter still present on his face, and decided to play dumb. "Do we think what is funny?"

Lois slapped his chest, glaring at him, and he quickly sobered, which made Martha smile. It seemed that she already had him trained, she thought.

Jonathon seemed livider than he was before they had left the Talon, and Martha quickly stepped forward, wanting to squelch this fire before it even began. "Clark, Lois, we were looking for you at the party…Is there a specific reason why you felt the need to leave, especially without telling anyone where you were going?"

Clark glanced at Lois before turning back to his parents. "Look, we haven't seen each other in over one year, and we wanted to be alone, away from everything and everyone. Is that so wrong?"

Martha smiled, knowingly at them. "No, sweetie, it's not, but you could have told someone that way we wouldn't have worried about you."

He felt guilt grip him, but quickly pushed it down. He would not regret wanting to spend some alone time with Lois. "I'm sorry that we worried you guys, but um, I won't regret wanting to get Lois out of there, especially after what happened…" He trailed off, taking a quick glance at Lois from the corner of his eyes, who was scowling, at the mention of her.

Jonathon's anger died somewhat, at the reproachful look from Clark, and the angered one from Lois. "What happened?"

Lois, who hadn't uttered a single word throughout this entre exchange, finally spoke up, "Lana."

That immediately put Martha on alert, and she frowned, immensely. "Lana? What about her? Did she do something?"

Clark never took his eyes off Lois. "You could say that."

She smiled, sweetly, a little too sweet for Clark's liking, on the outside, but on the inside, she wanted to claw that damn girl' eyes out. "Clark, don't beat around the bush. Tell them the truth."

He gulped, silently, at the all too familiar glint in her eyes, and at the way she was practically crushing his hand, luckily, she didn't have super strength, or his bones would have been turned to mush at this point.

That worried Jonathon. "What did she do?"

"She called me a whore."

Martha gasped, loudly, and covered her mouth with her hands. "She didn't…"

Jonathon frowned. "Why would she say something like that?"

Clark quickly stepped in, wanting this conversation to be over with, not just for his sake, but for Lois', especially since he didn't want to upset her more than she already was. "She's jealous over the fact that I'm in love with Lois and not her, but there's nothing I can really do about that, and quite frankly, I don't want to."

Jonathon looked at Martha, and smiled. "You can't help who you fall in love with."

Lois watched them, a small smile playing on her lips before turning towards Clark. "No, you can't."

He smiled at her, squeezing her hands in his, and at this very moment he wanted to kiss her—hold her—touch her, but he couldn't because his parent' were less than two feet away from them, watching their every movement.

She seemed to understand what he wanted, hell, she wanted it too, and quickly stood up, which Clark was quick to follow. "Well, I think I should probably get home. It's late, and Chloe's probably getting worried about me."

Jonathon nodded then looked at Clark. "I'm guessing you're wanting to drive her home…"

"Well, yes, she doesn't have her car with her, and I don't have one, so…"

He reached into his pocket, and handed the keys to him, but pulled them away before he could grab them. "Please. Please be careful with her. I just got her fixed last week, and I can't afford to fork out any more money on her."

He rolled his eyes, and grabbed the keys. He wrecked the truck, once, one time, and his father felt the need to hold that over his head every single time he wanted to drive the truck. "Yes, dad."

Martha stepped forward, hugging Lois, which caught her off guard, slightly, and waited until she responded before pulling away. "It was nice finally meeting you, sweetheart."

She smiled, shyly. "You too, Mrs. Kent."

"Martha," she quickly corrected, "or mom, whatever you're comfortable with."

She just nodded, not too sure how she felt about calling her mom, at least not yet. It made perfect sense since she was dating her son, and she didn't plan on leaving him…ever, but it still felt a little weird saying the word.

Clark glanced at all of them, wondering what was taking so damn long. He just wanted to leave already. "Okay. Can we go now?"

Martha smiled, at her son's excitement to be alone with Lois, even though he had spent the past two hours alone with her, but he was in love, and she couldn't be happier for him. "Yes dear, but, um, Lois, before you go I wanted to ask you something…Would you like to come for breakfast tomorrow?"

She smiled at the older woman. "I'd love to."

She smiled back. "Good. Well, have a goodnight sweetheart, and we'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye, Mr. Kent, Mrs. K—Martha." And with the last farewell dealt with Clark quickly pulled her down the stairs with him, excited to be alone with her again.

Jonathon chuckled, at the spectacle they made. "I can see that things are definitely going to be interesting around here."

She nodded, agreeing with him. It was going to very interesting around here, she thought, especially since she knew more about their relationship than they realized. Jonathon was right, but of course, she wouldn't tell him that. He would have to figure out the true dynamics of their relationship on his own.

* * *

One hour later, Clark had Lois pressed up against the side of the truck, his hands squeezing her waist, and she had her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair, as they devoured each other's mouths.

A few minutes later, she pulled away from him, slightly, and placed her hands on his chest. "Clark, I should really get inside."

"I know," and then he kissed her again. He didn't want her to leave yet, quite honestly, he wanted to take her home, made sweet, passionate love with her again, and fall asleep with her in his arms, but that wasn't possible.

She pulled away from him again, but this time she pushed him away, and moved away from the truck, making sure that he couldn't trap her against it.

He pouted, as he walked towards her. "Aww, baby, don't leave me yet."

She smiled at him. "Clark, we've been standing out here for forty-five minutes…"

He sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulled her against his chest. "I know, but I don't want you to go."

"I have to."

"I know."

She started to pull away from him, but he gripped her wrist in his hand, stopping her, and turned her back towards him. "At least give me one last kiss."

"Clark…"

He pulled her back towards him. "Lane, just shut up and kiss me."

And she did.

Several minutes later, they pulled away from each other, breathing heavily, and their hearts were pounding in their chests. "I really have to go."

"I know."

They stared at each other for a few seconds before she pulled away from him, and they clung onto each other's hands until there was too much space between them. She turned away from him, and started walking towards the house.

He hated this. He didn't want her to go. He just got her back less than five hours ago, and he wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet. "Lois! Wait!"

She turned towards him, and wasn't surprised to find him running towards her, full-force, but smiled because she knew that this was as hard for him as it was for her. He gripped her face in his hands, and kissed her with fervor.

A few minutes later, he pulled away from her, and rested his forehead against hers. "I love you, Lois."

"I love you too, Clark."

He smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Tomorrow…" She kissed him one more time before pulling away from him, and walking into the house.

He watched her walk into the house before getting back into the truck, and driving back home.

Neither of them wanted to say goodbye to each other, especially after just being reunited, but they knew that they would see each other the next morning, and they couldn't wait for the moment they saw each other again.

* * *

 _ **Finally, I wrote another smut chapter, and even though I know I'm not the greatest at it, I hope you enjoyed it. I decided to play a little bit with the history of Clark's scar and why Jor-El removed it. In the show, it seemed that, that happened because he was forced to come home, but in my story, I wanted it to have a deeper meaning, besides Jor-El does things for a reason, and it will come up again in future chapters.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed Chapter Twenty-Eight!**_


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-Nine:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: "Forevermore' by WhiteSnake**_

* * *

 _ **If it wasn't for your love**_

 _ **Don't know where I'd be**_

 _ **Don't know what I'd do**_

Chloe tossed and turned in her bed, trying to force herself to go back to sleep, and hoped against all hope that the occupant down the hall, who was currently singing a WhiteSnake song as she showered, would just shut the hell up already.

She quickly grabbed the pillow next to her, and slapped it across her face, praying that, that would be sufficient enough to drown out the noise coming from the bathroom.

No such luck, she thought, several minutes later, and removed the pillow from her face, giving up on sleep altogether.

 _ **For you will be my love**_

 _ **And I will feel your heartbeat**_

 _ **Forevermore**_

One of her eyes slowly peeled open, and then the other one, as the sound of her lovely cousin' voice echoed throughout the whole damn house. She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, her eyes widening at what she saw, and slowly, deliberately turned towards the door, glaring at it, like that would resolve her current predicament.

It was six in the god damn morning!

Normally, she would be sleeping right about now, especially with it being the weekend and all, but no, that was not the case for this morning' activities. Instead of dreaming, like she should be, she was forced to listen to Lois singing at the top of her lungs in the damn shower. Why was she singing so loudly? Why was she singing a freaking love song? Why was she disrupting her beauty sleep? Why was she even up so damn early?

She rolled her eyes to the heavens, and a soft sigh escaped past her lips, as she remembered exactly why she was up this early—why she was so chipper—why she was so excited.

Today, Lois was going to the Kent' for breakfast, and of course, spending the entire day with Clark. It was obviously a monumental thing for them since they've been separated for so long, and she was extremely happy for both of them, she really was, but that didn't mean she appreciated being woken up so damn early.

Last night, after she had waited a whole two hours before her cousin decided to return home, she had watched or stalked, silently from her bedroom window, as they stood outside for nearly one hour, and most of that time Clark had Lois pinned to the truck, as he kissed her.

It was nauseating how lovesick they seemed to be with each other, but on the other hand, it was kind of romantic, especially since she had never, ever seen either of them like this before. Clark wasn't the type of guy to outwardly show affection for people he cared about, like making out with his girlfriend in the middle of a darkened street, but he had done just that. Lois, well, she didn't really reveal her true emotions and feelings to people she cared about, but it seemed that she didn't want him to leave as much as he didn't want to, and she wasn't afraid to show it either. She had a feeling that what she witnessed last night wouldn't be the last time she saw something like that, it seemed that they brought out things in each other that she never even knew existed.

It was quite obvious to anyone, who watched them interact, that they were completely smitten with each other.

After their very, very long and very heartwarming goodbyes to each other she had questioned her about their impromptu exit from the Talon, trying to be subtle about it, but of course, that hadn't worked, not even in the slightest, especially since she could be just as astute as she was, and had went to bed with even more questions than she had a few hours beforehand.

Well, that wouldn't be happening today, she thought, she would not be leaving this damn house until she had divulged some much-needed information.

But…

That would have to be filed away for later because there was something else she needed to talk to her about first…the whole reason she was wide awake at this very moment. With that thought in mind, she quickly jumped out of bed, and marched towards the bathroom, where she waited, patiently, for her lovely cousin to come out.

 _ **Give me all your love**_

 _ **Give me all your love**_

 _ **And I'll be in your loving arms**_

 _ **Give me all your love**_

 _ **Forevermore**_

Lois grinned from ear to ear, as she sang the last notes to one of her favorite songs, and felt the hot, steaming water flowing across her skin, making her feel refreshed and relaxed.

It was such a beautiful and exciting new day.

The sun was shining.

The birds were chirping.

And, she felt happier than she's felt in a very, very long time.

It wasn't because it was the weekend. It wasn't because she was thrilled to be awake this early in the morning. It wasn't because there was something earth-shattering happening in the world. It was because of one simple, and mind encompassing thing…she was going to see Clark today. Of course, she had been with him most of the night yesterday, but that just didn't seem like enough time, and she couldn't wait to spend the entire day with him.

It was going to be great!

The mere thought of him had her grinning like a maniac—had her breath catching in her throat—had her heart skipping beats inside her chest, but most of all, it had her mind concocting thoughts of what they were going to do today. She hadn't felt this way in such a long time, and she hoped that it would always be like this with him, especially since she couldn't imagine a day where she wasn't happy to see him—to just be with him.

After another ten minutes, she figured that she had been in the shower long enough, one hour to be exact, and shut off the water. She quickly got dressed before opening the door, but just about jumped out of her skin when she saw Chloe standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, and a scowl resonant on her face.

"Jesus, Chloe! You scared the living shit out of me! Why the hell are you standing outside of the bathroom door like that? Trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I wouldn't have done so, if, you know, I was sleeping like a freaking normal person would be on a Saturday morning!"

She frowned, at the tone of her voice. "That doesn't answer my question…Is there a reason you're standing outside the bathroom door? And why are you up so early anyways?"

"Oh, I don't know, Lois…maybe because a certain someone has been singing at the top of her lungs in the shower for the past hour, making it nearly impossible for anyone to sleep!"

Her eyes widened, slightly, at her cousin' words, and grinned, sheepishly. "Uh…sorry?"

Chloe' mouth dropped open, and she stared at her like she had gone completely crazy, as she started to walk away from her, towards her bedroom. "Sorry? Your sorry? Is that all you can say for yourself?"

"Uh, yeah."

She walked into her bedroom, and plopped herself down onto the bed. "I can't believe this. I get woken up before the break of dawn, and all I get is a lousy 'I'm sorry'."

She glanced over at her, and stopped sorting through her drawers. "I really am sorry, Chlo, but um, I'm just really excited this morning."

"Really? I never would have guessed." She watched as she continued sorting through her things, and a smile spread across her face. "What are you looking for?"

"Oh. It's nothing. Just something I made a few months after I left Washington. I want to give it to Clark."

"What is it?"

She finally found what she was looking for, and pulled it out, looking down at it, admiringly. "It's kind of like a photobook, I guess, it has all our pictures—all our memories from those three months we spent together."

"Can I see it?"

She hesitated, slightly, not really sure what Chloe would think about it, but handed it over to her nonetheless.

Chloe flipped through all the pages, staring down at all the pictures, and the hand-written messages she wrote on them. It was beautiful, and something she never thought Lois would do for a man she was involved with. "You really love him, don't you?"

"More than anything."

She looked over at her. "Why do you want to give this to him?"

"I think he would like to have it, besides he is kind of a hopeless romantic."

She chuckled at that. "That's for sure. So, what kind of romantic things did he do for you all those months ago?"

She glanced over at her, skeptically. "Why do you want to know?"

She feigned innocence. "Just curious."

"Just like you were curious last night?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure, you don't."

Obviously subtly wasn't working. Why the hell did she have to be so perceptive? "Come on, Lo, I want the juicy details!"

"Why? So, you can tell Pete?"

"Precisely!"

She shook her head, at her antics. "Never gonna happen, cuz."

"Why not?"

Why oh why wouldn't she just drop this already? "Because I know exactly what you want to know, and I'm not telling you that. What happens between me and Clark stays between us."

That was understandable, of course, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "Fine! I won't ask you about that, but can you at least tell me one little thing?"

"What's that?"

"How did you and Clark meet?"

She frowned, slightly. "He never told you?"

She shook her head from side to side. "He never talked about his time away, except I think he might have told Pete since he was the one to figure out that you were the same girl he had spent that summer with." She was thoughtful for a few seconds. "You know, I never actually found out why he left in the first place, but I'm kind of glad he did leave for a while because he met you, and well, he came back a different person."

She frowned, at her words. When she had found out that Clark was Chloe' best friend she had assumed that she knew the whole truth about him. It was obvious that Pete knew, but why hadn't he told Chloe? She didn't know, but she figured that she would ask him about it later, especially since Chloe could be just as trustworthy as herself.

"Well, I'm glad I was of some assistance."

She smirked. "You did more than some."

"Chl-oe…" She drawled out her name, warningly.

"Okay. Okay. I promised, but seriously, I want to know how you two lovebirds met."

She grinned from ear to ear, as memories of that day filled her mind, making her heart thump faster in her chest. "It all started the day after I escaped from my father…when a tall, and handsome farm boy came to my rescue…"

* * *

Clark slowly opened his eyes, blinking away his sleepiness, as the early morning rooster crowed, loudly, and the early morning sun shined into his room, brightly. He stared up at the ceiling, a slow smile spreading across his face, as thoughts of what he had planned today bombarded his mind.

It was going to be a really great day, he thought.

Not only was Lois coming over for breakfast, but he was going to spend the entire day with her, and he was really looking forward to making up for all that lost time. It had been so, so long since he had been this happy—been this excited about something, and that was all because of the beautiful woman—his beautiful woman. They had lost too much time—too many memories, and today was just the beginning. He intended on spending as much time with her as possible, and that meant not wasting a single second of their time together, which he hoped would be forever.

It had been blissfully amazing spending most of the night with her last night, actually, it had been better than reuniting with her the first time around in Montana, but sadly, he was forced to say goodnight to her. He hated that part of their night. It was hard because for over one year he had imagined what it would be like reuniting with her, and his expectations had definitely been exceeded, especially since he never thought that would happen, but he had never imagined that he would have to watch her walk away from him at the end of the night.

It was stupid.

It was irrational.

He knew that, but that didn't stop him from wanting to spend every second of every day with her, just like they used to, but he also knew that, that wasn't exactly possible anymore.

Things were still the same between them, like their love for each other, but a lot of things were different too, like how he couldn't do the things he used to do with her every night. He couldn't make love to her before he went to sleep—he couldn't kiss her goodnight only seconds before falling asleep—he couldn't hold her in his arms all night long as he slept peacefully next to the woman he loved.

And, he hated it.

He hated it because he knew that he couldn't do all of those things with her, at least not in his parents' house, but one day, one day soon he was going to convince his parents to let her stay the night, and then, and only then could he do all of those things with her again—all those things he dreamed of doing with her again—all those things he imagined doing with her again.

He quickly jumped out of bed, showered, got dressed, and practically leaped down the stairs, using a tad bit of his superspeed.

Martha, who was pouring herself a cup of coffee, looked over at her son, who had just appeared out of nowhere, and grinned at him. "Good morning, Clark, someone's in a hurry this morning."

He shrugged his shoulders, like it wasn't that big of a deal. "I just want to get my chores done before Lois gets here."

She glanced over at the clock on the microwave before looking back at her son. "Well, you've got about thirty minutes before she gets here because I told her to be here at seven thirty."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers before he super sped out of the house, which only made her chuckle, at his behavior.

The boy sure was excited, she thought, and she couldn't exactly blame him for being so happy about it either.

In all his years of yearning over Lana, she had never seen him so giddy over spending the day with the girl he loved, which only proved that he had never loved Lana as much as he loves Lois, and she was thankful for that.

It wasn't that she didn't like Lana, actually, she thought she could be very sweet when she wanted to be. It was the fact that she just never saw her being the woman of Clark' dreams—the woman that Clark would one day marry, settle down with, and have children with.

Lois, on the other hand, was a completely different story. She had only known her for a short few hours, and she could already see that she was the woman of her son' dreams—that she was the woman he would one day marry, settle down with, and have children with.

But…

She wouldn't tell either of them that, at least not yet. They were still so young—so carefree—so free-spirited. It was still too early for that kind of commitment between them, and she'd rather not have them dealing with such responsibilities, at such a young age, besides she didn't want to scare off the woman she already saw as her daughter. So, she would wait until they were both ready to take that step. No matter how long it took, even if it was years from now.

One day she would call Lois Lane her daughter for real, she thought before starting breakfast.

Jonathon twisted his head back and forth, watching his son or the red and blue streaks of his son, as he super sped from one end of the barn to the other, and he was beginning to get a major headache from the movement.

Less than ten minutes ago, Clark had entered the barn, in a speed of lightning, he might add, and muttered a brief greeting before going into superspeed mode. It was like it was the end of the world or something, and he was acting like he only had a limited amount of time to get everything done.

Which wasn't too far off the mark, he thought, as he glanced down at his watch, and realized that the reason for his son' behavior would be here in about fifteen minutes.

It was like he wanted everything to be done before she got here, which was completely outrageous since they still had fence work to do, but that obviously wasn't going to deter him from completing as many of his chores as he could.

As hilarious and entertaining as this might be, he really needed his help with that stupid, old damn tractor that kept breaking down, but he refused to get rid of. "Clark."

Silence.

He tried again. "Clark."

Silence.

This time he raised his voice, knowing he would listen to him then. "Clark!"

Clark stopped in his tracks, at the tone in his father' voice, and turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Would you stop running around for a second."

"I can't—"

"Yes, you can." He interrupted him. "I know your excited, son, but your mother hasn't even started cooking yet, and she'll probably drag Lois inside once she gets here so, you'll have plenty of time to finish your chores."

That seemed to calm him down, he thought, as he watched his son take a deep breath, and smile, sheepishly at him.

"Now that I've got your attention. Could you please help me with this tractor? I need you to lift it up while I check the engine."

He chuckled, as he walked towards the tractor. "Again? Don't you think you should just give up on poor Betty here."

"No. Never going to happen. She was passed down to me by your grandfather, and I will not allow her to be smashed to pieces in a god forsaken junkyard."

"Well, you know what mom says—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what your mother says, and I'm choosing not to listen to her."

"Even if she's right."

He glared at his son. "Don't start with that again, and just lift the damn tractor."

He did, snickering at his father, and his love for this damn piece of junk metal.

A few minutes later, he crawled out from underneath the tractor, and motioned for Clark to set it back down. "So, I've been wanting to ask you something about Lois."

"What about her?"

He leaned up against a wooden beam, wiping his hands on a blue rag, and looked over at his son. "When you first came back home, you told your mother how Lois found out about your abilities, but um, I was just wondering how did she react to the truth?"

He frowned, slightly, at his father' question, but answered him nonetheless. "Well, um, she laughed at first, but once she realized that I was being honest with her she felt really bad about how she reacted." A small smile spread across his face, as the memories came back to him. "I was surprised to say the least, but what surprised me the most was how she accepted me right from the start. That's one of the many reasons why I love her so much.

She accepts me—she believes in me—she trusts me. I've always wanted to find someone who treated me like a normal person, after finding out the truth, not like some kind of freak. And Lois does that. She's done that from the first moment we met. I think, no, I know that she's the only person, besides you and mom, who would do something like that. Even before she knew the truth about me, she didn't ask questions or ridicule me, which is one of the first things that made me want to tell her everything, and I'm glad that I did."

Jonathon didn't know what to say. It was like he was speaking from his heart—like everything he had just said he believed without a doubt—like he had zero worries about her love—her trust in him. He had never, ever heard his son speak so highly of someone before, and he knew in his heart that Lois would be the only person he would ever talk about like that. It was obvious that he loved her more than life itself, hell, he barely knew the girl, and he had already fallen in love with her. She was like the daughter he never had, and he hoped that one day she really did become his daughter.

"That's great, Clark, you know I never…"

Whatever his father was trying to tell him faded into the background, as his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a car pulling up the driveway, and he knew without a doubt that it was Lois. He grinned from ear to ear, as he walked out of the barn, ignoring his father' protests, and waited, quite impatiently for the moment he saw the love of his life again.

Lois couldn't contain the large smile that spread across her features, lighting up her entire face, as she pulled up to the yellow farmhouse, and noticed her man—her soulmate standing a few feet away from the barn, waiting for her.

It was the most magnificent sight.

In the several hours that they had been apart, she had missed him so, so much, even though she had just seen him less than twenty-four hours ago, and she couldn't help the feeling of pure excitement surging through her entire body, at the thought of what they were going to do today.

Faster than humanly possible, at least for her, she had cut off the engine, jumped out of the car, and started rushing towards him, as fast as she could muster.

He grinned from ear to ear, as he saw her rushing, full-force, towards him, and quickly began running towards her, happiness filling him, at the thought of having her in his arms again. It seemed that she was just as excited as he was to see each other again—to be with each other again, but more importantly, to spend the entire day together, just like they used to all those months ago.

A soft chuckle escaped past his lips before he caught her, as she practically launched herself into his arms, and wrapped her legs around his waist. He rested his hands on her lower back, pressing her a little firmer against his body. "Good morning, beautiful."

She intertwined her fingers behind his head, her fingers brushing against the back of his neck, and trussing through his soft, black locks. "Good morning, handsome."

He rested his forehead against hers, and gazed into her mesmerizing hazel orbs. "Did you miss me?"

"That depends…did you miss me?"

"More than you can imagine."

"I missed you too, baby, even though we did spend last night together, and talked on the phone for like two hours."

He brushed his nose against hers, making her giggle. "It doesn't feel like enough. I wanted to spend the entire night with you, and wake up with you in my arms."

"Me too, baby. I missed that the most."

"Well, maybe that's something we can change in the near future."

She frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

He whispered in her ear, "We'll talk about it later."

"Hmm. Sounds promising." She leaned back in his arms so, she could see his face more clearly. "So, Mr. Kent, what do you planned for us today?"

He smirked at her. "That Miss Lane, is a surprise, but right now, right now I want to do this…" And with that said, he leaned forward, capturing her lips in a sweet, and passionate kiss, completely unaware of the two sets of eyes that were watching them.

Jonathon, who had followed his son out of the barn after he had completely ignored him, watched as they literally ran into each other' arms, and couldn't help but grin, at the spectacle those two made.

It was probably one of the most romantic things he had ever seen before.

He glanced over to the house, smiling when he noticed Martha standing on the porch with a cup of coffee in her hands, and a huge grin was plastered on her face.

It was quite obvious that she was just as amused as he was with Clark and Lois' behavior towards each other. It wasn't that they were just excited to see each other again, but it was like they couldn't be happier unless they were in each other' arms, and it only reminded him of their younger years.

They were a lot like them at that age, he thought.

He glanced back over at the two lovebirds, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, and about choked on his own saliva at what he saw. They were kissing, quite passionately...Lois had every inch of her body pressed up against Clark', while his hands rested on her butt.

He didn't like it one bit.

Obviously, they had completely forgotten that him and Martha were standing outside with them, watching the entire scene unfold in front of their eyes. He quickly coughed, loud enough for them to hear, and purposefully interrupted their little moment.

Clark and Lois pulled away from each other, and glanced over at Jonathon, who was staring at them with a stern expression, before blushing, obviously just now remembering that they weren't alone.

He slowly sat her back down on the ground. "I think that's my cue. I have to finish the chores, but I'll see you in a little bit."

She nodded.

He quickly kissed her one last time. "I love you, Lo."

"I love you too, baby."

She watched, as he walked into the barn with his father until he completely disappeared from her sights, and slightly jumped when she felt a hand resting on her shoulder. She turned to see Martha standing next to her, giving her a sweet smile, and she smiled back at her.

"Come on, dear, let's go inside. The boys will be finished by the time breakfast is done." Once they got inside, Martha started grabbing what she needed, and glanced over at Lois, who was standing near the island looking around the kitchen. "Would you like to help?"

Lois looked over at her, shyly. "That depends on if you want your beautiful house to burn to the ground."

She chuckled, at her words. "Not that great in the kitchen?"

"That's an understatement."

"Well, I could walk you through it, if you want, you've got to learn at some point."

She smiled at the older woman, and agreed. It would be nice to know how to cook a meal without destroying it to the point it wasn't even edible.

A few minutes later, Lois was beating some eggs in a bowl, and smiled down at her work. It seemed that she was starting to get the hang of it, but she wasn't naïve enough to believe that she was an expert in that department. It would take a lot more than beating some eggs before she could properly cook a delicious, and satisfying meal.

Martha' voice brought her out of her thoughts. "So, Lois, what was it like spending those three months with Clark?"

"Let me guess, Clark never told you about that?"

"Oh, he did, I just want to hear your side of things."

She grinned at her. "Well, in that case…"

One hour later, Jonathon and Clark were finishing up the chores in the barn, and were getting ready to walk back into the house.

Clark looked up at his father, a little nervously, and finally asked him the question he's been wanting to ask him all morning. "Um, dad, I kind of have a favor to ask of you…"

Jonathon looked up at his son, with a slight frown, at the worried expression on his face. "What is it, son?"

"I, um, I wanted to ask you, um, could I borrow the motorcycle today?"

He wasn't too sure about that. The last time Clark had taken the motorcycle he didn't come back for three months, and even though he knew that wouldn't happen again, it didn't stop him from worrying about it nonetheless. "Why do you want it?"

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and stared at the ground. "Um…well, you see, that, um, motorcycle holds a lot of memories between me and Lois. We used to ride together all the time, and I even taught her how to drive it. I kind of, well, I wanted to surprise her with it. I know it would mean a lot to her, and to me for that matter. I really just want today to be special."

He pondered that for a few seconds. As much as he wanted to refuse, he couldn't, not with the way his son was looking at him, and he could tell from just one look that this meant a lot to both him and Lois. "I'll agree, if you promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"Please, don't go riding into the sunset with my bike. I'd really miss her."

"What about me and Lois?"

He grinned. "I'd miss you guys too, just not as much as my baby."

He shook his head at his father, chuckling at the teasing manner laced in his voice, and they walked into the house together, where they found Martha literally dying of laughter, as her and Lois stood in the kitchen.

Jonathon glanced over at his son, who was staring at them, skeptically before looking back over at the two laughing women. "What's going on in here?"

Martha looked over them, with laughter still lingering in her eyes. "Oh, nothing. Just listening to tales of Clark and Lois' three months together." She looked pointedly at her son. "You know, things you refused to tell me."

All the color drained from his face, as he saw the laughter in both woman' eyes, and knew exactly what story Lois had told his mother. "You didn't…"

She grinned, at his obvious embarrassment. "Oh, I did."

Jonathon was definitely curious. "What story would that be?"

"Nothing!"

Lois grinned, even more so. "Oh, come on, farm boy. It's not that bad. Even your mom thought it was funny."

"Not another word, Lane." He glanced over at his mother, and narrowed his eyes at her. "I thought you were supposed to be cooking breakfast…not listening to Lois' wild tales of our adventures."

She rolled her eyes at her son. "We did. It's sitting on the table. We were just waiting for you two to get your butts inside."

Everything she had said escaped him, except for one little word registered in his mind. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I heard you right, but did you just say, that 'we' cooked breakfast?"

Lois narrowed her eyes at him, knowing exactly what was going through that head of his, and hoped he wouldn't say anything that riled her up more than she already was, especially since she didn't think the Kent' would appreciate her beating the crap out of their son. "Don't even think about it, Kent!"

He smirked at her, loving how she was getting all riled up, and couldn't help himself from teasing her just a little bit. "Are you sure it's edible?"

"Yes, it's edible!"

"I remember that night you attempted to make us dinner…you almost burned down our hotel room."

She glared at him. "You ate it, didn't you?"

He made a face. "Yeah, and almost died from food poisoning!"

She placed her hands on her hips, her eyes glaring at him, dangerously. "That's such bullshit, and you know it! You can't even get food poisoning!"

Martha was hiding her laughter behind her hands, at their bickering match, while Jonathon couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud, at their little battle of words.

It was quite entertaining, they thought, simultaneously.

"That's beside the point."

"It's so not beside the point, and you know it, Smallville!"

All laughter immediately died, and he frowned, slightly, at her words. "What did you just call me?"

She smirked. "What? Smallville? Don't like my new nickname for you? I think it fits you perfectly, just like all your others…farm boy, space boy, Cla—"

"Don't you dare say it!" He quickly interrupted her, knowing exactly what she was about to say.

"Say what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"You mean, my personally favorite nickname for you."

"I'm warning you, Lane, don't say it!"

She wiggled her eyebrows, wickedly. "Clarkie…"

She just couldn't resist herself, he thought before a low growl escaped from his throat, and he lunged towards her. She yelped, slightly, startled by his sudden movements, and sidestepped him before running away from him, as he chased her throughout the kitchen.

Martha had thought their bickering match was entertaining, but this, this was ten times better, and it was something she had never seen a couple in love do before. As much as she was enjoying the little show, she was starting to get dizzy, besides the kitchen was no place for such activities, and she quickly shooed them away.

Lois ran full-force towards the dining room, but didn't get far before Clark had his arms wrapped around her waist, and was lifting her off the ground. "Clark Kent! Put me down!"

He carried her to the dining room table, sat down in a chair, and pulled her into his lap, surprising her, slightly. "This isn't what I exactly had in mind."

He pulled her closer to him, his hands squeezing her waist. "Oh, I don't know, I kind of like where you are."

Men, she thought, they were all the same. "I'm sure you do."

Jonathon shook his head at them, as he walked into the dining room, and sternly, but jokingly said, "Lois, honey, Clark' lap is not a chair."

She tried to get up, but he tightened his hands around her waist, and pulled her back down to him. "Are you going to let me up?"

He pretended to think about that for a few seconds. "I think not."

She glared at him.

Martha, who had just walked into the dining room, couldn't help chuckling at their antics. She had a feeling that things around here wouldn't be as calm and peaceful as they were before, and she kind of liked having a little more excitement in her home. "Clark, leave Lois alone so, she can eat her breakfast."

She quickly removed herself from his lap when his hands loosened around her waist, at his mother' words, and poked her tongue out at him before sitting down next to him.

"You're all evil," he grumbled before glancing pointedly at each of them, "Every. Single. One of you."

As they enjoyed their breakfast in comfortable silence, Lois couldn't help thinking about the last time she had, had a family breakfast, which was a very long time ago when her mother was still alive. It was a lot like this, her mother and father sitting side by side, just like Martha and Jonathon were, while her and Lucy sat on the other side of them, exactly like her and Clark were. It was something she never thought she would ever experience again, and it was definitely a new concept to her, but she could admit that she liked the way it made her feel, actually, if felt really, really nice.

It was like this wasn't the first time she was having breakfast with them—like this was something that they did every single day, and it made her feel like she had a family again. She had just met them yesterday, but it was like she was already a part of the family in their eyes, and that was quite surprising since she barely knew them.

But…

She could definitely get used this this feeling…this feeling of being incredibly happy, and absolutely complete.

After breakfast, Martha and Jonathon decided that they would clean up so, Clark and Lois could enjoy the rest of the day together.

Clark walked behind Lois with his hands covering her eyes, as he guided her to the first surprise he had in store for her today.

She grumbled, miserably. "Where are you taking me? And why do my eyes have to be covered?"

"It's called a surprise for a reason, Lo."

"I hate surprises."

"I know."

"Then why are you doing this to me?"

He shook his head from side to side. "Your unbelievable, you know that?"

She grinned, at his words. "Yes, but you love me anyways."

A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination, and he slowly removed his hands from her eyes, watching her reaction to his surprise.

She stared, wide-eyed, at the motorcycle—the same motorcycle that they had ridden countless times—the same motorcycle that held so many of their memories. She turned towards him, grinning from ear to ear. "You still have this?"

"It's my father', and even if it was mine I wouldn't get rid of it. It holds too many memories."

She nodded, agreeing with him. "Does that mean we're riding this? Today?"

He could see the excitement lingering in her eyes, and grinned down at her before grabbing the helmet, handing it to her. "Where would you like to go first, my love?"

She practically jumped up and down, in complete and utter happiness. "I don't care what we do, as long as I get to ride with you on this baby again."

He laughed before getting situated on the bike, and motioned for her to join him, which she did almost immediately. "You ready?"

"More than ready."

And with that, they sped down the dirt driveway, heading towards his first surprise of the day.

A few hours later, Clark and Lois walked into the Talon, holding hands, as they laughed, good-heartedly. He had taken her to Metropolis, where they walked around the city, and he even took her shopping, which was something she hadn't done in a very long time. One year to be exact, since she had been on house arrest for all of that time.

"I can't believe you did that, Clark, you're—"

Her words were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Clark! Lois!"

All laughter died, and the smiles from their faces fell when they noticed Lana walking towards them, with a huge smile plastered on her face. "Can I talk to you guys for a few minutes?"

Lois glared at her, menacingly before turning towards Clark. "I'm going to go get us coffees."

He watched her walk away, and sighed, heavily, as he turned back to look back at Lana. "What do you want, Lana?"

She took a deep breath, "I kind of wanted to talk to both of you…"

"Well, Lois doesn't want to be around you, let alone talk to you so, whatever you have to say you can say it to me."

She glanced over at Lois, feeling guilty for what happened the night before, and looked back up at Clark, apologetically. "I just wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I shouldn't have just kissed you like that, and I definitely shouldn't have said what I said to Lois. It was uncalled for, and I'm really, really sorry about everything."

He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Lana, I understand that your upset over the fact that I'm with Lois, but simply apologizing isn't going to be enough, especially after you called her a—"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know what I said, and I'm really sorry about that. Is there any way you or Lois could forgive me?"

"No." He simply said before continuing when she tried speaking again, "At least, not anytime soon. It's going to take more than just an apology, Lana."

"How can I make it up to you guys?"

He shook his head at her. "Just leave us alone. I don't want to lose you as a friend, but I don't think we should be around each other, but maybe one day when all of this is past us we can all be friends again."

She sighed, heavily. She had, had a feeling that this was how this conversation was going to go, but if a little space between them could fix this horrible situation, then she would deal with it. "I'm sorry, Clark, I really am."

"I know," he said before walking away from her.

Lois glanced over at Lana, who was still speaking to Clark, and a fiery rage consumed every fiber of her being. Not because she didn't trust Clark, but because she didn't trust Lana. It was so completely obvious that she was in love with him, and that bothered her…immensely. She wasn't a jealous person, never has been, but with what she knew about Lana and from what happened last night, she couldn't help feeling this way.

She took a deep, deep breath, trying to relinquish the animosity she was feeling inside, and prided herself in her ability to stay cool headed in a situation such as this one. It was hard. It was difficult. But, it was the wisest decision, especially since she didn't want to escalate the situation or do something completely reckless, like strangle the woman, who had the hots for her damn boyfriend.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Trouble in paradise?"

Great, she thought, he was about the last person she wanted to talk to, in all actuality, she really, really didn't want to talk to him, not in the slightest. When she had met him last night, he had given off all these bad vibes. She really, really didn't like this man.

She turned towards him, and greeted him, coolly, "Lex."

"Hello, Lois."

"What do you want, Luthor?"

Well, she was definitely a feisty one, he thought before motioning his head towards Clark and Lana. "I'm just curious to why you, who Clark claims to love, is over here by yourself, while he is over there talking to his ex-girlfriend."

"What business of that is yours?"

"It's not, but I can't help feeling a little bad for you…the woman who is going to get her heart broken in the end."

She ignored that jibe. "Yeah, right. I highly doubt that."

He raised an inquisitive brow, at her words. "No need to get so defensive, Lois, I'm just trying to help out a friend."

"A friend?" She scoffed, at the idea. "That's never going to happen, Luthor. I don't like you, and I'm never going to like you."

"Feelings mutual," He muttered before stalking closer to her, which caused her to back away from him until her back hit the counter. "As an acquaintance, I should tell you the truth about Clark Kent…"

As much as she didn't want to take his bait, she couldn't stop herself from being curious at what he might know. "And what would that be?"

"The truth about Clark, is that he can never stray too far away from Lana. He's done this before, you know, chasing other girls, and when Lana gives him attention again he'll leave you. It's inevitable"

She glared up at him, refusing to let him get underneath her skin. All he was doing was baiting her, and she would not fall for his little game, whatever game he was playing at the moment. "I trust Clark, and quite honestly, it's none of your damn business what happens between me and Clark."

He tsked at her, shaking his head from side to side. "Don't be so naïve, Lois. It doesn't suit you. You might believe that, but you're in way over your head, if you think that Clark actually cares about you."

"It doesn't matter what you think, Luthor, because we love each other, and nothing will ever tear us apart."

He slowly backed away from her, her words filling him with anger. That was not the reaction he had been expecting from her, but it seemed he would have to go about this another way. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Lois…"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what I said. Don't say I never warned you." He started walking away from her, but turned back around a few seconds later. "Oh, Lois, I'd watch your back if I were you…"

She watched him walk away from her, and frowned, immensely, as a familiar shiver traveled down her spine. It wasn't what he had said that disturbed her so profusely. It was the way he had said it. The tone of his voice was laced with venom—the way he held himself together, as he uttered those words, seemed confident, almost too confident—the way his eyes had leered at her, like he was searching through her soul, was manipulative.

It was disconcerting.

But, it was also more than that, it was something that she had felt—had experienced once before in her life, a few years ago, when M…

She quickly snapped her eyes shut, taking a deep, deep breath, and shook away those horrendous thoughts from her mind.

It was in her past—it was something that she never had to worry about again, and it was the last thing she needed to be thinking about at this moment.

Whatever negative or familiar sensations she was receiving from the likes of Lex Luthor had to be something else.

It just wasn't possible.

That part of her life was over. It was in the past, all thanks to her father. It was over. It had been for a few years now. She would never have to deal with part of her life again—deal with him again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Chloe, who had watched the entire conversation between her cousin and Lex Luthor, and became worried once she noticed how lost in thought she had become. "Lois? Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath, ridding her thoughts from her mind, and smiled, at her cousin. "I'm fine."

Like she was going to believe that, she thought. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Chloe, I'm fine."

She was about to question her some more, wanting to get the truth out of her hard-headed cousin, but was interrupted by Clark and Pete. "Was that Lex I saw over here?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, he was talking to Lois about something…"

Clark snapped his head towards her, completely surprised by that, and noticed immediately that she seemed out of sorts, like something was seriously bothering her. "What did he say to you?"

She smiled for his benefit, not wanting him to worry about it too much. "Nothing."

Pete raised an eyebrow, at her words. "That didn't look like nothing…"

"It doesn't matter."

Chloe stared at her, intensely for a few seconds, and knew that something had definitely happened. "Seriously, cuz, you're worrying me…what the hell did he say to you?"

At first, she had been irritated with all of their questions, but now, now she was just pissed off. Why couldn't they just leave well enough alone. "Nothing! Just drop it already!"

Clark watched her storm off, as a frown etched across his features, and he instantly became worried about her. It was obvious that something had definitely happened between them, but for whatever reason she was refusing to talk about it, and as much as he wanted to know the truth he wasn't stupid enough to approach the subject again. If she didn't want to talk about it then she didn't have to, even if he really, really wanted to know what Lex had said to make her so…defensive.

He muttered a quick goodbye to Chloe and Pete before chasing after her, and hoped that Lex hadn't completely ruined their perfect day.

"I wonder what that was all about…" Pete softly said.

Chloe didn't respond to him, too worried about her cousin' behavior, and thought about everything she had witnessed in the past few minutes.

She had been defensive.

She had, had this expression of pure fear etched across her face after her conversation with Lex, and again when she was questioning her.

And that's what worried her the most because, she had only seen her behaving this exact same way once before, but she couldn't have possibly been thinking about that…Could she?

* * *

Several hours later, Clark had Lois' hand clasped in his, as he led them around the barn, which piqued her interest…immensely. "Why are we not going inside the barn? I thought you said my surprise was inside the barn…"

He ignored her question, especially since it had been the twentieth one she has asked since they left the house, and continued leading her towards their destination.

As soon as they rounded the back of the barn, she stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening, and was completely shell-shocked from what she saw. There was a blanket spread out on the ground, white candles surrounding them, and several baskets were sitting on top of the blanket, obviously whatever was inside was what they were having for dinner.

It was romantic, which didn't really surprise her when it came to Clark, but it also reminded her of a few dates they had, had in those three months they had spent together.

She looked up at him, smiling. "Clark Kent, are you trying to recreate our romantic date from Montana?"

He grinned down at her. "Not exactly. I wanted us to have a special dinner, like we did in Colorado, Montana, and Washington."

"Well, all of those definitely don't compare to this."

He moved from one foot to the other, nervously. "Do you like it?"

She moved closer to him, stepped up on her tip toes, and kissed him, softly. "I love it."

They both quickly sat down, and after Lois sorted through every single thing he had supplied for them, they enjoyed a quiet, peaceful and blissful dinner underneath the moonlight and stars.

Afterwards, they were leaning up against the back of the barn, his arms were wrapped around her waist, and she was leaning against his chest, as they stargazed, just like they used to.

Clark rested his head on her shoulder, pulling her even closer to him, and breathed in her scent. "I really missed doing this with you."

She twisted in his arms, and straddled his lap, her fingers playing with his shirt. "We don't have to miss it anymore. We can do this every night, if you want to."

He gripped her waist in his hands, and pulled her towards him so, there was no space in-between them. "Promise?"

"I promise, baby."

He stared into her beautiful hazel eyes before leaning forward, and pressing his lips against hers, passionately. She smiled against his lips, and wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair. He pulled her even closer to him, loving the feel of her body against his, and nibbled on her lower lip before slipping his tongue inside, where they battled for dominance.

She pulled away from him, making him whimper, at the loss of her. "Don't do that. You know we can't."

He pouted, slightly. "I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"It might not be possible today, but it's very possible in the near future."

He smiled at her. "Yeah, that's after I convince my parent' to let you stay the night."

As much as she wanted that, she had a feeling that it would take a hell of a lot more than some groveling for them to allow that to happen. They liked her sure, but she highly doubted they would approve of the true depths of their relationship. "Good luck with that."

"I know I can convince my mom, it's my father that is the problem, but I promise one day soon, I will get to fall asleep, and wake up with you in my arms."

He leaned forward, intending on kissing her again, but she pulled away from him, slightly, and grinned, at the sour expression he gave her. "Hold that thought. I've got a surprise for you."

That got his attention, almost immediately. "You do? Since when does Lois Lane give surprises?"

She smirked at him. "Since today. Now, wait right here, I'll be right back."

He watched her run off into the darkness, and not even ten minutes later she returned with a wrapped present in her hands. Now his attention was extremely peaked. "What's that?"

"A gift," she said, as she handed it to him.

He quickly opened the gift, realizing it was a photobook of some sorts, and felt his heart fill with so much love—so much happiness, as he flipped through the many pages that had pictures of their memories in it and hand-written messages that she had personally wrote.

He looked up at her, tears in his eyes, and a small smile appearing on his face. "When did you make this?"

"A few months after I left Washington. I don't know why I made it, but um, I'm glad I did because now you can have something to cherish all those wonderful memories we experienced together."

He slowly stood up, and walked towards her. "I love it. Thank you, baby." He kissed her softly, sweetly, and passionately. "And, you tell me that I'm sappy."

She punched his arm. "Shut up!"

They wrapped their arms around each other, and walked through the darkened fields surrounding them, underneath the moonlight and stars, both of them never wanting this perfect day to end.

* * *

Later that night, Lois was lying in her bed, staring up at the ceiling with a huge, goofy smile on her face, as she thought about the three-hour long conversation she had with Clark.

He had spent one hour of that time trying to convince her to stay on the phone with him all night, but she had eventually convinced him to say goodnight, and promised that she would see him bright and early the next day.

Today, had probably been one of the best days of her life, especially since they had spent the entire day together, but it was more than that…it was like they were making up for lost time, and she couldn't wait to make even more memories with him.

A soft knock on her door, broke her from her thoughts, and she smiled at Chloe, as she walked inside her bedroom, and sat on the edge of her bed. "Lois, can I talk to you about something?"

She saw the worried expression plastered on her face, and quickly sat up, concerned with her cousin' behavior. "You can talk to me about anything, you know that."

It was now or never, she thought.

"After your conversation with Lex, I couldn't help noticing the terrified expression on your face, and it was there again after I confronted you about it. It's one that I know extremely well…you were thinking about him, weren't you?"

"Was it really that obvious?"

"To me, yes, but that's only because I'm the only one, besides your father, that knows the truth. Why were you thinking about that? It's been almost five years, Lois."

One part of her wanted to remain silent, but the other part of her knew that she couldn't keep something like this from her, especially this particular subject. "It was because of Lex. I haven't thought about that in years, Chlo, but one conversation with him brought it all back, and for one split second I believed I was actually talking to…him."

She engulfed her hands in hers. "Why do you think Lex made you feel like that?"

"He just reminded me of him."

"Do you think he knows?"

"How could he? No one knows about that…and no one ever will."

She frowned, slightly, at her words. "Clark doesn't know, does he?"

"No."

"Don't you think he should know?"

She quickly shook her head from side to side. "No, he can never know."

"Lois, I really think you should tell him. He deserves to know."

Tears filled her hazel eyes, completely surprising Chloe. "I can't. I-I-If he knew—if he knew the truth he would never look at me the same."

"I don't think he would, Lo, I think—"

"No! I-I just can't, okay?" She quickly interrupted her. "Chloe, promise me you won't tell him!"

She sighed, heavily, not agreeing with her decision whatsoever. "I promise, Lois."

After saying goodnight to her, Chloe left her room, and as she walked towards her bedroom decided that she would not be ignoring that feeling that was brewing in the pit of her stomach.

It was disturbing.

It was unsettling.

But, most of all, it was worrisome.

And, for some unknown she knew that Lex was the cause of all of this, whether he knew anything or not, she would be keeping her eyes on him because there was no way in hell she was allowing another person to ruin her cousin' life…not in this lifetime or any other.

* * *

Lex Luthor sat in the library, his fingers tapping against the glass desk, as he thought about his earlier conversation with Lois Lane.

She was definitely going to be a problem, he thought.

For the past four years, he had been trying to get as much information as he could about Clark Kent, and things were going smoothly until he disappeared for three months, but when he came back his plans had been shot to hell.

Clark came back a different man. He was no longer the same guy that had left three months earlier, but more importantly, he wasn't in love with Lana Lang anymore.

That was the problem, and it was all Lois Lane' fault.

His entire plan to reveal the truth about Clark was riding on his feelings for Lana, that way he could manipulate the truth out of her, but with Lois being involved with him that wasn't a possibility.

It was obvious that she knew the truth, and it was also obvious that she wasn't going to betray him, if their conversation they had earlier proved anything.

He wouldn't be able to manipulate her, as easily as Lana.

It was definitely a problem, he thought, but there was always a way around such problems as this.

A brilliant and devious idea came to him, almost immediately, and he quickly buzzed in his right-hand man…Brian Wilkinson.

He entered less than one minute later. "Yes, Mr. Luthor?"

"I need you to do some investigating for me."

"On what, sir?"

"Lois Lane." He grinned, ominously. "I want to know everything about the feisty blonde that has currently become a major problem in our operation."

He nodded, without further questions, and left the room.

Lex leaned back in his leather chair, clasped his hands together, and rested them on his stomach.

It would only be a matter of time before he got what he wanted, and when he did, his plan could move forward…he would be finding out the truth about Clark Kent, and he would use that knowledge to his own personal means.

* * *

 _ **Happy Thanksgiving!**_

 _ **I wasn't going to post this chapter today, but since I'll be busy the next few days I figured it would be the best chance to post this. Things are definitely going to start to get interesting, to say the least, especially with the certain things that have come up in this chapter.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-nine!**_


	31. Chapter Thirty

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty:**_

 _ **(Quotes from 'Unsafe')**_

* * *

Clark took a large sip of his warm and refreshing coffee, as he sat at a table inside the Talon, and attempted to focus on his homework, but his mind was elsewhere…

It was on the beautiful woman with hazel eyes and long blonde hair, who was currently spending some quality time with her cousin, and as much as he wanted to focus on his math's he couldn't stop thinking about the night that was ahead of them, actually, it's been the only thing on his mind for the past week.

He forced himself to squelch the excitement that his current thoughts were stirring deep inside of him, and took a deep, deep breath, reminding himself that he wouldn't have to wait much longer before his dream, the one he's been having for weeks, became reality.

Because tonight—tonight, the love of his life was spending the entire night with him for the first time since she came back into his life.

Finally!

It took three very painful weeks of groveling, insisting and begging his parent' to allow her to spend the night, and finally exactly one week ago they agreed, actually, his mother agreed, and she convinced his father.

And, he couldn't be any happier about it than he was right at this very moment.

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Hey, Clark. What are you doing?"

He looked up to see two familiar women, ones he recognized from his classes, standing next to him before they helped themselves to his table. "Hey, um, I'm just trying to figure out some of this trig homework."

The blonde girl, the one he recognized as Sarah smiled, charmingly at him. "What for? Don't you already have a scholarship for Met U."

If only it was that simple, he thought before smiling at them. "Yes, for football, but they're still gonna be looking at my final GPA."

The brunette girl, Rebecca played with the pages of his textbook, and flashed her eyes, flirtatiously at him. "Well, when you're done playing with your protractor, there's a party over at Katie's house."

"Her parent' have a hot tub."

It was an intriguing idea. That was for sure. "Really?"

"Yeah." They both smiled at each other, and he could swear that there was a flicker of something in their eyes when they turned back towards him, smiling, widely.

It was all starting to make sense, he thought, as he finally realized exactly what was happening.

It was apparently obvious what they wanted from him, but what they seemed to be forgetting was that he had a girlfriend, a beautiful one at that, and he would much rather be spending the night with her than going to some high school party. Even if he wanted to go, he would insist that Lois could come with him, and he had a feeling that they wouldn't appreciate that very much.

"Um, thanks, but I still got a lot of work to do here."

Their smiles faded, almost instantly. "Okay, well, why don't you drop by later if you finish."

He simply nodded.

They muttered their goodbyes before standing up, and walked away from him.

He watched them for a few seconds, and shook his head from side to side, smiling to himself, as they went up to some of his teammates, coaxing them with their feminine charms.

They were attractive, of course, he had noticed that almost immediately, but by no means were they better looking than his drop dead gorgeous girlfriend. Lois would always shine a light brighter than any other, at least in his eyes. She was his everything.

The simple fact that they were even remotely interested in him made him wonder if they actually saw him for him. He highly doubted it. They only saw what he could do out on that football field, not who he really was inside, but Lois on the other hand, didn't focus too much on what he could do, instead she paid more attention to what was deep inside of his mind, heart and soul. She would always be the only person in this entire world that saw him that way, and he was forever thankful that she was the one he loved with all of his heart—the one he pictured a future with—the one he intended on spending the rest of his life with.

A few minutes later, he had completely given up on the idea of getting any homework done, his mind too focused on more important things, and walked up to the service counter, where his mother was working.

She smiled at him, as he sat down on a stool, and rested his forearms on the counter. "Who were those girls?"

"Just some friends from school. They invited me to a party tonight."

"You thinking about going?"

He shook his head from side to side. "No, not really, but even if I was considering it I'd prefer Lois to come with me, and she's a little busy at the moment."

She sighed, inwardly. Ever since Lois had come back into his life, which she was thankful for since he seemed much more himself with her back in his orbit, they had been spending practically every second of every day together. They went to school together. They did their homework together. She helped him with his chores, while he helped her with anything and everything whether it be at the farm or Chloe' house.

"Clark, honey, you know, you don't have to do everything together."

Of course, he knew that, but that didn't mean he particularly liked doing things without her, especially since he enjoyed spending almost every day and every night with her. "I know that, mom, but it's just what I'm used to—what we're used to."

"What do you mean?"

"Those few months we spent together, there wasn't a lot of moments where we weren't with each other, and I guess, it's kind of a hard habit to break now that we have the option of doing so."

She smiled at him. "Well, you have to start sometime, you know, maybe you should go to this party, and spend some time with your friends."

He frowned at her. "I do spend time with my friends."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"I know what you meant. I just don't see the point. I see them at school, and I'd much rather spend my free time with her, besides I don't think she would like the fact that I went to a party without her."

She chuckled at that, knowing how much the feisty woman enjoyed living on the wild side. "Yeah, you're probably right."

He leaned forward, slightly, his fingers fiddling with the edge of the counter, and smiled, widely at her. "So, since we're on the subject…about Lois…"

She attempted to contain her smile as best she could, knowing exactly what he was going to ask her. "What about Lois?'

He leaned closer to her. "It's still okay that she comes over tonight, right?"

"Yes."

"As in spend the night?"

"Yes."

"As in spend the night in my bedroom?"

"Yes, Clark."

He grinned from ear to ear. In less than a few hours he would be able to fall asleep with her wrapped up his embrace, and wake up with her in his arms. It had been something he wished for—dreamed about—imagined doing, and now, it was about to come true.

He couldn't wait!

* * *

One hour later, Clark smiled into the phone, as he walked up the stairs to his loft, his backpack hanging loosely on his shoulder, and a stack of textbooks in his free hand, "Well, it sounds like you and Chloe are having a great time…so, when are you going to be here?"

"A few hours…"

He heard the hesitation in her voice, and sighed, heavily. "A few hours? What are you two doing that's going to take that long?"

"A movie. I guess it's supposed to be really good."

"Why can't you just skip the movie, and get over here already?"

"Because Chloe wants to go, besides we wanted to have a girl's night out."

He grumbled, miserably. "What about our night?"

"Is still happening. I'll be over there before you know it."

"Yeah, in a few hours, which is way too long for my liking."

She chuckled into the phone. "Oh, poor baby!"

"Baby!" He growled out, at her teasing manner.

"I think you can wait just a little bit longer, farm boy."

He shook his head, vehemently, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "I don't want to wait any longer. I've been waiting all week for this…"

"I know, baby, so have I, but I promise I'll make it worth the wait…"

He grinned, like a maniac. "Oh really? What do you have in mind?"

She giggled, the sound like magic to his ears. "You're just gonna have to wait to find out."

"Aw! Come on, Lo, at least give me something to think about until you get here."

"Not happening, Smallville. You're just go—" He heard her muttering something to Chloe before speaking again, "Look, I've got to go, but I'll see you in a little bit. "

"I can't wait," he replied before hanging up the phone, and tossing his textbooks onto the desk, his mind conjuring up ideas of what she exactly had in mind for them tonight.

A tall, blonde, who had listened to his entire conversation, stepped out of the shadows, and stood directly behind him. "So, what's Smallville's star quarterback doing up here all alone on a Saturday night."

He recognized her voice, almost immediately, and spun around, coming face to face to none other than Alicia Baker, a woman he never thought he would ever see again.

A little over one year ago, he had met her on a school field trip to Luthorcorp, and inadvertently revealed his abilities to her when the elevator they were in broke. At first, he had thought that she would either freak out or tell someone what she had witnessed, but he was surprised when she had used her own ability…teleportation to protect his secret, and hers. Over the following few days, he had believed that he had found a friend he could confide in about his abilities, someone who wouldn't judge him since she also had abilities, but he soon realized that she was starting to become a little too attached to him, in a more than platonic way. One night, she snuck into his room, intending to make her feelings clear to him by kissing him, which he didn't appreciate in the slightest, and was forced to confess to her that he was completely and irrevocably in love with someone else—someone who would never, ever leave his heart. She had become completely obsessed with him after that, trapping him in a room with green Kryptonite, and even tried killing Lana, thinking that she was the woman he was in love with.

It had been a horribly, horrendous experience, especially since at the time he had been in a pretty bad state of mind, and it only made things worse when the woman he considered his friend had tried to harm the people he cares about, all because he didn't want her in the same way she wanted him.

"Alicia."

She stepped closer to him. "I'm kind of surprised you remember my name…"

He rose a brow at her words. "How could I forget? You tried to kill me, and Lana. I'd ask how you escaped, but I guess that's pretty obvious."

"I didn't escape. They let me out. The doctors say I'm cured."

He nodded, skeptically, not really sure if he believed that or not. "You could've called instead of teleporting into my loft…"

"Actually, I borrowed my mom' car, and I drove." She held up her left arm, revealing a thick, black bracelet around her wrist. "It's a little something my doctor came up with. Trace amounts of lead are released into my bloodstream, and it keeps me from using my powers."

That surprised him, slightly, but he figured that doctors could come up with anything these days, especially for meteor infected. "I'm glad they think you're better. That doesn't change what happened between us."

"I know that, Clark. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for everything I put you through." She walked closer to him. "You're the last person on earth I ever wanted to hurt."

He took a step back from her. "Alicia…don't."

She smiled, slightly. "Don't worry, Clark. I know nothing can happen between us. I know your heart belongs to another woman, and it always will."

He nodded, glad that she seemed to understand, at least better than she did last time.

"But you still haven't answered my question…Why are you up here alone on a Saturday night?"

"I'm not alone, or at least I won't be for much longer. I'm waiting for my girlfriend…"

"I'm guessing that's who you were talking to on the phone?"

He nodded.

"I gotta say I'm surprised by that. I never thought you would choose to be with someone who wasn't the girl you were in love with…what changed?"

"Nothing's changed. I still love her. She's the same girl I told you about…"

Her eyes widened at that. "She came back to you?"

He nodded.

"I'm happy for you, Clark." She was thoughtful for a few seconds. "Does she know…does she know the truth about you?"

"Yes, she does, and she accepts me." He looked at her, nervously. "Alicia…did you—"

"Don't worry. I didn't tell anybody. I promised you that I wouldn't," she interrupted him, knowing exactly what he was going to ask her.

"Alicia…"

"The whole time I was in Belle Reve. Just the thought that there was someone out there like me, who knew what it was like to be different, gave me hope. In my darkest moment, you gave me hope, Clark."

He didn't know what to say to that, but felt touched by her words, even if he had never reciprocated her feelings.

She turned away from him, and started going down the stairs. "Bye."

He watched her leave, wondering if everything she had just said to him was true, and if she was actually cured. One part of him wanted to doubt her, especially after everything that she had put him through, but another part of him wanted her to be telling the truth because before she had become obsessed with him, they had been friends. He honestly hoped she really was better.

* * *

Martha and Lois were sitting in the dining room, having just finished cleaning up from dinner, and were now enjoying a late-night cup of coffee when Jonathon and Clark walked into the room. "So, they just let Alicia out of Bellereve?"

Clark sighed, heavily at his father. He was getting extremely tired of having this damn conversation, especially since it's the only thing they've been talking about for the past two hours, and quite honestly, he would rather be enjoying the evening with his family then talking about Alicia.

"No. They gave her some sort of lead bracelet that stops her from using her powers, and she doesn't seem as dangerous anymore."

"Her powers aren't the only thing that made her dangerous, Clark. She's obsessed with you."

"And she knows your secret," Jonathon added.

"Which she kept for over a year. Whatever they did to her in Bell Reve, maybe it worked."

Martha glanced over at Lois, who had been eerily silent during this entire exchange, and hoped that she would hold some insight that would knock some sense into her son. "Lois? Honey? What about you? What do you think about all of this?"

She looked up to find three sets of curious eyes staring at her, and quickly swallowed her sip of coffee before setting the glass down on the table. When she had gotten here a few hours ago, Clark had explained everything that had happened over one year ago, what happened tonight, and what he wanted to do about the situation. She hadn't wanted to get involved in the conversation, already knowing her stance on this particular subject, and figured that this was a family discussion, but obviously they wanted her input since they were all waiting for her to say something—anything.

"Um, well, Clark told me about what happened between him and Alicia, and I have to say that I agree with him on this one." At their crestfallen expressions she continued. "As I told Clark earlier, I don't exactly appreciate that she tried killing him, all because she was obsessed with him, but I don't think she's a danger to him or anyone else for that matter. I might not know too much about this Bellereve place or what they do to the meteor infected inside, but I do know that her doctors wouldn't have released her if she wasn't better."

It was exactly what she had told him earlier, and it felt more than nice having her on his side, even if she didn't particularly like what had happened. "Thank you."

She grinned up at him. "You're welcome. Now, with that being said, I think it's better for everyone if we find out the truth sooner rather than later, but if she so much as lays a hand on you, I will not hesitate to kick her teleporting ass."

He just chuckled, knowing that she was true to her word, and would definitely put Alicia in her place, if need be.

Jonathon shook his head from side to side, not agreeing with their decision at all, and sighed, heavily. "I don't know about this. Clark, Lois, you both know what she did. Alicia needs to be in an institution."

"Then why'd they let her out of Belle Reve? What if she really is better?"

"And what if she isn't?"

There was only one way to find out, she thought, as she grabbed her phone, sending a text message to Chloe, and grinned from ear to ear when her phone beeped, receiving the answer she wanted. "And that's exactly what we're going to find out."

Martha eyed her, skeptically. "How do you expect to do that? Just because she says she's cured doesn't mean it's the truth."

"Martha' right. She can't be trusted."

She smiled at them, knowing that they were only concerned for their son, and figured that this was the best way to reassure their doubts. "That's why my very skilled and very talented cousin is going to be here in the morning. She'll be able to figure out whether she was telling the truth or not."

"She is?"

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips, and she rolled her eyes at him. "Yes. Now, can we just enjoy the rest of the night in peace, instead of worrying about something that can't be changed, at least until tomorrow?"

Clark grinned down at her. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

Jonathon still seemed unsure about all of this, and was about to make another comment, but was stopped before he could even open his mouth when Martha grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

Martha smiled at her.

It was going to be nice having a second rational thought around here, she thought, especially since Clark and Jonathon' arguments about his abilities or the meteor infected could last for days, but with Lois here she could see that, that wasn't going to be a problem anymore.

She was definitely going to be a great added member to this family, she thought, happily.

A few hours later, Clark and Lois were cuddled up together on the black, leather recliner with a plush blanket covering them, while Martha and Jonathon were sitting on the couch watching the nightly news.

Clark growled, softly at what his beautiful girlfriend was doing to him, and right at this very moment he hoped—prayed that his parent' would just go to bed already. She was currently pressing soft, light kisses to his neck, as her hands slipped underneath his shirt, her fingers gliding up and down his chest, and he couldn't stop himself from closing his eyes in utter bliss.

It was driving him absolutely crazy!

He slowly leaned closer to her, and whispered in her ear, "Stop that."

She giggled, softly against his skin before whispering back, "Make me."

He groaned, softly when she didn't stop her ministrations, and internally cursed his parent' for being in the same room with them because at this particular moment he had some very devious things in mind that would effectively stop her endlessly teasing, but he couldn't exactly do that with them sitting a few feet away.

It was absolute torture!

Martha tried to stop herself from glancing at the young couple, but when she heard her son whimper, slightly, she couldn't refrain herself any longer, and smiled, internally at what she witnessed. She looked over at her husband, and almost burst into laughter at the dear caught in headlights expression that was plastered across his face. It was obvious that he had just realized what she had known for weeks.

About damn time he figured it out, she thought before yawning, exceptionally loud, catching the attention of the two lovebirds'. "Come on, Jonathon, I think we should go to bed."

He hesitated. One part of him wanted to confront them about what he had literally just figured out, but the expression on his wife' face told him differently, and he relented to keeping quiet, at least for now.

Lois smiled, not able to stop herself from teasing her adorable boyfriend just a little bit more. "Are you sure? You don't have to, you know, it's still kind of early."

Clark glared at her. His parents going to bed was the best thing that could possibly happen, especially since he had something in mind for his devious girlfriend, and he was really looking forward to paying her back for the unbearable torture she had put him through for the past hour.

Martha grinned at her, knowing exactly what was going through her mind, and winked, discreetly at her. "Oh, I think we do." She pulled her husband, who was now staring at them with a stern expression, off the couch, and dragged him upstairs, intending to discuss the situation at hand with him.

Once they disappeared from her sight, Lois looked up at Clark, who had a satisfying smirk on his face, and rolled her eyes at him. "Um…I think we have a problem…"

He frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"

She crawled off his lap, and tossed the blanket onto the couch. "I think your parent' know."

All the color drained from his face, at the implication of her words, and it felt like the entire world was crashing down on him. "You think?"

She nodded, uneasily.

Suddenly, he smirked, teasingly at her. "Well, who's fault is that?"

"You're blaming this on me?"

"Well, duh, miss I can't keep my hands to myself."

She grinned from ear to ear, as she moved closer to him. "What can I say? I can't help it, and it's not like they actually saw anything, besides everything I did was totally and completely PG-13."

"Says you." He stalked towards her, an evil glint in his eyes, and lightly pressed his body against hers. "You know, I have dealt with your endless torture for the past hour, and now, now I think it's time for a little payback."

"Oh really? Is that what you think? Well, if that's what you want then you're going to have to catch me first." She leaned forward, pecking his lips before turning around, and quickly darting up the stairs.

He waited for all about five seconds, a mysterious grin spread out across his face before he super sped after her, swooped her up in his arms, as she entered his bedroom, and tackled her to the bed, pinning her hands above her head.

She laughed, loudly before grinning up at him. "Now that you have me here, what are you going to do with me?"

A smirk appeared on his lips before he attacked her neck with his lips, tongue and teeth, making her moan his name loudly. He pulled away from her. "Would you keep quiet? Do you want my parent' to hear you?"

"Yeah, like you're one to talk since, you know, every single time you—"

He stopped her words with a bruising kiss, and quickly forced her lips apart, his tongue darting inside, tasting every inch of her mouth before intertwining with her own, as his hands roamed up and down her slender body.

She could feel herself becoming lost in his kisses, her body getting hotter and hotter from his touches, as he molded his body against hers perfectly, and quicker than he could blink she flipped them over, smirking down at his very surprised expression.

He slowly trailed his hands up her legs, past her waist, and slipped his fingers underneath her shirt, caressing the soft, smooth skin there. "You know, I recall a conversation where I was promised a reward for having to wait for you so long…"

"I did promise that, didn't I?"

"Mind telling me what you exactly had in mind?"

She smirked down at him. "I think I'd rather show you instead…" She slowly leaned forward, pressing her lips against his softly, sweetly, passionately, and proceeded to give him his very satisfying reward, as she had her wicked way with him.

* * *

"Well, that happened," Lois muttered, as she sat on top of a stack of hay, and watched Clark chopping blocks of wood with his bare hands.

They had been blissfully happy lying in bed this morning, relishing in the mere fact that they were able to wake up in each other's arms when there was a loud knock on his bedroom door, and heard Jonathon' booming voice demanding that they come downstairs immediately.

And, almost instantaneously their happiness had been shattered into a million pieces, and was replaced with complete and utter uncomfortableness, as Martha and Jonathon had informed them that they knew the truth depths of their relationship.

That, of course, had lead into a one-hour conversation about their relationship, what was previously expected of them, and what would be the rules from this point forward. Jonathon had attempted to enforce that, under no circumstances, were they allowed to do that under his roof, but Martha had conceded that there was absolutely no point in attempting to stop them because they were only going to end up sneaking around, like they had been doing for weeks now.

In the end, they had given them their permission, knowing that they were going to do it anyways, but there would be explicit rules that were to be followed at all times. The main one was that they weren't allowed to slack off on chores, KP duty or homework or else there would be consequences for their actions.

Clark glanced over at her, smiling when he noticed how uncomfortable she was about this entire situation, and walked over to her, standing in-between legs, which she unconsciously wrapped around his waist. "It wasn't that bad, Lo, besides at least they gave us their permission."

She sighed, heavily. "I guess you're right."

"I usually am."

"In your dreams, farm boy!"

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against his chest, and stared, intently into her hazel orbs. "Admit it. You like it when I'm right."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with strands of his hair, and moved a little bit closer to him, their bodies lightly touching. "Never gonna happen, Smallville."

"You're stubborn as all hell, Lane," he mumbled, as he leaned towards her, intending on kissing her but was stopped by her hands pressing against his chest.

"Nuh-huh. You know the rules. No fun for you until you finish your chores."

"I don't care…" he breathed out before crashing his lips against hers, and trailed one hand up her body, resting it on her lower back, pressing her body firmer against his, while his other hand gripped the back of her head, deepening their kiss.

She tightened her legs around his waist, closing the space between them, and bit his bottom lip, softly, making him moan, before slipping her tongue inside, tangling it with his, expertly.

Their moment was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Oh. I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?"

They pulled away from each other, blushing, profusely when they noticed Chloe standing a few feet away from them, a smirk plastered across her face.

Clark quickly untangled himself from Lois, and sighed, internally, at the fact that this was the second time today they were interrupted. "Nope. Not at all. We were just finishing up some chores."

She quirked a brow. "Really? That's not what it looked like from here…"

He glared at her.

Lois jumped down from her position on the stack of hay, and quickly changed the subject, not wanting to discuss her love life. "Well, now that you're here we can get to the bottom of things, and figure out if Alicia was telling the truth or not."

Twenty minutes later, they were standing in the dining room, staring at Chloe, as she typed away on her computer, and pulled up a file on Alicia. "Damn, I'm good." She quickly glanced over the information until she found exactly what she was searching for. "Alright. Alicia Baker, 'suffering from a histrionic personality disorder causing emotional instability resulting in psychotic episodes.' Yeah, that's our girl."

They quickly walked around the table, standing over Chloe' shoulders, and looked down at the computer screen, as she pulled up another file with a picture of some doctor.

"Who's that guy?" Lois asked.

She quickly read through his bio. "It's Alicia' psychiatrist, Dr. William McBride. Yeah, I've heard of him. He graduated from Harvard in two years with more degrees than a thermometer."

Lois frowned, slightly, at that. "How's that even possible?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "No clue, but I would definitely like to know his secret, especially since we're all going to be attending college soon, and it would be quite helpful to know how he did it."

Clark rolled his eyes at them. They had more important things to worry about than how a doctor got degrees faster than usual. "What's it say about Alicia?"

Chloe looked back at her computer, and quickly read the file. "Wow! Well, according to Dr. McBride, Alicia really is cured."

He was thoughtful for a few seconds, wondering if it was possible that they could be friends since she wasn't a danger to people or obsessed with him anymore. "She was telling the truth."

Lois and Chloe looked at each other, sharing sly glances before Chloe glanced at Clark, and smiled, inquisitively at him. "And that, I take it, is exactly what our young Mr. Kent wanted to hear."

He just smiled at her.

Lois clapped her hands together, happily, and looked at Clark, pointedly. "See? I told you she was better, and now that we know the truth I don't have to worry about her trying to kill you or trying to steal you away from me."

He grinned at her before walking towards her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against his chest. "Even if she wasn't cured, it never would have happened. I'm yours, forever."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and smiled up at him. "You better be."

They leaned forward sharing a sweet kiss, which made Chloe roll her eyes, dramatically, and groan, exceptionally loud. "Ugh! Get a room already!"

* * *

Later that night, Clark walked up the stairs to his loft, having just finished the last of his chores for the night, and was pleasantly surprised to find Alicia sitting on the couch. He had thought that she was spending the night with her mom in Grandville. "Alicia? What are you doing here?"

She looked over at him, and smiled, slightly before standing up from her position on the couch. "Well, um, I came to say goodbye…"

"Goodbye? Where are you going?"

"Yeah, um, I don't know really. Maybe California…"

He took several steps towards her, and stopped when he was a few feet away from her, a frown appearing on his face. "California? What are you talking about? I thought you wanted to stay. I mean, that's what you said a few hours ago. You've reconciled with your mom, we're friends again, and you and Lois even seem to get along." He stared at her, inquisitively, taking notice of the tense and terrified expression that was plastered across her face. "What's wrong?"

She stepped closer to him. "Uh…Dr. McBride, my psychiatrist, he, um, he sort of came on to me, and threatened to send me back to Bellereve if I didn't stay away from you…"

"Why would he do that?"

"I guess he's jealous or something. I-I think, in his mind, he thought that if I was out, he could be with me."

That was wrong for so, so many reasons, he thought.

"Well, go to the review board at Bellereve, and tell them about McBride."

She shook her head, vehemently. "I can't risk them revoking my probation."

"What do you think they're going to do if you just run away?"

"I don't know what else I should do…unless…"

"Unless what?"

She looked up at him, hopefully. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but um, I was kind of hoping that you could take care of him for me…"

He frowned at her, not really sure what she was getting at. "Take care of him how?"

"I don't know. Make him disappear somehow. Clark, with your abilities you can do that. It's my only other option. I-I don't want to live in fear for the rest of my life, and I don't want to leave either."

He stared at her, wide-eyed, unable to believe what he was hearing, and took a step back from her. "Alicia…I can't do that."

"It's either that or I leave. I need your help, Clark…"

"I want to help you, Alicia, I really do, but what you're asking me to do is physically impossible. I can't do it."

"Well, then I guess this is goodbye."

He sighed, heavily. "Alicia…"

She smiled at him. "It's okay, Clark. I, um, I made something for you in Bellereve for when I got out." She reached into her bag, and pulled out a necklace, which had several pieces of red Kryptonite beaded into it. "I guess now it's a goodbye present."

He stepped towards her. "You don't have to do this, Alicia. We can figure out a way to get you out of this."

"I wish there was, but there's not. I'm not as strong as you." She unclasped the necklace and showed it to him. "Would you mind wearing it? So, I can see it on you just this once?"

She didn't wait for him to respond, and walked towards him, fastening the necklace around his neck before stepping away from him to watch what would happen. She wasn't too sure how well this was going to work, but maybe, just maybe if he didn't have his inhibitions—his morals he would help her.

As soon as the necklace touched his body, he felt the effects of red Kryptonite surging throughout his entire body, making his eyes burn a bright, red, and a mischievous smirk spread out across his features. "Well, well, well, where did you learn that little piece of information from?"

She stepped towards him. "Clark, will you help me get rid of McBride now?"

"Yeah. That's not happening." He laughed, mockingly and coldly, at her despondent expression. "What? Did you seriously think that simply dosing me would make me want to help you?"

She nodded, tears brimming in her eyes.

He stalked around her body, like prey, before standing a few inches away from her face. "Well, you thought wrong. I have more important things to worry about…"

The way he was staring at her, made her feel slightly terrified and she was starting to regret what she had done, especially with the menacing look in his eyes. "Clark?"

"You're on your own, sweet cheeks," he said with a sly grin before shooting out the barn window, up into the night sky, and flew towards a certain someone who was the only thing that mattered to him.

Lois Lane.

* * *

Lois grumbled, miserably, as she sat at a table in the Talon with Chloe and Pete, and checked her phone for about the hundredth time in the past five minutes. Clark was supposed to meet her here over thirty minutes ago, but he wasn't answering his phone or returning any of her text messages, and it was beginning to worry her…immensely.

"Where the hell is he?"

Pete smiled, slightly, at her annoyance, especially since she had been complaining about him for the past ten minutes. "Awe, is someone missing their lover already?"

She glared over at him, playfully. "Like you're one to talk."

The smile fell from his face, at the meaning behind her words, and slouched back in his seat, sulking, which only made her laugh at his expense.

Over the past few weeks, she had been spending more and more time with him, well when she wasn't with Clark, and for some reason it felt like she had known him all of her life instead of a short few weeks. Quite honestly, it felt like they were becoming best friends, hell, they were already best friends, and that surprised her, slightly. When she had first moved to this small-town, she never thought that she would make friends so easily, but that had changed almost as soon as she met him, and she was thankful that she had him as a friend, especially since she could confide in him about Clark and Chloe, without prejudice.

It was nice having a friend as great as him, she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his voice. "Hello? Lois? Hello, earth to Lois!"

She blinked rapidly, attempting to clear away her thoughts, and focused back on him. "What? Did you say something?"

No wonder her and Clark were perfect for each other, he thought, since they were quite similar in lots of ways. "Yes, actually, I was asking you what you think is taking Clark so long?"

"I don't know…maybe he's with Alicia or maybe he just forgot…"

He scoffed, at her words. "Seriously? Clark Kent forgot that he had a date with you? I highly doubt that."

"Yeah. You're probably right. "She glanced over at Chloe, who hadn't uttered a single word in the past five minutes, and nudged her, slightly. "What about you? Have you heard from him?"

Silence.

They both looked over at her, frowning at her silence since it wasn't like her to be acting so reserved—so silent, actually, it was just plain weird since she always had a sarcastic comeback when talking about her and Clark' relationship.

"Hello? Chloe, we're talking to you…"

She never looked at them, "Yeah. Yeah. Whatever."

Pete sighed, heavily at her behavior, while Lois stared at her cousin for a few seconds before following her gaze, and groaned, outwardly at what she realized was distracting her…Lex Luthor.

She was practically glaring daggers at the man, and it made her want to slap her out of her trance, not because it wasn't particularly forthcoming of her to stare at him, but because this wasn't the first time that something like this has happened.

Ever since the confrontation she had with him a few weeks ago, Chloe had become her own little bodyguard, which was completely outrageous since firstly, she could take care of herself, and secondly, he hadn't showed her even the slightest of interest since their little altercation.

It wouldn't have mattered if he had anyways, she thought, there was no way in hell she was going to be frightened or unsettled by the likes of Lex freaking Luthor.

She quickly snapped her fingers in front of Chloe' face, forcing her attention to herself. "Would you stop that already?"

She frowned. "Stop what?"

Pete chuckled at her, as he shook his head back and forth. "You're practically flaying him alive with your eyes, Sullivan."

"I was doing it again, wasn't I?

"You think?"

Lois rolled her eyes, and sighed, heavily. "Look, Chlo, I understand what you're trying to accomplish here, but I don't need you fighting my battles for me. I can deal with Lex Luthor all on my own."

"Oh really? Now, that's something I would love to see…"

They all groaned, loudly at the sound of his voice before Chloe quickly went into protective mode, and stood up, confronting him. "No one cares what you think, Luthor."

He quirked a brow at her. "Really? What did I ever do to you to deserve such hatred?"

"You know exactly what you did."

"What would that be exactly?"

She glared, heatedly at him, and stepped closer to him. "Don't play dumb."

"I don't have time for this," Lois muttered underneath her breath.

Lex glanced over at her, smirking, devilishly. "What was that, Lois?"

She quickly stood up, grabbing her things, and stared at him, pointedly. "I said I don't have time for this, now if you excuse me, I have more important places to be."

As she walked by him, he gripped her arm in his hand, pulling her closer to him, and whispered, low enough that only she could hear his words, "I hope you haven't forgotten about our little conversation…"

She pulled away from him, and glared, menacingly. "I know that if you don't unhand me, I will not hesitate to send you back to the hell you came from."

He ignored the snickers coming from Chloe and Pete, and grinned from ear to ear, at her words. "Feisty. I like it."

Clark, who had just walked into the Talon, saw red as he watched Lex manhandle his woman, and felt this overpowering rage consume every fiber within his being.

In the past few weeks, he had thought about the conversation between her and Lex, the one she refused to talk about, and admittedly it had bothered him a lot more than he realized, but with the red Kryptonite running through his veins he was going to make sure that he stayed the hell away from her.

No one upset the love of his life, he thought before walking towards them, faster than humanly possible, and clamped his hand down on his shoulder. "I suggest that you let go of her immediately, Luthor."

He sighed, heavily, and let go of her arm before turning around towards him. "Since when did we go back to formalities?"

"We haven't been friends for a long time, Lex. I'm not friends with people who openly upset the people I care about, and Lois, my girlfriend, is at the top of that list. So, how about you do everyone a favor, and just leave her the hell alone."

Chloe and Pete stared at Clark, wide-eyed, with their mouths slightly dropped open, at his very, very peculiar behavior. Lois, on the other hand, couldn't fathom the words coming out of her boyfriend' mouth, and wondered what the hell had gotten into him since he had never indicated that her little confrontation with Lex had bothered him…so, why in the hell was he acting like this?

Lex glanced over at Lois before smirking at Clark. "I can't exactly do that, you know, since I'm only trying to protect her heart from you no less."

Anger fumed deeply inside of her, at his words before she charged towards him, completely done with his not so subtle threats, but was stopped by Clark' arm effectively stopping her movements, and frowned, as he gently pushed her behind him, blocking her from Lex' sight.

"What are you getting at, Luthor?"

He smirked, intimidatingly. "I'm only speaking the truth. We all know what's going to happen, you're going to spill this whole act of being completely in love with her, but in the end, you'll break her heart, you know, since sooner or later you will go crawling back to Lana…you always do."

His eyes blazed a bright, red for a few seconds before returning to his natural blue color, as complete and utter animosity filled him, and he quickly grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket, shoving him against the wall. "What gives you the right to undermine my relationship with her? You know nothing, Luthor! If you ever come near her again, I swear I will not hesitate to end your pathetic life!"

Chloe stared, wide-eyed at her best friend, and took a few steps back, not entirely sure what the hell had gotten into him, but knew one thing for sure…she had never, ever seen him behave this way before. Pete, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening since he had seen this side of him a few times before, and felt fear grip him, at what could happen.

"Oh no…"

Lois frowned at him. Never, in all the time she has known him, has she ever seen him this angry before, and it made her wonder what the hell was going on with him. He would never, ever behave this way, not usually, so, what the hell happened to make him so volatile?

She placed her hands on his arm, and felt how tense he seemed to be underneath her touch. "Clark. Let him go."

He snapped his head towards her, a frown set in place, and his eyes gazing down at her, intently. "Why should I? He's attempting to ruin what we have! He's attempting to destroy our love for each other! I won't let him do that…"

Okay, something was seriously wrong with him, she thought before griping his face into her hands, and stared deeply into his anger-filled eyes. "No, Clark, he could never do that. I love you. I will always love you, and no matter what he or anybody else says that's never going to change. I'm yours…forever."

She smiled at him, once his gaze softened, and he seemed to be calming down, at least a little bit. "Now, let him go." He hesitated. "Baby, please, let him go."

He glared at Lex, one last time before roughly slamming him against the wall, making him wince, slightly, and quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her out of there without another word.

As they disappeared into the crowd, Chloe and Pete seemed worried for their best friend for completely different reasons, while Lex felt more disgruntled by the revelation he just had.

It was obvious that his feelings for the feisty blonde ran deep, and that was definitely going to be a problem—a bigger problem than he already had. Hopefully, the information he would receive from Wilkinson would be enough to not only tear those two apart, but also give him what he needed to get the answers he so desperately wanted—needed.

Lois quickly pulled away from him, once they were outside, which only made him frown at her. "Baby? What's wrong?"

She quirked a brow at him, frowning, immensely, and placed her hands on her hips. "What's wrong? Are you seriously asking me that? You were literally going to murder Lex in front of everyone! What the hell has gotten into you?"

He stepped towards her, and ran a finger delicately down her cheek. "Nothing. I just don't appreciate him attempting to tear us apart by telling you lies about my feelings for you." He grinned from ear to ear, making her even more worried about his odd behavior. "I love you more than anything, Lo, and I'm going to prove that to everyone."

She frowned at him, and knew that there was seriously something wrong with her once mild-mannered farm boy, especially since he had never, ever acted this way before. "What are you talking about?"

He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest, and practically kissed the life out of her, completely surprising her to the point where she was utterly speechless when he pulled away from her.

"I think it's time we make our relationship official," he breathed out before shooting up into the sky, flying towards the one place where he could officially make her his.

She yelped, loudly, completely surprised by the sudden movement, and quickly tightened her arms and legs around his body, as they soared through the night sky.

 _They were flying! He was flying! How the hell was this even possible?_

As her mind conjured up ideas to what could have happened to him in the few short hours they were apart, his words hit her like a jackhammer, and she wondered what he had exactly meant by that. "Clark, um, what did you mean by making our relationship official?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're getting married…tonight."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, at the pure conviction in the tone of his voice, and nearly passed out, as his words reverberated in her head over and over again. Was he freaking crazy? What the hell was going through his head? Was he even thinking at all?

"Put me down."

He looked over at her, frowning. "What?"

"Put me down right now!"

As soon as her two feet hit solid ground she took several deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart, and glared at him. "We can't get married!"

"Why not?"

She sighed, heavily at him, and placed her hands on his chest. "Seriously, Clark, what has gotten into you? You're acting like a completely different person right now…"

Once the words slipped past her lips, she realized immediately what was wrong with him, as memories of everything he had told her about what happened to him while on red Kryptonite came back to her, and everything that had happened started making complete sense.

"Where is it?"

He stared at her for a few seconds, one part of him not wanting to tell her where it was since he liked the way it made him feel, but the other part of him would never, ever be able to deny her anything, especially with the way she was gazing at him with those beautiful hazel orbs. "It's around my neck."

She quickly stepped forward, removing the necklace from around his neck, and tossed it as far away from him as possible.

He gasped, loudly, as memories of what he wanted and intended to do to Lex and the fear he must have endured inside of Lois came rushing to the forefront of his mind, and collapsed to the ground, tears brimming in his eyes.

She quickly knelt down next to him, wrapping her arms around his body, and felt relief surge through her, as he wrapped his arms around her, clinging onto her for dear life.

He whispered into her hair, "I'm so, so sorry, Lo, oh god, I'm so sorry."

She pulled away from him, slightly, and stared into his remorseful-filled eyes. "It's okay, baby."

He shook his head, vehemently. "No, it's not okay. I-I almost did something I could never come back from. I-I frightened you. I'm sorry, baby, I'm so, so sorry."

"You could never do that, Clark. I love you, and I trust you. I was just extremely worried about you." She was thoughtful for a few seconds. "What happened?"

"Alicia."

She quickly stood up, completely enraged, and starting pacing back and forth. "I thought she wasn't obsessed with you anymore…why the hell would she do this to you?"

He slowly stood, and tentatively walked towards her. "She's not."

"Then why the hell did she drug you?"

"I don't know, but um, I think she thought that if I was on red Kryptonite than I would help her get rid of her psychiatrist…"

She frowned. "William McBride? Why would she want you to get rid of him?"

"He's been coming onto her—harassing her, and even threatened to send her back to Bellereve if she didn't stay away from me."

She softened, slightly, at that, but was still feeling very pissed off from what she had done, and what she had caused. "Well, we need to figure out a way to stop him, a way that doesn't include you using your abilities."

"I know." He stared at her, intently, for a few seconds. "Lois, I, um, I—"

"It's fine, Clark." She quickly interrupted him, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "We'll talk about it later, but right now we need to find Alicia."

He nodded, resolutely, and swooped her up into his arms before super speeding them away.

* * *

"Her mom hasn't heard anything either?" Clark sighed, heavily into the phone, as he stood in the barn. "Okay. Call me if you hear anything, okay Chloe?"

Lois groaned, loudly, as she stood a few feet away from him, listening to the conversation, and started pacing back and forth. "Well, what the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know…I guess we just wait until we hear from Chloe or maybe she'll just show up…"

She stared at him, like he was crazy, and rolled her eyes to the sky, thinking that, that was an absolutely horrible idea, intending on telling him just that when she noticed Dr. William McBride walking into the barn. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He completely ignored her, and trained his focus on Clark, as he stepped further into the barn. "I warned Alicia to stay away from you."

Clark stepped forward, standing right next to Lois, and glared at the man. "Where is she?"

"She called me from her cellphone, completely hysterical, and crying thinking that maybe she wasn't better—that maybe she belonged back at Bellereve."

Lois scoffed at that, knowing it was complete bullshit, and took a step towards him. "Yeah right. Like we're going to believe that. You probably threatened her just like you've done from the moment she was released."

"Shut up!" He yelled at her before turning back to Clark, and glared, heatedly. "Alicia is my greatest achievement. When she came to me, her mind was fractured and broken. I made her whole again. Now, look at what you've done to her."

Clark stared at the man, shocked and confused. "What I've done?"

"He didn't do anything! Alicia is the only one responsible for her actions, hell, the only reason she wanted to run away was because of you!"

He quickly pulled out a gun, and pointed it directly at her chest. "I told you to shut up! This doesn't concern you!"

She glanced down at the gun, briefly before looking back up into his face. "Actually, it does concern me since that's my boyfriend your blaming for something he had absolutely nothing to do with."

"So, you're the reason my precious, innocent Alicia is completely distraught…" He stepped closer to her. "Maybe I should just eliminate both of you then."

Clark immediately felt fear seep deep inside of him, as the woman he loves with all of his heart life was literally being threatened, and took several steps towards her, intending on protecting her from this insane man. "You're not going to touch her."

"Really? Is that what you think?"

"Do you really think your threats are going to frighten me off?" She scoffed at the idea, and shook her head from side to side. "Trust me, I've dealt with men a hell of a lot worse than you."

That immediately caught Clark' attention, and he frowned down at her, wondering what the hell she meant by that exactly, but didn't ponder on it for too long, his thoughts too consumed by the imminent danger she was really in. "Lois…stop…"

She completely ignored him, intending on saying something else, but didn't get the chance to because there was this bright flash of light, and she noticed Alicia appear out of thin air, standing directly behind McBride. "Stop it! They didn't do anything!"

He quickly spun around towards her, slightly surprised by her sudden appearance. "What are you doing here?"

Clark felt like his heart was going explode right out of his chest, it was thumping so hard. Not only was his girlfriend' life in danger, but so was his friends. "Alicia, get out of here!"

McBride turned back towards him, and glared. "Don't tell her what to do!"

Alicia stepped further into the barn. "Clark, Lois, I know I made a huge mistake. I shouldn't have done what I did. I'm really, really sorry, and I hope you can forgive me for what I've done."

"No! I'm not going to allow them to continue hurting you!"

She glared at him. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"This stops now!" He said before turning back towards them, pointed the gun at Lois' chest, and pulled the trigger.

Clark felt his heart literally drop into his stomach, as fear consumed his entire body, and was seconds away from stopping that bullet when Alicia teleported in front of Lois.

"AHHH!" She screamed in pain, as the bullet pierced straight through her chest, and she fell into Lois, who collapsed onto the ground with her in her arms.

"ALICIA!" McBride screamed out, as he rushed to her side, but Clark quickly pushed him with one hand, sending him flying through the barn wall, and collapsed onto his knees next to them.

"We should get to a hospital, don't you think?"

Lois couldn't believe what had just happened, and gently removed the hair away from her face, as she stared down at her, completely surprised. "You saved my life…"

She locked eyes with her, and smiled, weakly. "You're the woman Clark loves, of course, I would save your life."

"Alicia, why'd you do that? You knew I could've protected her—you knew I could've caught that bullet."

"Because I promised you that I would always protect your secret. I promised." She muttered before her eyes fluttered shut.

"Alicia!"

"Clark, you need to get her to the hospital. Now!"

He nodded before very carefully lifting her up into his arms, and super sped away.

* * *

Later that night, Clark and Lois laid in her bed, the sheets covering their bodies, as his arms were wrapped around her body, and her head was rested upon his chest, just enjoying the peace—the serenity between them.

But…

Lois was feeling anything but peaceful at the moment, in all actuality, her mind was replaying everything that had happened in the past few days over and over again. The fact that Clark had been more unnerved about her conversation with Lex than he had initially let on. The fact that she slipped up when she was talking to McBride, one she hoped he either didn't catch or forgot about. But, most of all, she couldn't stop thinking about the fact that while on red Kryptonite he had wanted to marry her, hell, he was ready to fly them to Vegas. Was that just the meteor rock or was that something he actually wanted?

He could feel her tensing underneath his touch, and knew that whatever she was thinking about was bothering her…immensely, which bothered him. "What's running through that beautiful mind of yours?"

She chuckled, and looked up at him. "You know me so well."

"That I do…so, mind telling me what you're thinking about?"

A sigh escaped past her lips, and she rested her chin against his chest. "I was just thinking about what you wanted to do when you were on red Kryptonite…"

"What are you talking about, exactly? I wanted to do a lot of things last night…"

"The part where you wanted to get married…"

He smiled, slightly, not entirely sure how she was going to react to what he had to say about that, but he wouldn't lie to her…not ever. "Lois, I wasn't exactly myself then, but um, yes, it's true…I do want to marry you one day."

She grinned up at him. "I want to marry you too, Clark Kent."

"Really?"

"Yes, but that's like way, way in the future."

He kissed the top of her head, lightly. "I know, baby."

It was silent between them for a few minutes. "Clark?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever think about having children?"

He was startled by her question, that was for sure, especially since they had never actually had conversations such as this one before, but answered her nonetheless. "Yes. I've always wanted to have children of my own, but um, I don't think it's possible for me…"

She frowned at his words, and looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Lois, I'm not human, and I-I just don't know if that's a possibility for us."

"I don't think that's true at all. Your anatomy is the same as everyone else's. Sure, you might have abilities, but that doesn't mean you can't have children with a human."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course, but that's also something that's way, way in the future. I'm in no way prepared to have children."

He chuckled at her. "Me either."

She stared at him for a few seconds, studying him, intently. "Clark, if we were to have kids, what would you want to name them?"

"Lo-is…" He said, warningly, knowing that this topic of conversation was completely outrageous, and something they didn't need to worry about anytime soon.

"Come on, baby, I just want to know."

He stared into her beautiful eyes, realizing that she was being serious about this, and relented to her, like always.

It was impossible to deny her anything, he thought.

"Hmm. Well, um, if we were to have a boy I'd probably want to name him Kaleb."

She frowned at him for a few moments before realizing why he wanted that particular name, and smirked up at him. "Why? So, you can nickname him Kal?"

He nodded.

"I thought you disliked your Kryptonian name."

"I don't dislike it exactly, but I just think Kaleb Kent would be the perfect name."

"Kaleb Lane-Kent," she corrected him, with a sly grin.

He chuckled, pulling her closer to him. "What about if we have a girl? What would you want to name her?"

"Krislyn."

"Why that name?"

"It was my mother' middle name."

He smiled down at her. "I think that's a perfect name…Krislyn Lane-Kent."

They grinned, widely at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter. "This is ridiculous."

"I know," he said between giggles before kissing her sweetly, passionately, and tightened his arms around her body. "I love you, Lois."

"I love you too, Clark." She resettled, more comfortably atop his chest, and allowed the comfort of his strong arms to lure her into a deep sleep.

* * *

 _ **This chapter was a lot harder to write than I thought it would be, especially since I believed that it would be easier to write a scripted episode than A/U, but I was definitely wrong about that. I wanted this to still have the elements of Smallville, but also have my own twist to it so, I hope I didn't completely crash and burn on this chapter. I skipped the conversation with Martha and Jonathon telling Clark and Lois about knowing that they were sleeping together because I just didn't see the need to have a detailed scene about that, and I also skipped the hospital scene between Clark and Alicia because it just seemed pointless. Also, I know Ella' middle name is not Krislyn, but I wanted a good reason for Lois to want to name her child that, and that's the best I could come up with.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty!**_


	32. Chapter Thirty One

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-One:**_

 _ **(Quotes from 'Pariah')**_

* * *

"I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the jukebox baby! I love rock and roll, so come and take your time and dance with me."

Clark grinned from ear to ear, as he sat next to Pete in the front row of the loud and cheering crowd, watching his best friend and beautiful girlfriend singing and dancing on the stage inside the Talon, and couldn't help feeling this rush of excitement as he watched Lois singing and dancing for him.

It was great!

"He smiled, so I got up and asked for his name."

Lois stepped off stage, standing a few feet away from him, and smiled, flirtatiously, as she pointed her finger directly at him. "You, right there."

Pete nudged his side, as a small bubble of laughter escaped past his throat, and he couldn't stop himself from grinning, at her little performance for him. He could hear the entire crowd erupting into cheers and chants, and turned around when he heard Lana and Jason chuckling, but the smile fell from his face almost instantly at what he saw or rather who he saw.

There was a young man, Tim, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat, as his eyes roamed up and down Lois' body, practically undressing her with his eyes, and he could sense a provocative gaze lingering in his eyes as he looked or rather stared at her.

He didn't like it. Nope. Not one bit.

It was stupid feeling this way, he thought, especially since he had nothing to fear from this guy, but still, he couldn't help feeling just a tad bit jealous, hell, he was more than just a little jealous, and that was the most irritating feeling—a feeling he hasn't felt in a very long time. It wasn't because he was jealous that this guy, who would never have a chance with her, was leering at her, predatorily. It was because this guy seemed to care less if she had a boyfriend, which she did, and it was pretty obvious to everyone in this town that she was his—that she would always be his.

He quickly turned back around, determined to not let some petty emotion such as jealousy get the better of him, and chuckled, completely amused, at the spectacle the two women on stage were presenting.

"He said it doesn't matter cause it's all the same. I said, can I take you home where we can be alon-woe-wone? And then we were moving on and he was with me. Yeah, me."

Alicia slowly walked into the Talon, and stood in the very back of the room, watching with a huge smile plastered on her face, as her new friend danced and sang to her little heart's desire. It was quite obvious to anyone that she was literally singing and dancing for her boyfriend.

It was quite adorable, she thought, actually they were just adorable together, and she had a feeling that even if all hell broke loose those two wouldn't lose track of what was important to them…their love for each other.

Over the past two or so weeks, she had been spending more and more time with Lois and Clark, becoming really, really good friends with them. Whenever she wasn't in Grandville with her mom, she was with them, and it felt extremely nice having friends that accepted her—trusted her, but most of all, believed in her, especially when one of those people were none other than Lois Lane—a very, very unique woman.

It was understandable why Clark was so smitten with her, she thought.

Lois noticed Alicia standing in the background, and gave her a huge, cheery smile before singing the next verse with Chloe, "Next we're moving on and he was with me, yeah, me singing I love rock and roll! So, put another dime in the jukebox baby! I love rock and roll, so come and take your time and dance with me!"

Clark, Pete, Lana and Jason all turned around when they noticed Lois' gaze travel to the back of the room, and she couldn't help feeling a little intimidated by the four different sets of eyes staring at her. Pete was staring at her wide-eyed, with a frown set in place, while Lana and Jason seemed absolutely disgusted by the mere sight of her, and Clark, well he grinned, widely before standing up and walking towards her.

"Hey! What are you doing here? I thought you were spending the night in Grandville with your mom."

She chuckled, slightly, at his surprise, and became very, very aware of all the eyes that were trained on them, but attempted to ignore them as best she could. "That was the plan, well, at least until a few hours ago." At his frown she continued. "Lois invited me. Supposedly, we were supposed to have a girl's night out."

He was about to respond with a sarcastic remark about his lovely girlfriend never telling him anything, but of course, didn't get the chance to even open his mouth because they could hear Lana' voice overpowering the music, the women singing, and the cheering crowd. "You've got to be kidding me!"

At the sound of her very disgustful-filled tone of voice, which reverberated off the walls, loudly, Lois and Chloe stopped singing, and the music halted, instantaneously, as all eyes were focused on Clark and Alicia.

Lois glared down at Lana, heatedly before jumping off the stage, completely ignoring her cousin and Pete' protests, and walked towards her new friend. "Hey, girl. I wasn't expecting you for at least another hour." She quickly glanced around, realizing that everyone inside the Talon was staring at them with not so tasteful gazes, and when she looked back at her noticed how withdrawn she had become. "Don't worry about them. They'll just have to get over it, besides it doesn't matter what everyone thinks."

Clark nodded, as in agreement, but that didn't seem to defuse her discomfort.

"I'm not so sure about that…"

Lana just couldn't believe her eyes. First, she gets released from Bellereve claiming to be cured. Secondly, for the past two weeks she has been walking around town like she hasn't done anything wrong. And, now, now she was chumming it up with her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend. What the hell was wrong with them? Why were they even friends with her?

She turned towards Jason, who has been completely understanding about her feelings for Clark, and has been a really, really good friend to her in the past few weeks, and sighed, heavily. "I think I've seen enough for one night." She quickly stood up, ignoring his protests, and started walking towards her apartment upstairs.

Alicia watched her for a few seconds before turning back towards Clark and Lois, "I'll be right back," and quickly chased after her.

"Alicia, wait! Don't…"

Lois attempted to stop her from chasing after Lana, but was stopped by Clark gripping her shoulders in his hands, and forced her to divert her attention back to him. "She has to try to clear the air between them, Lo."

She wasn't too sure that this was a good idea. "This isn't going to be good."

"I know."

Alicia rushed up to Lana, wanting to prove that she was indeed better, and that she was extremely apologetic for what she had done in the past. "Lana, wait!"

Lana stopped walking, and sighed, heavily before turning around to face her.

"I just want to apologize…"

She laughed, but there was absolutely no humor in her voice, only utter disdain. "For what? Trying to kill me or not succeeding?"

"Look, all I want is a chance to prove to you who I really am."

She snidely remarked, "You already have," before she quickly rushed up the stairs.

Clark, Lois and Jason, who had listened to the entire conversation, walked up to Alicia, who seemed even more withdrawn than she was before.

Jason glared at her before turning angrily towards Clark and Lois. "I can't believe you guys are actually friends with her, especially after everything she has done."

Clark sighed, heavily. "Jason, listen—"

"Listen to what? Another apology?" He rudely interrupted him.

It was obvious that not everyone was going to be as understanding as Clark and Lois were, she thought, miserably before sighing, heavily. "I think I'm just gonna go…"

"Alicia…" Lois called out, as she started to walk away, not wanting her to be upset over what had happened here tonight.

She turned back towards them, and smiled, weakly. "It's okay, Lois. We'll do our girl's night a different night."

She watched her walk out of the Talon, feeling bad for her friend before she took a deep breath, and turned towards Jason, glaring, heatedly at him. "Great! Now, look at what you've done!"

"Lois…" Clark whispered her name, warningly, knowing that she was about to go on one of her famously known rants, and knew that, that was only going to make matters worse, but he was proud of her for attempting to defend their friend, even after everything she did a few weeks ago.

He glared right back at her. "What? She deserved it!"

She took a step towards him. "She's just trying to prove that she's better. Everyone deserves a second chance."

He laughed, coldly. "Except that she doesn't. God, Lois, your so naïve if you actually believe the words that are coming out of your mouth. She tried killing Lana, and your boyfriend, but you're still defending her."

"It doesn't matter what she's done in the past, hell, I've done some questionable things in the past, and you don't see everyone backlashing me for it."

"You weren't even here when she did those things."

She smirked at him. "Neither were you."

"That's not the point!"

"It doesn't matter." Clark quickly said with a slightly raised voice, as he stepped in-between them, effectively stopping their endless back and forth bickering, and looked at Jason, pleadingly. "Jason, she just wants a chance to prove herself. Why can't you or Lana understand that?"

He scoffed, and shook his head from side to side. "I can't believe either of you…you think just cause she says she's better that everything's gonna be okay? Come on, be realistic." He quickly walked away from them, and headed up the stairs towards Lana.

Lois sighed, heavily. "Well, that went well."

He turned towards her, frowning, slightly. "Your commentary didn't help any either…"

She glared up at him. "You're blaming me for this?"

He quickly reached out, grabbing her wrists in his hands when he noticed that she was about to walk away from him. "No. Lois, I didn't mean it like that. I know you're only trying to be her friend."

"We're trying to be her friend," she corrected him, with a smile before glancing over towards the front doors, and sighed. "We should go find her."

"No. Let's just give her some space." All of a sudden, he grinned from ear to ear, and shuffled a little closer to her. "In the meantime, I think I'd like to talk about that little show you put on earlier…"

She smirked, mischievously. "Why, Mr. Kent, did you think that was for you?"

He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her into his chest. "Oh, I know it was."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and slightly leaned back in his arms. "Well, if you're lucky, I might just give you a private show later."

His eyes widened, in utter excitement, and his heart pounded rapidly in his chest, at the implication behind her words before a mischievous smirk spread across his face. "Why wait until later…"

Before she could even think of something to say, he quickly ushered her out of the Talon, intending to enjoy the rest of the night with her…immensely.

Unbeknownst to them or anyone else, a pair of cold, pale blue eyes watched them, silently and quite contemptuously from the shadows.

Later that night, Clark and Lois walked down the white, long, dwindling corridors of the hospital with their hands intertwined, and searched for Lana' room. They had been 'busy' enjoying their night together when they had been interrupted by a phone call from Chloe, informing them that Lana had been attacked in her apartment after they had left the Talon.

They rounded the corner, where they noticed both Pete and Chloe standing outside her room, and quickly rushed over to them. "How's Lana? Is she okay?"

Chloe smiled, tightly, at both of them. "Hey, Clark, Lois. Yeah. She's fine, I mean, lucky for her Jason pulled a T.J. Hooker, and broke the bathroom door down."

Pete stepped forward, and also smiled, tightly at them. "Only to discover Lana' mystery assailant had somehow flown the coop…so, have they arrested your guy's new bestie yet?"

Clark frowned at them, feeling completely and utterly confused. "What?"

Lois, on the other hand, could easily read what they weren't exactly saying out loud, and it filled her with slight anger, more than she was feeling earlier. "You don't seriously believe that Alicia had anything to do with this, do you?"

Chloe sighed, heavily. "Sherriff Adams was just here, and she spent a lot of time focusing on the 'attacked in a locked room' scenario."

"And the name Alicia Baker came up more than once…"

Clark shook his head at them. "Alicia didn't do this."

Lois immediately took notice of the doubtful expressions that were plastered across their faces. "It's obvious that you two are having a hard time believing that."

They just shrugged their shoulders, like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"Look, ever since she was released from Bellereve she's been wearing her lead bracelet. It prevents her from using her abilities."

"Clark, Lois, I know you guys want to believe her, but just because Alicia says that the bracelet keeps her from teleporting doesn't mean it's the truth."

Clark was about to say something to defend his friend, but was pleasantly surprised when Lois took the lead, and was even more surprised by her words since he knew they weren't exactly true. "She was with me and Clark when Lana got attacked. After we left the Talon, we found her, and attempted to calm her down, you know, after everyone practically embarrassed and humiliated her."

Chloe eyed her cousin, skeptically, not too sure if she believed that or not. "Even if that is true, you can't say that you were with her every second. Come on, even you can admit that she can transport easier than Captain Kirk."

"And, let's not forget that she tried killing you and Lana once before already…"

Clark shook his head from side to side, and spoke with confidence, "I'm telling you Alicia couldn't have done this."

Lois nodded her head, agreeing with him. "We need to figure out who really did this."

Chloe was about to respond when the door to Lana' room opened, and Jason walked out. Clark quickly walked over to him. "How's Lana?"

"Why should you care? Your little friend is the one who did this to her."

Lois quickly stepped forward. "There's no proof of that."

"Jason, we just want to make sure she's okay."

He stared at him, feeling completely annoyed. "Lana doesn't want to see you." He glanced over at Lois, and glared at her. "Either of you." He quickly walked back into her room, effectively slamming the door in their faces.

They sighed, heavily before turning back around towards Chloe and Pete, who were staring at them, disbelievingly. "Do you guys seriously believe that she's innocent in all of this?"

She glared at her cousin. "Yes, we do." She slowly wrapped her hands around Clark's arm, and squeezed, softly. "Come on, Clark, we'll talk to her later. Right now, we need to figure out what is really going on."

He nodded, figuring that she had a point, and allowed her to pull him down the hallway.

* * *

Clark and Lois stood in the kitchen of the farmhouse with Martha and Jonathon, as Sherriff Adams leaned up against the counter, writing in her notepad before glancing up at Clark. "I'm getting a funny sense of déjà vu here, Mr. Kent, haven't we acted out this particular charade before?"

He sighed, heavily. They had been talking to her for the past thirty minutes, and he was beginning to become really, really tired of repeating the same thing over and over again. "This is different, Sherriff. Alicia did not attack Lana. She was with both me and Lois."

She glanced over at Lois, who was standing next to Clark with her arms crossed over her chest, and glaring, heatedly at her. "I better not find out that you're covering for her. That goes for you as well Miss Lane. Having you two as an alibi is the only thing keeping me from tossing her tail in jail."

She nodded at both of them for emphasis, and glanced at Martha and Jonathon, as she turned to leave. Jonathon opened the front door for her, and quietly shut it behind her before turning back towards Clark and Lois with a frown set in place.

Clark groaned, completely exasperated. "Sherriff Adams already has Alicia tried and convicted, just like the rest of this town."

Jonathon walked towards them. "Sherriff Adams has a point, Clark."

"First, she attempts to kill you and Lana last year, then she drugs you with red Kryptonite not even a few weeks ago, and now she's assaulted Lana."

Lois quickly stepped forward, not wanting this to turn into a full-throttle argument between everyone, especially since she had seen a few of those already, and she'd rather not experience it again. "There's no proof that she actually did this."

"Lois is right. Alicia didn't do this."

"Clark, Lois, she has major problems, and this little friendship you two have with her is only going to hurt you both in the end. Why can't you guys see that?"

"Look, I know you are both worried, but we're trusting her—believing in her, and I personally believe that she deserves a chance to prove that she is better—that she didn't do this."

"You guys always taught me to look for the good in people, to believe in them, and Alicia deserves a second chance."

Jonathon took a deep breath, as if to respond to their comments, but Martha quickly cut him off. "Why do you guys keep defending her, especially after everything she has done, not only a few weeks ago, but also last year."

Clark completely lost his temper. "Because she kept my secret! Because she got shot protecting Lois! What else does she have to do to prove herself?"

Lois quickly wrapped her hands around his arm. "Clark, calm down, they're just trying to get us to see this from their point of view."

He looked down at her, and smiled, allowing himself to calm down a little bit from the thought of her being on his side—of believing in their friend when no one else would.

Martha glanced between the two of them. "What if she actually did this? What is she attacked Lana the way she did before?"

Clark and Lois looked over at each other, simultaneously, and shared a worried and concerned glance. They wanted to believe in their friend, hell, they've been arguing to everyone about it for the past two days, but what if it was possible? What if Alicia was the one that attacked Lana?

* * *

Later that day, Chloe and Lois walked out of the Torch office, having just finished up their last class for the day, and made their way down the hallways, towards Chloe's locker.

Lois sighed, heavily at her cousin. They had been arguing for the past thirty minutes about Alicia, and she was getting sick and tired of having the same conversation over and over again. It was quite obvious that she was ready to prosecute her, just like everyone else in this town. Why couldn't anyone besides her or Clark believe that she was innocent in all of this?

"I understand why you, Pete, Lana, Jason and even the Kent's believe that she is guilty, but I don't personally believe that she could have done this."

She quirked a brow, at her words before opening up her locker. "Why not? Lois, you weren't even here when all of those things she did happened last year, and now it's happening again. I don't think it's a coincidence that Lana was attacked not even a few weeks after she was released from Bellereve."

"That doesn't mean anything, come on, Chloe, think about this for a second, this town is literally filled with meteor infected, so, why are you and everyone else in this damn town so adamant about Alicia being the one that did this?"

She tossed her books into her locker, and shut it before looking over at her cousin. "Because I know what she did last year. Even if Clark told you what happened, it's not the same. She tried to kill both Clark and Lana, and now she just tried again." She eyed her, cryptically. "Is the only reason you believe that she is telling the truth is because Clark believes she is?"

She frowned at her words. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, Lo, I know that both you and Clark are more than happy to be back in each other's lives, hell, everyone is, but maybe, just maybe, your letting that cloud your judgement. I mean, are you only agreeing with him because you don't want to fight about this with him?"

She stared at her, wide-eyed, and felt anger rise deep inside of her, at the implication behind her words. How could she even think of something as ludicrous as that? "Clark has nothing to do with my decision to believe in her…do you really think I would just agree with him all because I didn't want to argue with him? We argue all the damn time."

She smirked, an amused glint lingering in her eyes. "You bicker. It's not the same thing."

"What are you getting at, Chloe?"

"I'm just confused is all…what happened to the girl who refused to believe in people who didn't deserve second chances, especially after they had done something so incredibly sinister…"

She glared at her, instantaneously, knowing exactly was she was referring to. "Did you seriously just bring that up?"

"I'm sorry, Lo, I don't mean to bring up bad memories, but you have to admit it's a little weird that you're so quick to believe in her when she doesn't deserve it…"

"That is not the same thing, and you know it. Alicia is nothing like him, besides the situations are completely different. I'm not choosing to believe in her because Clark or anybody else wants me to. I'm believing in her because she's my friend." She took a deep, deep breath. They were getting off track. "Chloe, can you please just find out if there is someone else who could do something like this?"

She sighed, heavily. "I don't think there is anyone else, besides why should I want to prove her innocence when it's so obvious that she's guilty."

"You don't know that for sure."

"I think I do, Lois, the bathroom door was locked. Who else could've gotten in? Or out for that matter?"

Clark, who had overheard the last part of their conversation, walked up to them, and stood next to Lois. "That's what we want to know, Chloe, we need to find out if there's anybody else in Smallville who has abilities similar to Alicia's."

She shook her head from side to side. "I'm sorry, guys, but I just don't see the point. Even if there was someone else out there like Alicia, what would they have against Lana?"

Before either of them could respond to her, Tim walked up to them, interrupting their conversation. "Hey. I finished that op-ed piece, Chloe." He glanced over at Lois, and grinned from ear to ear, making her feel slightly uncomfortable. "Hey, Lois."

"Hey…"

Clark frowned at him, not liking the way he was smiling at her, and that all too familiar feeling of jealousy rose inside of him, but quickly pushed it down. This guy wasn't stupid enough to do or say something in front of him…right?

He wasn't too sure about that so, instead of tempting fate he stepped closer to her, their skin barely touching, and made sure that he completely understood the message he was silently sending him.

Tim completely ignored Clark and Chloe for that matter, smiling even wider at her. "I had a feeling that I'd bump into you here."

Lois just smiled at him.

Guess not, Clark thought, as he glared daggers at the man.

Chloe, on the other hand, attempted to hide her smile behind her hand, as she realized what was exactly happening, and the way her best friend was behaving. Someone's jealous, she thought before watching the hilarious scene unfold right in front of her eyes.

"Um, I was wondering if, uh, if you'd like to maybe have a cup of coffee or something with me, maybe…"

Her eyes widened, in complete and utter surprise. Was he asking her out on a date? Was he serious? Didn't he know that she was currently in a committed relationship? A relationship that she never intended on leaving. Clark was her everything, and there was no way in hell she would ever leave him for any other man.

"Coffee? As in a date?"

He nodded, still smiling at her. "Of course, as a date, Lois."

Clark's eyes nearly bugged out of his head, at the scene unfolding right in front of him, and glared even more so at the man. Was he serious? What the hell was his problem?

First, he leered at her like a man crazed last night, and now, now he was asking Lois, his woman, out on a freaking date right in front of him. Was he completely delusional or did he actually believe that he had a chance with her?

It didn't matter, he thought, he was going to make it adamantly clear that she was his—that she would always be his, and that no one, not even him would ever have a chance with her.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, effectively pulling her into his side, and slowly traced his fingertips up and down her bare arm before smirking at the man. "She doesn't really have the time, isn't that right, baby?"

She wanted to burst into laughter, at her boyfriend's not so subtle movement, and the way his eyes were glaring at the man. It was apparently obvious that he was jealous, which was ridiculous because he had no reason to be, especially since she never would have accepted in the first place. He was it for her, and she was it for him.

"It's very sweet of you to ask, but um, as you can see I have a boyfriend."

He never took his eyes off her. "I know."

All of their mouths dropped open, slightly, at his words, and before either Clark or Lois could say something condescending to him Chloe stepped forward. "Um, Tim, I'll take a look at this, and get it into tomorrow's edition."

She grabbed the file he handed over to her, and quickly scanned her eyes through it. "Hmm. 'Smallville's Glory Days'…sounds interesting."

"It is." He glanced at Lois one last time before he turned around, and started walking down the hallway.

Clark glared daggers into his retreating back. "I can't believe that guy."

"Me either."

Chloe grinned at them, and at the unbelievable situation that had just occurred before a thought, that could answer all their questions, came to her. "Tim!" He quickly turned around. "Um, you were at the Talon last night…did you see anything suspicious?"

"Um, no, nothing out of the ordinary." He looked over at Clark. "But your mother, she was there, she was cleaning up, and that blonde girl you were talking to was in the alley, maybe they saw something."

Chloe smiled at them, victoriously, as he walked away. "And that's all the proof you need, now, if you excuse me I have a paper to edit."

They glanced at each other, worriedly, at the new information they had just received. "I think it's time we have a little chat with Alicia."

He nodded, agreeing with her. "Yeah, come on." He intertwined his fingers with hers, and lead them out of the school.

Later that night, Clark and Lois were sitting in the truck, as he drove down the darkened streets towards the Talon, where they were picking up his mother from her late-night shift, and were both completely lost in thought.

A few hours after leaving the school, they had managed to get a hold of Alicia, and the conversation hadn't gone exactly as planned. At first, they had been absolutely positive that she wasn't the one that did this, especially since they have been advocating her innocence to everyone, but that had all changed when she revealed that she wasn't wearing her lead bracelet, and hasn't been for weeks now. They wanted to believe her, they really did, even after she practically pleaded with them to believe her, but neither of them could help wondering if everyone was right—if she was really the one that had attacked Lana.

Lois broke him out of his never-ending thoughts. "Do you think she's telling the truth?"

He glanced over at her, briefly before pulling off to the side of the road, and parking the truck right in front of the Talon. "I don't know what to believe, Lo, I mean, I want to believe that she didn't do this, but she's not wearing her bracelet, and we both know that she wasn't with either of us when Lana was attacked…"

She sighed, heavily, blaming herself for covering for their friend. "I know."

He noticed the blame consuming her, as it was written all over her face, and moved closer to her, enveloping her hands into his. "Hey. Don't do that. It's not your fault. You were just trying to protect your friend."

"But, what if we were wrong? What if she is the one that attacked Lana?"

"That's a lot of what if's."

"Clark, I'm being serious."

"I know you are. We still aren't sure if she's the one that did this or not."

She looked up at him. "What should we do?"

He smiled at her. "There's not a lot we can do about it tonight, but we'll figure something out. I promise."

She just smiled at him.

They both got out of the truck, walked inside, where they noticed his mother cleaning up, and saw Lana and Jason having a little argument. They walked up to the service counter. "Mom, ready to go?"

She completely ignored him, and looked over at Jason. "Why don't Clark and Lois stay with Lana?"

Lana glanced at them, awkwardly, while Jason glanced at them, doubtfully. "I think that's a great idea." She handed him his jacket. "Go. I'll be fine."

"Alright. I won't be gone long." He looked over at both Clark and Lois, coldly for a few seconds before leaving.

Martha noticed how tense everyone had seemed to become, and had a feeling that it had a lot to deal with the Alicia situation, but also knew it was because of the situation that had occurred when Lois first moved to town. "Okay. Well, I'm gonna go. You guys can lock up, right?"

Lois nodded. "Yeah, of course. Have a goodnight, Martha."

She smiled at her. "You too, sweetheart." And with that she left the Talon.

Clark, Lana and Lois stared at each other, quite uncomfortably, and none of them knew what to say to each other, especially with everything that had happened in the past. Several minutes later, Clark heard someone frantically honking their horn, and could hear Jason struggling, like it was hard for him to breathe. "Um, I, um, I forgot something outside. I'll be right back."

Lois knew he had obviously heard something since he never usually gave an excuse to leave when it was just her, and knew that it was for Lana' benefit.

Lana watched him until he disappeared from her sights, and glanced back over at Lois, who didn't seem the slightest bit thrilled at being here at this particular moment. "He does that a lot, doesn't he?"

She just simply nodded. Under no circumstances did she want to talk to her. She had promised Clark that she would attempt to behave herself around her, and the best way to accomplish that was not talking to her at all.

She sighed, heavily, and walked towards her. "Lois, can we please talk?"

She looked over at her. "That depends…if it has anything to deal with Clark, then the answer is no."

"Are you really going to hate me for the rest of our lives?"

She glared at her, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't hate you, Lana. I dislike you. There's a difference."

"Well, are you going to dislike me forever?"

"I don't know…"

She plopped down onto the couch, sighing, and softly closed her eyes. "This is going to be a long night."

"Tell me about it."

Clark super sped outside into the back alley, immediately noticing Jason struggling in his car, as a scarf was wrapped, tightly around his neck, choking him, and attempted to open the passenger door, but it was locked. He quickly punched the window, shattering it, and the scarf instantly went limp around his neck, allowing him to breathe.

Jason looked around the car, but didn't see anyone else, and grasped his neck in his hands, attempting to catch his breath.

Clark looked down at the scarf, his brows scrunched together, as he recognized it almost immediately.

It was Alicia's.

He didn't want to believe it, but the truth was literally staring him straight in the face.

She had lied to him—to Lois—to everyone.

She really did attack Lana, and now Jason.

* * *

Lois was sitting on the couch inside the loft, sighing, heavily, as Clark rummaged through a tackle box, pulling out fishing lures, and watched, silently, as he flattened them in his hands over and over again, connecting them together, forcefully.

She knew exactly what he was trying to do. One part of her felt for him, especially since he had lost faith in his friend, but the other part of her was completely irritated with the constant attitude he has had since they left the Talon last night and all day today. "That's not going to work."

She rolled her eyes when he ignored her, and continued working. "Clark…"

He ignored her again, which only pissed her off, and she quickly stood up, her hands resting on her hips. "Clark Jerome Kent!"

He immediately halted his movements, at the full use of his name, and looked over at her, an annoyed expression plastered across his face. "What?"

"Oh. I'm glad I finally have your attention, now, will you just stop already? It's not going to work."

He glared at her. "It has to work! It's the only way to stop her from hurting anymore people! Why can't you understand that?"

She glared right back at him. "Hey! Don't you dare snap at me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

His features immediately softened, at the tone of her voice, and slowly stepped towards her, resting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Lo, I'm just frustrated."

"So am I, but what you're doing isn't helping anything. It's not going to work."

Alicia, who had overheard the last part of their conversation, spoke from directly behind them. "She's right, Clark. It won't work, the one they made for me at Bellereve was special. It had to be able to release trace amounts of lead into my bloodstream to dampen my abilities, remember?"

He glanced over at her. "Well, I guess it's the thought that counts."

She glanced down at his makeshift bracelet. "It's a pretty ugly thought."

Lois stepped towards her. "Alicia, where were you last night?"

"I was in Grandville with my mom, why?"

Clark closed the tackle box, and put it away before turning back towards her. "Jason was attacked last night. I was the one that saved him, and I found this in his car."

She watched in complete horror, as he held up her green scarf, and took a step back. "Okay. I didn't do it. Clark, Lois, you have to believe me. I don't know how that got there, but I…it wasn't me."

He wanted to believe her, he really did, but it was kind of difficult with all this evidence stacked up against her. "You have to turn yourself in."

"Clark!"

She took another step back from them, hurt by his words. "You don't believe me."

"I want to. I really do, but I need to stop whoever's doing this."

"Okay. Well, then find out who really did it."

Lois took another step towards her. "Everyone thinks it's you…"

She grew furious, instantly. "Why? Because of my powers? Because I'm a freak?" She looked directly at Clark. "You know what? Maybe if everyone knew your secret, you'd be a suspect too."

He shook his head from side to side. "No. Alicia, this is not about your abilities."

She scoffed. "That's really easy for you to say, Clark, everyone thinks your normal. How do you think your friends would react if they found out that you were actually like me?"

"We'll just go to the Sherriff. We'll tell her what happened. We'll explain everything. She'll understand, and it'll all work out."

Lois nodded. "Clark's right. We can just explain everything to her."

She pondered what they were saying for a few seconds. "Alright. I'll go with you guys…but only, if Clark tells her about his powers as well."

Lois gasped, slightly at her words, while Clark stared at her, wide-eyed. "I can't do that."

"Why not? Don't you understand that once people know the truth about us, then they'll have to accept us for who we really are."

"Alicia, look, he can't do that. Your circumstances are completely different. I'm sure that there's a better way to go about this…"

She shook her head at them. "Like what? It's the only way."

He sighed, heavily. "I can't do that. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I'm sorry too. Letting people know about us is the only way that we're ever gonna be free, Clark, don't hate me for wanting that." She walked a few feet away from them. "Goodbye, Clark, Lois." And with that she teleported away.

"Alicia!" He yelled, and attempted reaching for her, but it was too late.

Lois plopped down onto the couch, burying her face into the palm of her hands, and sighed, heavily. "Well, that went exceptionally well." All of a sudden, she lifted her head when an idea occurred to her, and she quickly stood up, grabbing her jacket.

But, before she could rush down the stairs, Clark grabbed her shoulders, stopping her, and stared down at her, confusingly. "Where are you going?"

"To look for Alicia."

He stared at her like she had gone completely insane. "Seriously? Do you think she's going to be that easy to find? She could be anywhere."

She smiled at him. "If she really is the one that attacked Lana and Jason, then she won't go too far."

He frowned at her. "You still believe in her, don't you?"

"I don't give up on people until I know for sure that they aren't redeemable, you know that."

She was absolutely amazing, he thought, as he grinned down at her. "Okay. Well, I'm going to talk to my parents and then find the Sherriff. Call me if you find her."

She kissed him, softly, and whispered, "I will," against his lips before she rushed down the loft stairs.

* * *

A few hours later, Clark walked into the Talon holding Alicia's green scarf, and made his way towards Sherriff Adams, who was currently drinking a cup of coffee.

She glanced up, slightly surprised to see him. "Mr. Kent, didn't see you there. Did you come to help your mother?" She took a long sip of her coffee. "Mhmm. She has almost got that latte machine down."

He completely ignored that remark, quite honestly, he could care less about that. "No, Sherriff, I came here to see you." He lifted up the scarf for her to see. "I found this in the car when Jason was attacked. It belongs to Alicia."

She took the scarf from him. "You flip-flop more than a politician, Mr. Kent. So, now you think she's guilty, huh?"

"Maybe…"

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, Mr. Kent, but I've already been down that road. Despite you and your girlfriend's claim that Miss Baker was with you at the time of the first incident…I yanked her in for a little dog-and-pony, the scarf might have been there, but your friend wasn't. Alicia Baker was locked up in an interrogation room with me at the time the second victim was attacked. There's no way she could have done it."

She handed him back the scarf before walking away from him, and he slowly glanced down at the scarf, completely surprised.

She didn't do it.

She was telling the truth.

She was innocent, just like he and Lois had believed in the first place.

He quickly pulled out his phone, dialing Lois' number, intending to inform her that she was right, just like always, but was brought straight to her voicemail.

He frowned down at his phone.

She always answered her phone, especially when he was calling her, mainly because he worried too much about her. So, why wasn't she answering him now? Did something happen?

He quickly shook that thought away, figuring that it couldn't be possible since she could easily take care of herself, and he supposed that she might be a little too busy searching for Alicia to check her phone.

His thoughts were interrupted by his mother's voice. "Clark?"

He looked up at her, and smiled. "Hey, mom. How's work going?"

"It's fine. What are you doing here?"

"I was talking to the Sherriff about Alicia. She wasn't the one who attacked Lana and Jason."

That was surprising. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'll explain it all later, but um, have you seen Lois?"

"Yeah. She was in here earlier, why?"

He frowned, immensely. "She isn't answering her phone…"

She noticed the worried expression that was plastered across his face, and grabbed his hand, squeezing it, reassuringly. "I'm sure she's fine, Clark. You worry too much."

"Yeah. Your probably right. She's probably just out looking for Alicia or something…" He wanted to believe the words coming out of his mouth, he really did, but for some unknown reason he was getting this uncomfortable queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, and it worried him…a lot.

"Um, I'm just going to go look for her." He quickly walked away from her, leaving the Talon, hoping that whatever he was feeling was just some kind of fluke, and that she was perfectly fine.

She had to be.

* * *

Lois was becoming more and more frustrated, as she drove down the darkened streets of Grandville, and searched for the familiar driveway to Alicia's house.

For the past several hours, she had been searching and searching nonstop for Alicia, not only because it's what she intended on doing, but because she knew that she needed a friend right now, and quite honestly, she wasn't sure she believed that Alicia was the one responsible for attacking Lana and Jason.

It just didn't make any sense.

She had been better—cured, even when she drugged Clark with red Kryptonite, and for some reason she just couldn't force herself to believe that she was the one to blame for all of this.

It just wasn't possible.

Once she spotted her driveway, she turned down the dirt road, and parked her car directly in front of the white farmhouse. She was seconds away from getting out of the car when a thought, one she's been having for the past few hours, came to her, and she glanced over at her phone, glaring at it, heatedly. It had died a few hours ago, and deep inside she knew that she should've called Clark, but of course, that didn't even occur to her until it died.

He's gonna lecture me as soon as I get back to the farm, she thought, as she slowly got out of the car, and noticed, immediately that there were no lights on in the house.

Instead of going inside for no damn reason, she walked over to the barn, figuring that if Alicia was home, she would be in there, but before she could walk inside she heard voices, and quickly lowered herself to the ground, eavesdropping on the conversation.

Something was definitely wrong with this situation, she thought, as a familiar feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

She could hear Tim's voice echoing throughout the barn. "Oh. I'm just looking for evidence to leave at the next murder."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and her mouth dropped open, at the realization dawning on her.

It was Tim.

He's the one that attacked Lana and Jason.

She listened further, and could hear Alicia' voice, which had a slight quiver laced in it. "It was you. Everyone thinks I'm guilty because of you."

"You are guilty. I mean, this-this really used to be such a nice little town."

"You don't understand what you've done. Both Clark and Lois think I'm guilty."

"Those two will be dealt with, but you won't be around to see it."

He was going to kill Alicia!

"You're not gonna…"

She gasped, slightly, as she heard Alicia scream before everything became muffled, and heard him mutter, quite menacingly, "I already have." She crept into the barn, noticing that he was pressing some sort of cloth to her face, covering her nose and mouth, and quietly picked up a shovel before slamming in down on the back of his head.

He groaned in pain, and dropped to the ground on his knees, releasing Alicia in the process, who looked like she was seconds away from passing out.

Alicia coughed, as she crawled away from him, and looked over at Lois, completely surprised. "Lois! It's him! He's the one who attacked Lana and Jason! I didn't do anything!"

She never took her eyes off him. "I know. I heard everything."

Tim stood up, holding his head, which was throbbing with pain, and turned around to face her. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my next victim."

A condescending smirk spread across her face before she threw her hands up in front of her, and coiled them into fists. "Oh really? Take your best shot!"

He smirked at her. "In due time, but first I have some unfinished business to take care of." He turned towards Alicia, who was now standing, but before he could even take one step towards her Lois kicked the back of his knee, making him collapse to the ground.

"Get out of here, Alicia!"

She hesitated. "What about you?"

She looked up at her, and glared. "Get the hell out of here! I can take care of myself!"

She nodded before teleporting away.

Tim stood back up, and turned back around towards her. "That was incredibly stupid of you, Lois."

"I'm not letting you hurt anymore people! They didn't do anything to you!"

He stalked towards her, menacingly. "Except that they did. You see, this town used to be filled with so much good—so much hope, and now there are meteor freaks running around town, and people such as an underage teenager dating a teacher. It's wrong."

"So, that's why you attacked Lana and Jason? They're not even dating anymore."

He growled, angrily, as he moved closer to her. "That's not the point! It's wrong, and they never should have done it in the first place!"

She moved around in circles around him, making sure that she could always see his face, and kept her fists directly in front of her chest. "Okay. I'll concede that it's not exactly forthcoming, but what the hell is your problem with me and Clark?"

"You rejected me, and Clark, well he's the entire reason for that so, I might as well get rid of another problem."

That made absolutely no sense. "It's not your job to tell people how to live their lives. Alicia didn't ask to have powers. Lana and Jason couldn't help it if they fell in love with each other, hell, they met in Paris for goodness sake. And, Clark and me, well, there's nothing to say about that. We belong together."

He growled at her, and pulled out a knife, twisting it around a few times before holding it in front of him. "That's enough! I'm done talking to you! I think it's time I end this, then I'm going to kill Alicia, and then your boyfriend."

She smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

He lunged towards her, which she sidestepped, and he quickly spun back around attempting to slice her with the knife, but she blocked every single one of his attempts before kicking the knife away, injuring his hand in the process.

"I should warn you, just in case you haven't figured it out by now, I won't be an easy victim, well, not as easy as Lana or Jason."

"It doesn't matter. I have abilities…you don't." He dematerialized in front of her eyes, and before she had enough time to turn around he had one of his arms wrapped around her body, pinning her against his chest, while his other hand held a handkerchief over her nose and mouth.

She screamed, punched, kicked, trying to escape from his strong hold—from the overpowering scent of chloroform, but it was nearly impossible, and within seconds her eyes fluttered shut, as her body went limp in his arms.

* * *

Clark was becoming extremely worried, as he paced back and forth in his loft, and felt his heart beating rapidly, while his stomach felt even more queasy than earlier. He couldn't find Alicia, not even after getting a peculiar phone call from her, but that wasn't what was bothering him.

It was Lois.

It had been hours since he last heard from her, let alone seen her, and she wasn't answering her phone. That feeling he experienced earlier was now ten times worse, and he a feeling that something was seriously wrong.

He grabbed his cellphone, attempting to call her once again, but of course, it went straight to her voicemail, and he growled, angrily before yelling out, "Dammit! Where the hell are you, Lo!"

Alicia teleported into the loft, directly behind him, and heard the distraught that was lingering in his voice. "Clark! I need your help!"

He quickly spun around, at the sound of her voice, and walked towards her. "Alicia, where the hell have you been? I've been looking all of for you. Lois has been as well."

She took a deep, deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, and ease her worried state of mind. "That's the problem. It's Lois…she's in trouble. S-sh-she needs your help."

"What happened?"

"I-I was at home when he attacked me, a-and Lois she-she saved my life, but now she's in danger. She told me that she could take care of herself, and made me leave. I-I think—I think he's going to kill her."

All the color drained from his face, his heart pounded, relentlessly inside his chest, and his stomach churned unpleasantly. "Who's going to kill her?"

"Tim. He's the one that attacked Lana and Jason. He tried killing me, but-but Lois stopped him, and she-she told me to leave, but I didn't—I watched him take her away. Clark, you have to help her! He's going to kill her!"

"Where is she?"

"I-I don't know. I left to come here. I'm sorry, Clark I'm—"

He held up his hand, forcing her to stop talking, and softly closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of her heartbeat. A few seconds later, he located it, and it was beating normally, which didn't really surprise him since she was quite fearless.

His eyes snapped open, pure rage resonant on his face, and determination lingering in his eyes. "I know where she is." And before she could say anything he quickly super sped away.

* * *

Lois watched Tim pace back and forth directly in front of her, as he transferred the knife he was holding from one hand to the other, and rattled on and on about what a special town this used to be.

A little over ten minutes ago, she had woken up feeling a little disoriented from the chloroform with her hands tied behind her back with rope, and she had figured out almost instantaneously that they were at the Smallville Historical Museum. It was obvious that he had used his ability to get them from Grandville to Smallville in record time, and she really, really didn't want to know how that happened since unlike Clark or Alicia he turned into dust.

It was just plain weird, and very disconcerting.

As he talked, continuously, she pretended to focus on what he was blabbing about, but in reality, she was carefully assessing the knots that were currently stopping her from kicking this guy's ass to kingdom come and back. They were tight, almost too tight, but not impossible to loosen either.

She grinned to herself, as she wriggled her hands, using a trick she had learned years ago from her father no less and from past experiences.

Perks of being trained as a soldier, she thought, as she continued working on the ropes. As soon as they were loose enough for her to escape she stopped moving, and focused back on the lunatic in front of her. "Do you ever shut up?"

He stopped pacing, and glared over at her. "Oh. I'm sorry. Am I boring you?"

"Actually, yes. I could give two shits about what this town used to be like or your pathetic reasons for being a psychopath."

He stepped towards her, and waved the knife in her face. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you, Lois, you're not really in any position to speak to me like that. I'm the one with the upper hand here."

That's what you think, she thought, as she very, very carefully removed her hands from the ropes, and made sure that he didn't notice anything amiss. "You're absolutely right. You're the one with the knife. I'm the one tied up, but let's get one thing straight…if you think I'm going to cry wolf because my life is in danger than you better think again."

"You are different from everyone I've attempted killing thus far, which makes me wonder why you aren't petrified, especially since you already know your fate."

She shrugged her shoulders, like it wasn't that big of a deal. "What can I say? I'm a military brat. I was raised to never fear anything, even death, and I've been on the brink of it several times before."

He squatted down in front of her, their faces mere inches apart, and slowly dragged the blade across her cheek. "Even if that's true, everyone, no matter what they've been through, is afraid of dying so, that begs the question…what happened to you to make you so strong—so resilient even in the face of death?"

She smirked at him. "Wouldn't you like to know."

He pressed the blade harder against her skin, drawing some blood, and making her wince, slightly. "It's too bad I'll never know because your time is up, Lois."

It was now or never, she thought, but before she could even make a move on him Clark appeared directly behind him with an expression of pure menace plastered across his face. "Stay the hell away from her!"

Tim turned around, not entirely surprised by his appearance. "I was wondering when you would show. I mean, I did kidnap your girl and all."

He glanced over at Lois, who had a cut on her cheek, and a fiery, rage he had never felt before rose from deep within his body. He quickly charged at him, shoving him to the ground, and knelt over his body, as his hand pushed, forcefully into Tim's face, but he quickly dissolved into dust, making his hand collapse to the ground.

He rematerialized directly behind him. "I was kind of hoping that you'd wait at least a few more minutes though. It would have been a sweet release for you to find the woman you love…dead."

Clark quickly stood up, and turned around towards him, preparing to attack, but was caught off guard when he punched him across the face, sending him flying across the room."

"CLARK!" Lois screamed out, as she quickly stood up, and started running full-force towards him, but was stopped by Tim jumping in front of her, blocking her way to him.

"Now, how did you escape?"

"Have you not been listening? I'm not an easy victim. It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than some measly ropes and unfounded threats to keep me down."

"Obviously, but it doesn't matter." He was one second away from lunging at her, but noticed Clark rushing towards him from his peripheral vision, and dissolved into dust before he could reach him.

Clark fell to his knees, grasping his throat in his hands, as Tim swarmed around him, choking him, and he could faintly hear Lois' voice crying out to him. He managed to activate his heat vision, burning the dust until he materialized on the floor, screaming in pain. He didn't give him much time to recuperate before he quickly grabbed him, pulled him to his feet, and slammed him against a support beam.

"You tried to kill her!" He yelled out, with tears brimming in his eyes, as he gripped his throat in his hands, and squeezed, cutting off his air supply.

Lois quickly realized that he was going to kill him, and rushed over to him, wrapping her hands around his arm. "Clark, stop!"

He didn't, instead he just squeezed harder, making Tim whimper for air.

She tried pulling him away, but he was too strong—too focused on killing him, and screamed out, with tears in her eyes, "Clark, baby, please stop! Your killing him!"

He never looked at her. "He tried killing you!"

"Clark, I'm right here. He didn't succeed."

He still didn't stop choking him.

"Clark, baby, look at me."

He did.

"I'm right here, baby. I'm here with you. Please stop. Just let him go."

He stared, deeply into her tear-filled eyes, his anger beginning to dissipate, at the realization that he didn't hurt her—that she was alright. He slowly released his neck, causing him to collapse to the ground, unconscious, and wrapped her in his embrace, squeezing, tightly, as he cried into her hair. "Lois, baby. I-I thought he was going to kill you. I-I thought I was going to lose you. Oh god, baby, I can't lose you, Lo, I just got you back."

She clung onto him, tears falling down her cheeks, as she ran her fingers through his hair, trying her damnest to calm him down—to reassure him. "It's okay, baby. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

He held her ever tighter, crying into her neck, and allowed her soothing words and loving touches to calm him down.

She was okay.

She was alive.

She was right here in his arms.

She wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

Lois was getting ready to head to Clark's house to spend the entire day with him. After the quite eventful few days they have had, especially what happened not even two days ago, she wanted to just spend time with the man she loved. Not only because she wanted to honestly make sure that he was really alright, but also because she wanted to reassure him that she wasn't going anywhere—that she would always be with him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Chloe knocking on her bedroom door, walking into her room, quite resolutely, and plopping down onto her bed, in a complete daze. She frowned at her. "Hey, Chlo. Are you okay? You seem a bit out of it…"

She looked up at her. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine."

Except she wasn't fine. Not in the slightest. She couldn't get what she had witnessed a few nights ago out of her mind. Her best friend, the same one she has known for years, was meteor infected. He had special abilities, just like all the people they have investigated together. How long has he had these abilities? Has he had them for all of his life or were they new? Did Lois know the truth about him?

Lois became instantly worried for her cousin, especially at the way she seemed to be completely lost in thought, and at the way she seemed to be withdrawn. What the hell happened?

She quickly sat down next to her. "Chloe, are you sure you're okay?"

"Lois, can I ask you something?"

She nodded.

"Um, if you found out something—something someone didn't want you to know about them, would you tell them?"

She rose her brows at that, wondering what she was talking about exactly, but she had a feeling that she knew exactly who and what she was referring to. "That depends…is that person someone you care about?"

"Yeah."

"And, does keeping this secret hurt anyone?"

She pondered that for a few seconds. "No."

It was quite obvious who she was talking about, and instead of telling her anything too revealing, she told her the same exact thing that had been running through her mind moments before he disclosed the truth about himself. "Then my answer is no. If I really cared about this person, I wouldn't tell them that I know, but I would go out of my way to be supportive of them so, that hopefully, one day they would be comfortable enough to tell me themselves."

That definitely answered the question on whether she knew or not, she thought, as she stared at her, completely surprised. "No offence, Lois, but that's the last thing I expected to hear from you."

She smiled at her. "I've learned the hard way that people keep secrets for a reason, even from the people their closest to."

"Thanks, Lo, you really surprise me sometimes."

"Well, I try." She slowly stood up. "I should probably get going, but um, I can stay here with you if you want."

She shook her head from side to side. "No. Go. I think Clark needs you a little more than I do right now."

She nodded, and started walking away, but stopped at the door, turning back around towards her. "I'm sure whoever it is that you're talking about will tell you when they're ready."

"Thanks."

"No problem, cuz."

Fifteen minutes later, she pulled up to the Kent farmhouse, and immediately starting walking towards the barn. He was always in there, no matter what, that was like his second home. She walked up the steps, muttering, "Clark, we have something to talk about, Chloe she—"

She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed Alicia standing next to Clark, and smiled at her. "Alicia, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be out of Kansas by now."

She smiled at her. "Well, I couldn't leave until I said goodbye to my hero, now could I?"

She waved her hand, dismissively. "Oh that. That was nothing. Just another day in Smallville."

"Which is why it's best that I leave. It's time I start somewhere new. Where no one knows the truth about me. A place where I can start over."

Clark chuckled, lightly. "I was trying to convince her to stay."

She quirked a brow at that. "I'm guessing that didn't go over very well."

He just shook his head.

Alicia grinned at them. "As much as I'd like to, I just don't think Smallville is my home anymore, but I will definitely keep in touch."

"You better." They both said, simultaneously.

She started walking away, but turned back towards them before going down the stairs. "Can you guys promise me something?"

They nodded.

"Can you promise me that you won't let anybody tear you two apart? You're literally perfect for each other, anyone can see that. I know I did the first moment I overheard Clark talking to you on the phone, and you Lois, I noticed it that first day we met when you looked at him."

She smiled at her. "I promise, as long as this one doesn't get bored of me, I won't ever let him go."

He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her back against his chest, resting his chin atop her shoulder. "Me? Get bored of you? Never gonna happen, Lo, you're mine…forever."

Alicia chuckled at them. "You guys are too cute." She quickly waved goodbye before making her way down the loft stairs.

Lois watched her until she disappeared. "I'm gonna miss her."

He quickly turned her around towards him. "Me too." His eyes lowered to the cut on her cheek, and tentatively brushed his fingertip across it. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She rolled her eyes at him before wrapping her arms around his neck, and gave him a quick kiss. "Clark, I'm fine. It's just a little cut."

He rested his forehead against hers, and pulled her closer to him. "I thought I was going to lose you."

She pulled away from him, slightly, and stared into his eyes. "But, you didn't. I'm still here, and I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."

"Promise?"

"I promise, baby."

He slowly leaned forward, kissing her, passionately, and poured all the love he felt for her into that one kiss, reassuring himself that she really was alright.

She pulled away from him, reluctantly. "Um, there's something we need to talk about…"

"What?"

"Chloe."

He groaned, and untangled himself from her. "Lois, we've talked about this before—"

"No, we haven't. Every single time I bring it up you get all defensive, but this time, this time you're going to listen to me." She interrupted the argument she had heard over a million times.

"Lois—"

"Chloe knows about you."

His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "What?"

She grinned, at the dear caught in headlights expression that was plastered across his face. "I don't think she knows everything, but she definitely knows that you have abilities."

He couldn't believe this. He had been so careful, especially around her. How the hell did she find out? And just like that, he remembered something that had happened the other night. "Alicia."

"What?"

"The other night, I got a phone call from Alicia, and she seemed really, really frightened. She told me to help her, but when I got there she was nowhere in sight. There was a car completely out of control, and I caught it with my hands. She must have been hidden with Chloe somewhere. It's the only way she could have found out."

Well, that was sneaky of her, she thought before shaking her head from side to side. "It doesn't really matter now, but um, we do need to figure out what we should do…"

"What do you think we should do?"

She smiled at him. "I think we should tell her the truth sooner rather than later. I mean, she already knows some of it, and it's not like you can't trust her with it. Trust me, she can keep a secret."

He knew there was a deeper meaning behind her words, but didn't question her about it. "Okay. We'll tell her, but just not today." He slowly walked up to her. "Today, I want to spend the rest of the day with you."

She grinned up at him. "What do you have in mind, Mr. Kent?"

He wriggled his eyebrows, mischievously. "If I remember correctly we were rudely interrupted the other night…"

She moved closer to him. "That we were so, what are we waiting for?"

He quickly pulled her to him, crashing his lips against hers, and intended to receive that private show he was promised.

* * *

Lex was sitting in his office, his hands resting against the cool glass desk, as his eyes scanned across the multitude of papers sprawled out in front of him, and sighed, heavily before glancing up at the man responsible for his current frustration. "What the hell is this?"

"The information you were looking for, sir."

He rose his brows, at his words before slowly standing up, and making his way around the desk, standing directly in front of him. "I was searching for information that I could use against Miss Lane to get what I want—what we want." He motioned his hands over the papers. "But this, this is just a pile of information about her tantalizing youth, and as much as I would love to learn about how she was able to rig a freaking tank. It's not what I'm looking for."

Wilkinson fidgeted from one foot to the other, at the anger-filled gaze he was receiving from his boss. "I know, sir. It was difficult enough getting this information, but I did find something…"

That piqued his interest…immensely. "What is it?"

"There was one file I couldn't get access to due to it being under lock and key by the military, but I was able to get a name…"

"A name? What was it?"

"Murphy."

Who could this mysterious man be? Was he related to Lois? Was he an ex-lover? Why was his file such a huge secret? Had he done something to Lois or had she done something to him?

"Were you able to get anything else?"

He shook his head from side to side.

"I need that file, Wilkinson. It seems that Miss Lane intended on keeping this man, whoever he is to her, a secret from everyone, including her boyfriend, which means one thing…whatever is in that file, is something I can use against her."

"How do you expect me to do that, sir? I've already attempted, but it's nearly impossible to get access to…"

"You might not be able to, Wilkinson, but I'm sure you know someone who can."

"Yes, sir, but the information I did receive was hard enough to access, besides her father is a four-star General. It's very likely that he will be alerted the second that information is breached."

He sighed, heavily, at the complete incompetence of this man, and shook his head at him. "I don't care about that!"

"But, sir—"

"No, buts! Just get it done! I want that information on my desk by the end of the week!"

He nodded, and muttered, "Yes, sir," before leaving the room.

Lex walked around his desk, sitting back down in his leather chair, and thought about this Murphy character. Who was he? What did he mean to Lois? How could he use that information for his own personal needs?

He didn't know, but by the end of the week, hopefully sooner, he would have the information he needed—wanted, and from there he would be able to figure out what needed to be done about the brash, feisty, and opinionated pain in his ass…Miss Lois Lane.

* * *

 _ **I knew before even planning out this chapter that I wanted to keep Alicia alive, and it took me quite a while to figure out how I wanted to do that. It never made sense to me why she never teleported away from Tim or why it took Clark so long to get to her house. It might seem like I'm making Lois seem a bit OC, as she can be quite mouthy when it comes to dangerous situations, but I'm doing that on purpose, and it will be revealed why she is that way in future chapters.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-one!**_


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Two:**_

* * *

 _Darkness._

 _A black, thick cloud of darkness surrounded him, as he spun around in circles attempting to escape from the cold, and tantalizing emptiness that seemed to be consuming every fiber of his being._

 _It was everywhere._

 _He couldn't see a damn thing._

 _He felt like his lungs were constricting, painfully in his chest._

 _It felt like he was dying._

" _Help…"_

 _All of a sudden, he stopped his movements, as he could hear someone whispering in the darkness, and attempted to see through the cloud that was surrounding him. "Hello? Is somebody there?"_

" _Help…"_

 _This time the voice was much, much louder, and it seemed that there were several of them. He attempted to make his way through the darkness surrounding him towards the strained and pain-filled voices, but stopped dead in his tracks when they became louder and louder and louder, repeating the same phrase over and over again._

 _And, just like that they stopped, almost instantaneously._

 _The thick, black cloud constricting him seemed to become denser and denser, making it more difficult to breath, and he could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. "Hello?"_

 _Several minutes of dead silence passed before the voices screamed, loudly, piercing his eardrums. "HELP! HELP US! YOU HAVE TO HELP US!"_

 _He fell to his knees, his hands covering his ears, as their loud, piercing screams overwhelmed every single one of his senses, and felt the tears brimming in his eyes, at the reality, that he couldn't help them, even if he wanted to._

 _In the blink of an eye, the voices slowly faded out until there was nothing but the sound of his harsh breathing, and pounding heart. The darkness that was surrounding him quickly dissipated, and was replaced with a bright, white light, causing him to shield his eyes with his hands._

" _It's time, Kal-El."_

Clark shot out of bed, completely drenched in sweat, and felt his heart beating like a jackhammer inside his chest. He slowly glanced around his surroundings, realizing that he was in his bedroom before his tear-filled eyes fell onto the beautiful woman sleeping, peacefully next to him.

Lois.

It was just a dream, he thought.

He slowly laid back down, wrapping his arms around her body, breathing in her sweet, sweet scent, and attempted to calm his racing heart and befuddled mind.

But…

It was useless.

He trained his eyes on the ceiling, his mind replaying the dream, the same one he's been experiencing every single night for the past week, over and over again, and quite honestly, it was beginning to worry him…immensely.

The first night, he had truly believed that he was just restless with everything that's been going on in the past several weeks, but as the nights rolled on, and he continued having the same exact dream, he realized that it was so much more than just a figment of his imagination.

It was a message of some kind.

A message that his biological father, Jor-El, was attempting to make him understand, but the problem was…he didn't understand it, and had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do about it.

It just didn't make any sense.

None whatsoever.

What message was he attempting to send him? Why was he always trapped in a constricting darkness? Why could he hear voices screaming for help? Why couldn't he find the people, who desperately wanted his help? Why was he always basked in a bright, white light? But, more importantly, what the hell did he mean by 'it's time'?

He didn't know, but supposed that it was possible that he was just trying to mess with his head, like he's done so, so many times in the past, and that eventually the dreams, more like nightmares, would just disappear.

As much as he wanted that to be the case, deep inside he knew that it was something more than that—something more than just some random dream, and it had everything to do with Jor-El, but what could it possibly be?

Over the past two years, he had gotten into his head several times, attempting to force him to do something that he didn't want to do. The first time, was when he wanted him to leave his family, friends and life behind to fulfill his destiny somehow. The second time, was when he threatened his father's life if he didn't leave everything behind, and was encased in an abyss inside the cave walls for three months. And, now, now he was attempting to do it again.

For some unknown reason, he just knew that whatever he wanted from him this time was only going to bring heartache to himself—to his friends—to his family, but most of all, to Lois.

It didn't matter, he thought, as he tightened his arms around the love of his life, burying his face into her soft blonde locks, and softly closed his eyes, her scent overpowering his senses.

Whatever it was that Jor-El wanted from him didn't matter because there was absolutely nothing he could do or say that could take him away from her. A little over one month ago, he had finally been reunited with her, and there was nothing, nothing that was going to stop him from being with her—from making memories with her—from creating a life with her—from spending the rest of his life with her.

No matter what, he would never, ever be apart from her again.

Not in this lifetime or any other.

* * *

Lex sat in his main office at Luthorcorp, his fingers tapping the glass table, repeatedly, his eyebrows were scrunched together in deep concentration, and a frown was spread out across his face, as he read over the file he had waited one hellish long week for.

It wasn't what he had been expecting, actually, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this rubbish, and he felt disappoint surge throughout his entire body, making him even more irritable than he already was.

One week ago, when he had learned of this vital information—information that was supposed to hold all the evidence he could use to achieve what he so desperately wanted, he had thought that it would help him in his goal—in his mission, but of course, that was not the case, instead, it was basically a rap sheet on the man.

According to this file, Murphy had been just like any other normal army brat, born and raised on many military bases over his entire childhood until he enlisted in the United States Army, where he served for two years underneath the command of General Jefferson Reynolds. One year later, he was stationed at a base in North Carolina, where he worked underneath the demand of General Sam Lane, as his right-hand man, for several years. Roughly about five years ago, there had been a situation overseas, and General Sam Lane had shipped him to some unknown, remote town in Greenland, never to be seen or even heard from again.

It was information that was quite insightful to glance over, even if it didn't exactly make sense, but it's not what he needed to know—what he wanted to know.

He wanted to know how she was connected to this man. He wanted to know what her relationship was with this man. He wanted to know how he could use that information to his own personal agenda, an agenda he's had for over four years now.

But…

There wasn't one single mention of her.

Of Lois Lane.

And, that was frustrating as hell.

But…

Not all hope was lost.

It was quite obvious, at least to his eyes, that there was a hell of a lot more to this story than what was extensively described on this piece of paper, and it was possible that this was just a cover up story, but for what?

Over the past month, he had watched her, secretly, and had noticed a few tell-tell signs of what could have transpired between these two, but his insight didn't exactly give him the conformation he needed to get what he wanted from her.

He needed concrete information. He needed something to use against her. He needed something that could coerce her into giving him what he wanted.

There was one way to find out, he thought, as a brilliant idea came to him.

A sly grin spread out across his features, as he glanced down at a particular portion of the file—a file that had seemed useless until now, and quickly pressed the intercom, beckoning Wilkinson to come inside.

Not even five seconds later, he entered the room. "Yes, sir?"

"Is this all the information you were able to retrieve on our subject?"

"Yes, sir. My team and I went over everything quite extensively, and this was all we could find on him. Is there anything we can use in there?"

He smirked. "Are you telling me that you didn't read it before handing it over to me?"

"No! Of course not, sir!"

A chuckled escaped past his lips, as he stood up from his desk, and walked around it, standing directly in front of him. "Relax, Steve, I'm just messing with you. But, the answer to your question is no, there isn't anything we can use in that file, but there is something we can do to get the information I want."

"What would that be?"

"It's nearly impossible to get the information out of Miss Lane herself, obviously, and this file doesn't help us towards our goal either, but I do know where we can get that vital information…from the man himself."

A look of complete surprise consumed his features. "You know where he is?"

"Not exactly, but according to this he's somewhere in Greenland. So, my question to you is, how quickly can you and your men get there, find him, and bring him back to the States?"

He pondered that for a few moments. "Two weeks maybe less, sir."

A wide grin spread out across his face, and he clamped his hand down on his shoulder. "Very well. Just get it done."

Lex quickly walked around his desk, making his way over to the bookshelf, and pressed a button hidden underneath one of the shelves. A compartment behind one of his favorite books opened, and he dropped the file into it before closing it again. He sat back down in his leather chair, and leaned back with his hands positioned behind his head, as a small smile graced his lips.

It was only a matter of time before he got what he wanted, and Miss Lane would never know what was coming until it was too late.

* * *

Clark and Lois stood side by side in the kitchen at the farmhouse, leaning up against the counter with Martha and Jonathon standing directly across from them. "Are you sure this is what you want to do, Clark?"

He sighed, heavily. Last night, they had made the decision to tell Chloe the truth about himself since it was obvious that she already knew some of it, and now, now he was attempting to explain the situation to his parents. They seemed to understand both of their reasonings for wanting to tell her, but it was quite obvious that they were feeling a little nervous, and wary about it.

"Yes. It's the right thing to do. She's been a really good friend to me over the years, even without knowing the whole truth, and quite honestly, I think she deserves to know. I've been wanting to tell her for a few months now…"

"Why haven't you beforehand?"

"Because I was scared of how she would react…"

Martha stepped forward, smiling, slightly at her son. "Exactly. I agree with you. I think she deserves to know the truth, honey, but I'm also a little bit worried about how she will react. What if it's too much for her? What if she tells someone?"

That was just absolutely ridiculous, Lois thought before intervening. "She wouldn't do that. Look, I know that you guys are a little hesitant about this, which is completely understandable, but it's like I explained to Clark, she can be trusted. That woman can keep secrets almost as well as myself, and she deserves to know the truth, besides it's not like she doesn't know that something is different about him. She knows that he has abilities already."

Clark smiled down her. She was amazing, he thought, she always knew the right thing to say and when to exactly say it.

Martha and Jonathon glanced at each other, sharing a thoughtful glance before turning back towards them, simultaneously. "Is this really what you want to do, son?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yes. She deserves to know the truth."

"She deserves to know what?"

They were all surprised to hear her voice, bellowing from behind them, and quickly turned around to see both Chloe and Pete standing near the front door. She had a quizzical expression plastered across her face, while Pete had an amused one since he knew the whole reason why they were here.

Lois walked over to them, smiling. "You guys are early. I thought you weren't coming for another hour or so…"

Chloe glanced over at Pete, and glared, heatedly at him. "Well, this one demanded that we get here sooner, and of course, he wouldn't explain his reasons for that." She glanced at her cousin. "I thought we were meeting at the house later, you know, to get everything ready for the thing…"

She grinned at her, knowing exactly what she was referring to, and wanted to laugh when she noticed the men becoming very, very interested in their conversation. "Don't worry. We'll still have time for that, but we needed to talk to you about something first."

Clark quickly held up his hand, stopping her from saying anything else, and stepped closer to them, his mind still on the little tidbit that they had off-handedly mentioned. "So, this thing…what would it be, exactly?"

Lois grinned at his failed attempt to get information out of them. "Nice try, Smallville, but we're not telling you anything."

He pouted. "Aww, come on, just give us one little hint."

"Okay." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him, and brought her lips dangerously close to his ear before whispering, "Never gonna happen, farm boy."

He quickly pulled away from her, glaring. "You're evil."

Everyone chuckled at their little spectacle before Martha grabbed her purse, keys and jacket. "Well, as fun as this is, I have to get to work. I'll see you guys later." She walked out the front door, hearing everyone muttering goodbyes to her.

Chloe glanced at every single one of them, pointedly, especially Clark. "Well? Is someone going to explain what the hell is going on? Or do I need to guess why I was dragged here?"

Jonathon smiled at her before looking at Clark and Lois. "Maybe you guys should take this conversation outside."

They all nodded before walking out of the house together. As soon as they stepped off the porch, Clark turned towards her. "Um, Chloe, will you come with me for a few minutes?"

What the hell was going on?

First, she overhears them talking about someone deserving to know the truth about something, then Jonathon practically ordered them to go outside, and now Clark wanted to talk to her about something.

She stared at him with a befuddled expression plastered across her face before glancing at her cousin. "Um, am I in trouble or something?"

Pete chuckled at her. "No."

She glanced at every single one of them, warily, noticing the large smiles plastered on Lois and Pete' face and the extremely worried one on Clark'. Something was definitely going on, she thought before starting to walk away with him, but stopped, and turned back around before they got more than two feet away. "You guys aren't coming?"

He shook his head from side to side, and wrapped his arm around his friend' shoulders. "No. This is a conversation between you two, besides I think I'd much rather prefer to weasel information out of this one here."

She quickly pushed him away from her, making him stumble a bit, and smiled. "In your wildest dreams, Ross!"

She chuckled at them before turning back around, and walked side by side with Clark to the barn, a million and one emotions consuming her mind and body, but the most prominent feeling was complete and utter excitement.

Excitement because she had a pretty good idea what this was all about.

She just hoped that she was right about all of this, and that her best friend was really going to be honest with her about what she already knew.

As soon as they arrived in his loft, she made herself comfortable on the couch, and watched for several minutes, as he paced back and forth in front of her, like a cat locked inside a cage. "Clark, what's going on? Why do you seem so nervous?"

He stopped pacing, at the sound of her voice, and glanced over at her, smiling, tightly before sitting across from her. "Um…well, um, there is something I want to tell you…"

Guess I was right, she thought. "What is it?"

"I know, well, we all know that you know that there is something different about me, and you wouldn't be wrong about that. It's taken me quite a long to time to find the courage to tell you this, but um, I wasn't sure how to say this to you. I think, I mean, we all think that you deserve to know, and I—"

"Clark…"

"Yeah?"

"It's okay. You don't have to be nervous about this. I already know what you're going to say."

Except that she didn't know everything, he thought before taking a deep breath, and smiled at her. "What do you know, exactly?"

"I know you have abilities, Clark. A little over a week ago, I watched you catch a car flying in mid-air with your bare hands, and saw you superspeed away afterwards…"

"Um, yes, I know that, but um, there's more to it than that. I'm—"

"Clark, it's okay." She interrupted him. "I know that you're worried that this will change the way I look at you or the way I perceive you, but it changes nothing, you're still my best friend. It doesn't matter that your meteor infected. It's not entirely uncommon in this town."

Figures, she would think he got his abilities from the meteor rocks. "Um, Chloe, I'm not meteor infected…"

She stared at him, feeling completely confused. "What do you mean?"

He took a deep, deep breath. "I don't get my abilities from the meteor rocks."

"What are you talking about?"

Here goes nothing, he thought. "I'm not from around here, Chloe."

"You're not from around here? Not from Smallville?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I'm not from Earth, Chloe. I'm from a planet called Krypton."

Her mouth dropped open, at his words, and she stared at him with a shocked expression, as she attempted to dissect everything he had just said. He wasn't human? He wasn't from Earth? He was from a different planet? He was an alien? How the hell was that even possible?

Clark groaned, inwardly, at the expression on her face, and the way she seemed to be completely lost in thought. It was too familiar. It was the same exact look he received when he had explained everything to Lois.

They were so much alike, he thought.

"Chloe?"

She quickly shook away her hazy thoughts, at the sound of his voice, and focused back on him, knowing he was probably wondering what the hell was going through her head. "Okay. Um. Just give me a second here. You're telling me that you're not human, so, what, that makes you an a—"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you." He quickly interrupted her before she could say the word that he despised above everything else.

She pondered that for a few seconds. He wasn't human. He was from some other planet. He had abilities that he used for the goodness of other people. He had saved her, Pete, Lana, Lois, and lots of other people from imminent danger over and over again. How the hell was this even possible? Did he have other abilities? How old was he when he came to Earth? How did he even come to live on Earth? Who else, besides her cousin, knew about this? His parents? Pete? Lana?

This is getting you nowhere, she thought before looking him straight in the eyes, the investigative journalistic part of herself wanting answers to all the never-ending questions that were running rampant through her mind.

He grinned from ear to ear, at the expression that was plastered across her face, and softly shook his head from side to side, not entirely surprised by what he could easily read in her determined emerald eyes. He spoke before she even had a chance to open her mouth, "You have questions. I can tell."

"That's an understatement."

He sighed, heavily, and took a deep breath before explaining everything to her.

She listened, quite intently, as he told her his life story, never interrupting him once, even though she wanted to, and digested everything he had revealed to her. In his seventeen years of life, he had been through so, so much, and he still didn't have all the answers. He had, had such a hard, troubling, confusing life, especially growing up not understanding why he was so different from everybody else, and she felt for her best friend.

She grabbed his hands, slightly surprising him, and squeezed, reassuringly. "I'm sorry, Clark. I'm sorry you've had to live your entire life in secrecy. I'm sorry you had to grow up thinking that you were a freak—that no one would accept you for the person you are, which is an amazing, brilliant and extraordinary person."

He smiled at her. "Thanks, Chloe."

"You're welcome. Now, with that being said, I do have a few questions…"

"I figured you might."

"My first question is, how many abilities do you have?"

Why was that everyone's first question?

"Well, um, I have quite a few. You already know about the superspeed and super strength. I can also hear things from really far away, see through solid objects, shoot fire from my eyes, and I'm pretty much invulnerable."

She grinned at him, a playful smirk spread out across her face. "Oh, is that all?"

He blushed, slightly. "Um, well, I'm supposed to fly one day, at least that's what Lois thinks…"

"Fly? You're supposed to fly? Have you ever done that before?"

"Well, I've floated a few times, and I flew once, but I wasn't myself at the time. I was Kal-El."

She frowned at him before remembering what he had told her about the red and green Kryptonite, and how they both affected him differently. "Wow! This is amazing, Clark! I never thought that you would have so many different abilities."

"Yeah." He stared at her, thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Um, Chloe? What do you think about all of this? I mean, are you okay with it?"

"You mean, am I okay with my best friend literally being from out of this world?" He nodded, nervously, which just made her chuckle at him. "I'm okay with it, Clark. It doesn't bother me, besides, you're my best friend, and there's nothing in this universe that could make me look at you differently. Your just plain old Clark Kent to me."

He chuckled at her choice of words. "You know, you sound a lot like your cousin right now. She pretty much said those exact same words to me when I told her."

She grinned at him. "That doesn't surprise me. Not in the slightest. But, since you brought it up, who else knows about you?"

"My parents and Pete are the only other people that know about this."

"Lana doesn't know?"

He shook his head. "No."

That didn't really surprise her since she had a feeling that Lana wouldn't take it as easily as she had, but it still raised questions. "Why not? Once upon a time, you had the biggest crush on her so, why didn't you ever tell her?"

"I never felt comfortable telling her."

She grinned at him. "But, you felt comfortable telling Lois?"

A smile graced his lips, as he thought about that day, and knew without a doubt that, that was one of the best decisions he had ever made in his entire life. "Yeah. I don't know what it was about her, but I knew that I could trust her from the start."

"That's Lois for you. She's trustworthy, actually, she's probably one of the most trustworthy people I know, and she would never, ever betray the trust of people she cares deeply for."

"I know." He watched her for a few moments. "Um, Chloe, I need you to—"

"Don't worry, Clark, your secret is safe with me. It will never leave my lips."

"Thanks, Chloe."

* * *

Outside, Lois and Pete were sitting on the porch steps, waiting quite impatiently for Clark and Chloe to finish their conversation, and were both feeling extremely antsy with anticipation, at what was happening inside of the barn.

Pete tore his eyes away from the barn, glancing over at Lois, who wouldn't stop moving around, and knew that she was just as nervous about this as he was. "How do you think it's going in there? It's been like fifteen minutes…"

She looked over at him, and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, but I hope it's going alright."

"Me too." He was thoughtful for several seconds. "I'm kind of surprised that he's actually doing this…"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, it's just that, I never thought that he would tell another person about his origins, especially after my reaction when he told me, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since he told you not even a few hours after meeting you."

A grin appeared on her face, as she remembered that eventful day. "I just let him know that he could trust me, which he did and does, but mind you, I didn't exactly react in the greatest way either…"

"How'd you react?"

"Well, um, I kind of laughed at him…"

He stared at her, completely surprised by that before sighing, heavily. "That's better than the way I reacted. I'm pretty sure he thought I hated him or something."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, um, he revealed his abilities to me one day, and when he explained everything to me, I kind of got angry with him, and left…"

She placed her hand on his shoulder, softly squeezing when she noticed the crestfallen expression cross over his features. "It doesn't really matter how we reacted when he first told us. Honestly, it just means everything to him that we accept him—that we trust him—that we look at him like any normal person, instead of a man with abilities. I've never looked at him, and only saw what he could do, I always see Clark Kent, my incredibly handsome and sometimes annoying boyfriend."

He chuckled at her, and shook his head from side to side. "It's no wonder he's so completely smitten with you."

"Feelings mutual."

It grew silent between them, as they focused their attention back on the barn, both of them wondering what was going on inside and why it was taking so damn long. "I wonder how she's going to react…"

That's exactly what she wanted to know. She wanted to know that everything was going alright—that Chloe was taking this as well as she expected her to, and one part of her wished that she had super hearing and x-ray vision just so, she could see and hear everything that was happening.

A groan escaped past her lips, as her impatience was beginning to get the best of her, and she quickly stood up. "I need a freaking distraction! This is driving me insane! I want to know what's happening, but I promised Clark that I wouldn't intervene in any way." She glanced down at him, pointedly. "I need a distraction, Pete, talk about something—anything that doesn't have to deal with what they're talking about."

He grinned from ear to ear, as he stood up. "Anything?"

She nodded.

"Okay…how about you tell me about this little thing you, Chloe and my lovely girlfriend are planning for tonight?"

She burst into a complete fit of laughter for about a minute before she calmed herself down, and smirked at him, playfully. "Wow! Pete, I'm proud of you. You made it a whole twenty minutes before mentioning that."

"Come on, you can't just leave us hanging like this. It's all we've been able to talk about for the past week."

"Well, guess what? You'll just have to wait a few more hours, and then all your little questions will be answered."

He pouted. "You're no fun!"

She was seconds away from responding to him, but didn't get the chance to even open her mouth because Clark' teasing voice bellowed from behind her. "Oh no. What did she do this time?"

Chloe and Pete snickered.

Lois spun around towards him, and glared. "I'll have you know that I didn't do anything." She pointed at Pete. "This one was trying to pick my brain about tonight, and I was kindly letting him down."

He grinned, widely, and glanced at his best friend. "Did you get anything out of her?"

"Hey!"

Pete shook his head from side to side.

A sigh escaped from him before he looked over at her. "Pete' right. You're no fun."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and punched him in his shoulder. "Whatever!" She looked directly at her cousin, and stared at her, inquisitively. "So? How did it go?"

Chloe smirked at her. "How did what go?"

Both Pete and Lois groaned at her teasing manner. "Don't mess with me, cuz! I want to know what happened!"

Clark eyed them both, suspiciously. "Have you guys just been conjuring up ideas to her reaction the entire time?"

Pete looked at him, with an all too knowing expression. "Well, duh!"

Chloe chuckled at them. "It went perfectly fine."

Lois stared at her for a few seconds. "And you're okay with everything?"

"Yes."

She practically jumped up and down in utter excitement, and hugged her cousin, tightly. "Yay! I knew you'd be okay with everything!"

Pete smiled. "Yeah, we both did, but um, how did you react?"

"Like any normal person would, I guess…"

Clark nodded, agreeing with her before smirking down at his beautiful girlfriend. "At least she didn't laugh at me."

Chloe' mouth dropped open, in complete and utter surprise, and she pulled away from her. "You laughed at him?"

She glared at him before glancing back towards her cousin. "Well, yes, but from my point of view it was the only reaction I could have had since, you know, he literally blurted it out."

Chloe and Pete glanced at him before bursting into a fit of laughter.

He sighed, heavily. "Okay. Okay. I know it wasn't one of my brightest moments…"

She walked towards him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. "True, but it was one of the best moments of my life. You trusted me. You were honest with me. And that inevitably brought us closer together."

"Yes, it did, and now look at us."

They stared into each other's eyes, smiling widely at each other, and leaned forward, but right before their lips could meet Pete coughed loudly, interrupting their moment. They pulled away from each other, blushing slightly with smiles still lingering on their faces.

"And that's our cue to leave. Come on, cuz, we've got things to do."

She untangled herself from him. "Right. We've got very, very important things to finish arranging."

Clark glared at them before glancing at Pete. "This just isn't fair. They know how much we want to know what's going on, but they continue to talk about it like it's no big deal—like we're not dying to know what they're planning."

"Completely unfair."

Lois glanced between them both. "Aww! You poor babies! You're just gonna have to wait a few more hours."

He quickly reached out, gripping her wrist in his hand, and pulled her to him so, she collided straight into his chest, surprising her, slightly. "You know, I could always make you tell me…"

She smirked at him, knowing exactly what he was referring to, but there was no way in hell that he could beat her at her own game. "Really? I'd like to see you try, farm boy."

He groaned, loudly, as he noticed the teasing and warning glint in her eyes, and softly dropped his head against hers. "You're killing me, baby."

"I know, but it will be worth the wait. I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that promise."

Chloe and Pete watched them with a small smile gracing their lips. "Okay, cuz, seriously, we have to leave. We're already running behind, and we still have to make sure that Natasha has everything covered on her end."

Pete shook his head at them. "I can't believe you two got my girlfriend mixed into this as well."

She grinned at him, "Well, it wasn't just our doing. It was a team effort."

Both Clark and Pete groaned, loudly and quite miserably.

Lois quickly kissed him. "We'll see you guys in a couple of hours."

They watched them walk away, get into Chloe' car, and drive down the dirt road. "What do you think they're up to?"

He simply shrugged his shoulders, having absolutely no idea what those women were up to.

"You haven't attempted eavesdropping on their conversations, you know, getting the juicy details we want?"

He looked over at him, like he had completely lost his mind. "Are you kidding me? I never use my abilities on either of them, and even if I had Lois would have my head if she ever found out."

"Yeah. Your probably right about that."

Neither of them knew what Lois, Chloe or Natasha were up to, but they knew that it had to be good since they have been planning this for over one week now, and they couldn't wait to find out what was in store for them tonight.

* * *

 _ **I had lots of fun writing this chapter, and the next couple of chapters will have a little more fluffiness in them, which I have my reasons for. This is where we go back into A/U. I won't be doing anymore episode rewrites because my version of season four is completely different, and the only reason I rewrote 'Unsafe' and 'Pariah' was because of Alicia. I needed to put my own spin on her story for what's going to happen in a future chapter. As I mentioned, my version of season four is going to be completely different, which is why Chloe found out Clark' secret so soon, and it needed to happen before other things transpire.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-two!**_


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Three:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'But I Do Love you' by LeAnn Rimes**_

* * *

Clark, Pete and Jimmy were feeling completely and utterly confounded, as they stood in the middle of Jimmy' living room, waiting for Chloe, Lois and Natasha to finish getting ready. They had believed that once they had them all wrangled here that they would get some information to what they had been planning for over one week, but of course, they were just as clueless as they were when they first figured out that they were all up to something.

It was driving them absolutely insane!

Pete glanced at the closed bedroom door several times before he completely lost his patience, and turned towards Jimmy and Clark. "What the hell is taking so long?"

Clark shrugged his shoulders, his eyes also darting to the bedroom door, and one part of him wanted to use his abilities to see and hear what they were doing, but he knew that if he did that it would only ruin what they had been so thoughtfully planning.

Jimmy glanced between the two of them. "Have they told you anything?"

"Nope. Nothing. It's like they want to torture us, especially since all three of them know that the not knowing is killing us inside."

"Well, no need to wait any longer boys…"

All three of them turned towards the bedroom door, their eyes widening, and their mouths dropping open at what they saw. Chloe, Lois, and Natasha were standing less than five feet away, looking more beautiful than ever before, and had large, cheesy grins plastered on their faces.

Just what in the hell was going on?

They roamed their eyes up and down their bodies, grinning from ear to ear, at what they were presented with. Natasha was wearing a deep velvet dress that clung to her curves, perfectly, and the dress itself only did wonders to her light chocolate complexion. Chloe was wearing a light green dress that flowed past her knees, and the straps hung off her shoulders, showing just a little bit of cleavage, but not to the point it was indecent. Lois, on the other hand, was wearing a dark blue dress, which had sparkles spreading throughout the entire outfit, and it reached about mid-thigh, showing off her long, beautiful legs.

Every single one of them were rendered completely and utterly speechless, at the breathtaking beauty that radiated from all three of them, and couldn't stop their hearts from beating rapidly in their chests, just from the mere thought of what they had planned for them tonight.

The woman just glanced at each other, smiling, at the behavior of the men, and knew without a doubt that they had definitely caught them by surprise.

And, this was just the beginning, they thought, simultaneously.

Pete blinked several times, clearing away his hazy thoughts, and walked towards his girlfriend. "What's all this for?"

She smiled up at him. "Isn't it obvious?"

They all shook their heads, still feeling a little overwhelmed from their appearance, and were completely confused about what was happening.

Chloe walked towards Jimmy, with a small smile gracing her lips. "Were taking you boys out tonight."

Jimmy stared at his breathtakingly beautiful woman, unblinking with a huge grin plastered across his face. "What's the occasion?"

"There isn't one, well, not really." Lois took several steps towards Clark, who was still gawking at her with his mouth slightly dropped open, and chuckled, slightly, at the expression on his face. "Clark? Honey?"

He shook his head from side to side, clearing away his befuddled mind, and took a few steps towards her, their bodies barely touching. "I-I don't know what to say, but um, what's the reason for all of this?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers resting on the nape of his neck. "I guess you could say that we just wanted one night where we could just escape from the reality of our lives."

Natasha nodded, and smiled, endearingly at Pete. "I've been so incredibly busy at Met U that I haven't had a lot time to spend with you over the past few weeks, and I wanted one night where I didn't have to worry about finals or anything else."

"And that's exactly what this night is all about." Chloe added before flashing a flirtatious smile at her goofy boyfriend. "We've both been busy, so, tonight we can just forget about everything, and just focus on what's important."

Clark had never taken his eyes off his beautiful woman, as he listened to Chloe and Natasha, and tilted his head to one side, inquisitively. "What about you, Lo? Is there a specific reason for all of this?"

"Yes. Unlike Chloe and Natasha, my reasons go much deeper than just spending the night with you." She smiled, slightly up at him when he frowned at her words, and quickly delved deeper. "Ever since we reunited we've been busy with other things, and haven't had a lot of time to just be with each other. I don't just want to spend the entire night with you. We do that every night. I want things to be like they were when we would take nightly strolls or when we would stargaze all night long, you know, things we used to do before I moved to Smallville."

A large smile spread out across his face. "I think that's a wonderful idea, baby."

"Really?"

"Yes. Look, I know that things have been a little crazy the past several weeks, and we haven't had much time to just be with each other like we used to, but I want you to know that it doesn't matter what our lives are like now because we will always have that—we will always have the love we shared in those three months."

"I love you, Clark."

He slowly leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers softly, sweetly, and passionately, as his arms wrapped around her body, pulling her closer into his chest. "I love you too, Lois."

Chloe and Natasha swooned, at the romantic gesture the two lovebirds were presenting, while Pete and Jimmy just groaned, having seen them like this a million times already, and were more interested in what was happening tonight. "So? This is like a date or something?"

Lois chuckled at Jimmy' words, and pulled away from Clark. "Something like that."

"I guess, you could call it a triple date."

Clark glanced over at Natasha and Chloe before returning his gaze to Lois. "So, does this mean you're finally going to tell us what you have planned for tonight?"

All three of them glanced at each other, sharing mischievous looks before laughing, good-heartedly, and said, "no," as they walked out of Jimmy' apartment.

They stared at their retreating backs, like they had gone completely insane, groaning, loudly and miserably, but followed them out, nonetheless.

Twenty minutes later, they were all walking hand in hand with their significant others down the busy and crowded streets of Metropolis, enjoying each other's company and the cool, refreshing night air brushing across their skin.

Chloe, Jimmy, and Lois all stopped dead in their tracks, confusing everyone else, as they spotted the tallest building in Metropolis, and their eyes slowly drifted up to the large, spinning globe at the very top of the building.

The Daily Planet.

It was such a beautiful sight, they thought, simultaneously.

Even though they had seen it a few times before, it felt like they were seeing it for the very first time, and they couldn't squelch the excitement they were feeling from the mere sight of what they hoped would be their future.

Jimmy sighed, heavenly like, as his eyes twinkled at the building. "Isn't it amazing…"

Chloe and Lois never took their eyes off the building. "Yeah…"

"I can't wait for the day that I can walk through those revolving doors, a camera in hand, and a smile on my face as I break stories for a living."

Chloe tore her eyes away from the building, and smirked at her boyfriend. "Uh, honey, we'll be the one breaking the stories, you know, with our investigative work, and you'll be the one that takes the pictures for those stories."

He glared over at her. "Same difference."

She was about to respond when Lois gasped, loudly, and gripped their arms in her hands, squeezing, tightly. "Oh my god!"

"What?" They said simultaneously.

"We could be like a reporting team! Me and Chloe would be the investigative part of the team, bringing in the news worthy stories, while Jimmy roped in the best photographs Metropolis has ever seen before!"

"You really think so?"

Chloe grinned from ear to ear, at the mere thought of something like that happening. "I can see it now…Lane, Sullivan and Olsen breaking the biggest stories in the history of journalism."

Lois chuckled at that. "Just think in a few years, were going to walk through those front doors every single day…"

"I can't wait…"

Clark, Pete and Natasha glanced at each other before shaking their heads from side to side, at the trio, and sighed, heavily, knowing that they could literally talk about this all night long, especially since it was something that they talked about—that they wished for—that they dreamed about…constantly.

After several minutes of prodding, they managed to steer them away from the building, and practically dragged them to their first destination of the night…a nice, quaint little restaurant. It was located on the corner of the main street, a few blocks away from The Daily Planet, and it definitely wasn't anything extravagantly expensive, but it was fancy in its own way.

Two hours later, they were all sitting inside a booth, having just finished dinner, and were smiling, laughing and joking around with each other, just enjoying the atmosphere and company of each other. "So, you're telling me that you just told everyone you two were dating before she even knew you two were a thing?"

Natasha nodded, laughing at how beet red her boyfriend had become. "Yes. We had met two weeks prior to that, and it was quite obvious that we liked each other, but he had never asked me out so, to say I was surprised to hear that we were indeed a couple when I came to visit him one weekend was an understatement."

Chloe grinned, widely. "What did you do?"

She glanced over at Pete, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here at this very moment, and it only made her more enthusiastic. "I confronted him, like any other normal sane person would, which of course, only ended in us bickering at each other, and then all of a sudden he just kissed me."

Clark looked over at Pete, with a small smile on his face. "You never told me that."

"That's because I like my story better."

"You mean, your version of events, which didn't actually happen."

He nodded.

Lois rolled her eyes at him. "I think I prefer her version."

"Of course, you do."

"So, what happened after that?"

"He pulled away from me, and said, 'will you go out with me?' I didn't know what to say so, I just kissed him again, and that was the end of that."

He moved closer to her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and kissed her cheek. "Best day of my damn life."

"Mine too, sweetie." She snuggled closer to him, and glanced pointedly at Chloe and Jimmy. "What about you two? How did you two end up together?"

They glanced at each other, turning bright red, as memories of that day came back to them. "Uh, it's nothing special. We met, went on a date a few months later, and here we are."

"You wish," Lois scoffed at them before looking at Natasha. "She met Jimmy here on a summer internship at The Daily Planet, where they hooked up a few times, and not even one year later they found each other on social media. Of course, it started out as them wanting to be friends, especially since their last rendezvous with each other wasn't exactly innocent, but they soon realized that they wanted much, much more than that, and before they knew it they were dating."

Natasha smiled at them. "That's a cute story. It's kind of like summer love."

Chloe shook her head, vehemently. "Not even close, but if you want to hear a story about summer love, ask Clark and Lois how they met."

Their smiles fell instantly, as the subject of conversation was turned to them, and they shifted uncomfortably in their seats. It's not that they didn't like sharing that particular story, but it was kind of something that they preferred not everyone knowing about, especially since it still brought up heartbreaking memories even though they were together again.

"Um, I think we should talk about something else now."

Clark grabbed her hand underneath the table, squeezing it, and smiled down at her when she looked up at him. He knew why she didn't want to talk about that. It only brought back memories of how they were ripped away from each other, and that was the last thing either of them wanted to talk about, especially since it was impossibly hard for anyone, who didn't know the truth about him, to understand everything that happened that summer.

"Aww! Come on! You gotta give me something! I want to know how the cutest couple on earth met and fell in love!"

A part of her wanted to, but the other part of her was still hesitating, besides this night was about spending one night with each other like they used to, not to bring up memories she'd rather forget ever happened. "Maybe some other time…"

"That's a shame. I was kind of looking forward to hearing the story of how the lovely Lois Lane fell in love with the small-town farm boy."

Lex.

Every single one of them groaned, miserably before they turned towards him with scowls plastered across their faces. Chloe was the first one to speak, "What the hell is it to you, Luthor? And, were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

He pretended to look shocked by her words. "Of course not. I just happened to be walking by your table when I overheard what you were talking about."

"Sure, you were," Lois muttered loud enough for him to hear, which earned her a small smile from him and a kick in the chin from her cousin.

"Lois…" Clark warned her, knowing how riled up she could become when talking to Lex.

It wasn't her fault, she thought to herself, this man just irritated her like no one ever has before, and she just wished she could have one day where she didn't have to deal with his conniving glances and vindictive words.

Chloe noticed the way he was smiling at Lois, and it only pissed her off even more than she already was. "What are you doing here, Lex?"

He stared at her like she had grown two heads or something. "That's a dumb question, Chloe, you know that I work in the city."

She glared daggers at him. "You know what I meant, Luthor. What the hell are you doing in a place like this? Isn't a little too low grade for you, I mean, you wouldn't want to ruin your reputation, now would you?"

It was now or never, he thought before proceeding with the entire reason he had confronted them in the first place…to rile up Miss Lane. "Well, if you must know, I was meeting with an associate of mine, Murphy, we had some very important things to discuss, and this was the best place to organize such a conversation."

As soon as that particular name was uttered, Lois, who was trying her best to ignore the man, just about choked on the water she was sipping, and felt her heart stop beating for a millisecond before it started pounding, ferociously inside her chest.

Clark quickly looked down at her, concern lingering in his baby blues before he rubbed her back, reassuringly, and attempted to help her catch her breath. "Are you okay?"

She just nodded.

Lex smirked down at her. "Are you sure you're okay, Lois? You look a little pale…"

She jerked her head forwards, and glared, heatedly at him. "I'm fine."

Clark could easily tell that he was making her feel very uneasy, and that pissed him off…immensely. "I think you should go."

He put his hands up in surrender, and took a few steps back. "I can see when I'm not wanted." He glanced, pointedly at Lois one last time before catching the other five sets of anger-filled eyes. "I'll be seeing you around."

That went exceptionally well, he thought, as he walked away from them, and grinned from ear to ear since his little plan had worked…perfectly.

It was quite obvious that there was much more to learn about her involvement with this man, especially if her reaction said anything, but more importantly it was just the reaction he had hoped to receive from her, and even if it didn't exactly answer all of his questions, soon enough he would have the answers he needed—he wanted.

A few minutes later, Lois had managed to calm herself down a little, and glanced at her cousin, pointedly, sending her a silent message before quickly standing up, but was stopped by Clark' hand wrapping around her wrist. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She smiled for his benefit, not wanting him to know how much that little conversation had really stirred her. "I'm fine. I promise. I just need some air."

He watched her walk away, and started to stand up to chase after her, but Chloe stopped him before smiling, reassuringly at him. "It's okay, Clark, I've got this one."

He softly nodded his head, and sat back down, but that still didn't reassure him in the slightest. It was quite obvious, to him at least, that something Lex had said had unrattled her, and that bothered him, especially since it seemed that he enjoyed every second of it.

It was concerning, he thought to himself, as he watched his girlfriend and best friend walk out of the restaurant, and wondered, briefly what his problem was with her.

It was like every single time they had a conversation he said something or did something that completely and utterly unsettled her, and he didn't like it.

Not one bit.

Chloe quickly rushed outside, her eyes searching for her cousin, and noticed her pacing back and forth a few feet away from the entrance before tentatively making her way towards her. "Lois?"

She never stopped pacing. Her heart was thumping like crazy in her chest, and her mind was filled with never-ending thoughts that were consuming her. "What the hell was that? Why was Lex even here? How does he know that name? How does he know about him?"

"Maybe it was just a coincidence?"

Her movements halted, almost instantaneously, at her words, and stared at her like she had gone completely insane. "Do you seriously believe that?"

A heavy and tormented sigh escaped past her lips. "No."

"This doesn't make any god damn sense! I mean, my father made sure that-that information stayed under lock and key, so how the hell does he even know about him? What does he know exactly? Does he know that he's connected to me?"

Chloe' head was spinning from her tirade of questions, and quickly gripped her shoulders in her hands. "Woah! You need to calm down, Lo!"

"Calm down? I can't calm down! He knows things he shouldn't fucking know!"

She squeezed her shoulders, reassuringly. "Yes, you can. Lois, we don't know what he knows, actually we don't know anything except that he knows his name."

"That's what doesn't make any sense. How does he even know his name?"

"I don't know…"

"This is just great! He's threatened me countless times. He's unsettled me almost every single time we have a conversation, and now, now he's baiting me with this. What the hell is his problem?"

"I don't know, Lo, but I think it's quite obvious that he knows something about your past, and that's what we need to figure out." A horrifying thought occurred to her, making her face turn bleach white, and her entire body started to tremble. "D-do you think he knows where he is?"

Her body and mind froze for about a second before she quickly shook that thought away. "No. It's not possible. The only people that know about his whereabouts are us, my father, uncle Gabe, Cassie and Wes. I don't even think Murphy knows where he is."

"That's good."

It was, she thought, but that didn't stop her from getting that weird, tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach just from the mere thought of what he actually knew about her past.

"We need to figure out what he knows…"

"I know, and I know the perfect way to find out."

She eyed her, curiously. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm going to confront him. I'm going to find out what he knows."

Chloe quickly stopped her from moving another step. "No! That's a horrible idea!" She took a deep breath. "Look, I know Lex, and I know that he doesn't do anything without an ulterior motive, besides it's not like he would be honest with you anyways. We need to figure out what he knows exactly—what he plans to do with that information, and figure out a way to stop him from discovering anything else."

"How the hell do you expect us to do that?"

She grinned from ear to ear. "Easy. We keep our eye on him."

"That's your big plan?"

She nodded, enthusiastically.

"Do you really expect, Mr. I know everything, won't notice that we're tailing him?"

"Who said anything about tailing him?"

Now she was confused. "Mind telling me what's going through that mind of yours, because I'm completely lost here."

"Look, we're not going to do anything rash like following him, but that doesn't mean we can't keep an eye on him. We just need to listen to everything he isn't saying when he speaks, like tonight, he made it perfectly clear that he knew something about Murphy, but he didn't specify on what that was exactly."

"So, were just supposed to live our lives normally, pretending like we don't know anything, and hope that he slips up or says something that could possibly point us in the right direction?"

"Precisely."

She sighed, heavily. "I hope this little plan of yours works, Chlo, because quite honestly, I'm actually enjoying my life, and I don't need Lex freaking Luthor ruining that for me."

"Don't worry, cuz, there's no way in hell I'm allowing that idiot to ruin your life. If he even attempts anything, it will be the very last thing he ever does."

She stared at her, quizzically for a few seconds before chuckling at her. "You know, you can be quite scary when you want to be."

"I know, but it works for me."

"Uh-huh." She glanced at the front doors to the restaurant. "We should get back inside before everyone starts to wonder what happened to us."

She nodded, agreeing with her. "Yeah, but um, Lo, don't worry too much about Lex. We'll figure out what he actually knows, and what we should do from there, okay?"

"I know." She grinned from ear to ear. "Come on, I think it's time we put some excitement into this night."

"Joey?"

"Joey."

She grinned from ear to ear before linking arms with her, and trotted back into the restaurant, thoughts of what else they had planned for tonight consuming her mind.

* * *

The General was sitting in his office, going over paperwork just like he did every single night, well, every night since he sent his daughter to Smallville. She was the one that used to do his paperwork for him, which he knew she hated, but she usually did it anyways.

It had already been over one month since he had seen his feisty, opinionated, and confident daughter. He missed her, he really did, and in a few months, he would be seeing her again, but of course, she didn't know that. He hadn't exactly told her everything the day he sent her away.

One week earlier, he had gotten a phone call from his superiors, where they informed him that they needed him at the base in Smallville, Kansas. He could have easily waited those few months to move his daughter when he, and everyone else did, but there were two specific reasons why he sent her early. The first one was because he knew she needed to finish her senior year of high school, if she wanted to attend college next semester, and the second one was because he knew that there was a certain someone, who he figured wanted to see her, just as much as she wanted to see him.

He wasn't completely naïve.

One week before she returned home, Jeff Reynolds, had informed him that she wasn't alone, which had pissed him off at first, but then he had contacted Jeff after his daughter was on her way back to base, and had gotten all the information he needed—wanted about this young man, who had spent three months with his daughter.

At first, he had believed that this young man had something to hide, just like most of her past boyfriends, one in particular, but had soon realized that this Clark Kent was just an ordinary teenager. He had been adopted by a loving family, raised on a farm, and had gotten into just as much trouble as his own daughter over the years.

It wasn't until he heard what Jeff had to say about this young man, that he realized that his daughter had really found someone worth keeping just like he found in her mother, and a part of him regretted tearing her away from him, but he knew he still would have done it because he wanted her back where she belonged so desperately.

When he had gotten that phone call about being sent to Smallville, Kansas, he knew it would mean the world to her to be reunited with him, especially since it was obvious that she loved him more than anything, and he was pretty sure that he loved her just the same.

He knew without a doubt that she was happy, not only because Gabe had informed him of that, but because his daughter was a lot like him when it came to love. When he had his wife, she was the only woman he ever saw, and he knew that, that is exactly how his daughter saw this young man.

A knock on the door interrupted from his thoughts, and he looked up from the paperwork, he had absolutely no inclination of finishing tonight. "Come in."

Wes walked into the room, stood at attention, and saluted before he slowly sat down in the chair opposite of him, sighing, heavily.

"What is it?"

He really, really didn't want to be breaking this news to him, especially when it was something that everyone involved agreed to never speak of again, but it was important, and it had everything to deal with his best friend. "It's about the breach of security we experienced last week…"

Finally, he thought, it had been one week since they realized that someone had broken into their top secret government files, and he had been waiting just as long to get any information about it. "Was anything important breached?"

"Yes, sir, but it wasn't anything about the government or any of the projects were currently working on…"

"What was it?"

"It was a personal file, sir."

"What file?"

Here goes nothing, he thought. "Murphy's."

All the color drained from his face, at that particular name, and he felt his heart drop straight to his stomach, at what this could possibly mean. "Are you positive?"

He nodded.

"How is this possible? I have that file underneath lock and key."

"Not the one you sent to your superiors. There was a copy of that one in the internet base, and that was the one that was breached, sir."

He couldn't believe this was happening. It was something that never should have happened, hell, no one even knew about this man, so that raised the question…did this breach have anything to do with his daughter?

"What do we know about the breach, soldier?"

"Nothing, sir."

And, just like that his cool demeanor vanished. He quickly stood up, rage filling him completely, and banged his fists against the desk. "What do you mean we have nothing!"

He leaned back further into his chair, like that would stop him from getting the wrath of General Sam Lane, but of course, that never worked, only angered the man more. "The cyber security is working on it, sir, but that haven't been able to track down who did this or where the breach came from."

He started pacing back and forth, his fists clenching at his sides, and his mind went into overload. It was about the worst possible thing that could happen right now, especially after everything his little Lo has been through already, and she was happy at this point in her life. This would ruin her happiness, and that was the last thing he wanted for her. He wanted her to be happy with her boyfriend—he wanted her to finish her senior year in peace—he wanted her to go to college, and start that career in Journalism she is so set on, but it seemed that, that wasn't going to be a possibility.

There was one thing he could do, he thought before he stopped pacing, and glanced at Wes. "I need you to get everything in order, soldier."

He frowned at him. "What?"

"I need you to get everyone ready to leave base in two weeks, is that clear, soldier?"

"Yes, sir, but um, I thought we weren't leaving for another two months…"

"My daughter needs me, and I will not let her down, not like last time."

He wanted to tell him that she never blamed him for what happened five years ago, but he figured that now wasn't the best time to mention that. He quickly nodded, and left the room, intending to tell the mother of his child what exactly what was going on.

It wasn't going to be a pretty conversation for either of them, he thought.

The General slowly sat back down in his chair, and softly closed his eyes, as he thought about everything that happened five years ago.

It couldn't be happening again.

It just couldn't.

He didn't know what the hell was going on, but he was going to figure it out, and he hoped against all hope that this wasn't going to put another wedge between them like it did five years ago. It wasn't her fault, he knew that, it was his, and there was no way in hell that he was allowing it to happen again.

He might not have the greatest relationship with his daughter, mostly from his own doing, but he wouldn't lose her completely.

Nope.

It wasn't going to happen.

Once he figured out what was really going on, he would protect her until he took his last dying breath.

* * *

Clark, Pete and Jimmy were feeling completely and utterly confused, as they walked down the darkened streets, directly behind their women. They had refused to tell them anything about where they were taking them after they had left the restaurant, and they were beginning to become frustrated with them, at least until they turned the corner, where a dark, isolated building came into view.

It was a club.

Memories of when he had spent one week at Atlantis came rushing back to him, and he wasn't too sure how he felt about spending his night at another one. "You're taking us to a club?"

Chloe, Lois and Natasha stopped dead in their tracks, and gasped, loudly before turning around to face them. "How dare you insinuate such a thing! This is not a club!"

Jimmy frowned at his girlfriend. "Then what the hell is this place?"

"It's something like a club."

Pete rolled his eyes at them. "Like that's supposed to explain everything."

Lois grinned at them. "Don't get so temperamental, boys, you'll find out soon enough."

A few minutes later, they arrived at the front entrance, where there was a large man guarding the black, worn out doors. Clark stepped closer to her. "Uh, Lois, baby, I don't think they're going to let us in…"

She smirked over at him. "Of course, they will. Just watch and learn." She walked up to the man, completely ignoring the way he eyed her up and down. "Joey' expecting us. Tell him it's the trouble makers. He'll know what that means."

He nodded, quickly spoke into his walkie talkie, and waited all of ten seconds before getting a response. "Joey will be out in a few minutes. He wants to give you front door service."

Chloe grinned, widely. "Of course, he does."

Lois turned around to face everyone, and grinned from ear to ear. "And, that my friends, is how it's done."

Natasha shook her head from side to side, chuckling. "How do you know him so well?"

Clark, Jimmy and Pete, who were more confused than they were five minutes ago, spoke, simultaneously, "He who?"

Chloe chuckled at the expressions plastered across their faces, and noticed a hint of jealously lingering there. There was no reason to be jealous, she thought to herself. "Oh. Just someone Lois and I used to know back in the day."

Natasha quirked a brow at them. "Back in the day? You guys are talking like you've known him since you were kids…"

"Not exactly."

"Let's just say that, we meet him a few years ago, and we all connected right from the start."

Clark and Jimmy frowned at them, while Pete, on the other hand, stared at them, thoughtfully for a few seconds before it finally clicked, and he gasped, loudly. "Oh my god! Is this the place? Is this where you and Chloe—"

Lois slapped her hands across his mouth, stopping him from saying another word, and glared, heatedly at him. "I thought we agreed to never, ever mention that again, Ross!"

He quickly nodded, his brown eyes promising her that he wouldn't say anything about it, and chuckled, loudly when she pulled her hands away from his face.

"What is he talking about, Chloe?"

She smirked over at her boyfriend. "Nothing."

Clark quirked a brow at her. "Nothing huh?" At her nod, he glanced over at his girlfriend, who was behaving more mischievous than usual. "Lo? Is there something I should know about?"

"Nope."

He stalked closer to her, and narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh really? Then why does Pete get to know about it, but we don't?"

She smirked up at him, and moved even closer to him. "Why do you want to know so bad? Are you jealous?"

"Yes."

"Don't be, baby. Chloe has a big mouth when she's drunk, but me, on the other hand, doesn't spill my guts every time I get drunk, and I'm definitely not telling you when I'm sober."

He frowned at her, wondering what had happened that she and Chloe refused to tell him, but that confusion was settled when Pete leaned over, and whispered, "I'll tell you about it later."

Lois glared at him, heatedly, but before she could say anything to him, she felt strong arms wrap around her waist, lift her off the ground, and spin her around in circles, making her chuckle like a school girl. Clark, on the other hand, did not appreciate what he was witnessing at this very moment. This man had literally just picked up his woman, and she was enjoying it, which only made him more jealous than he was already feeling.

Just who in the hell was this guy?

He set her back down on the ground, smiling from ear to ear at her. "Oh my. Aren't you a beautiful sight to see."

She chuckled, and quickly hugged him, tightly. "It's been a long time, Joey."

"You could say that." He glanced over at Chloe, and grinned even wider than he already was before pulling her into a bear hug. "And you. I think I've missed you more than this one."

"Hey!"

"What can I say, love, she didn't cause me as much heartache as you."

And, what the hell was that supposed to mean, Clark thought to himself, as he watched them all interact. Was he an ex-boyfriend? He didn't know, but he didn't like what he was witnessing in the slightest.

"Whatever!" She glanced over at Clark, and wanted to burst into laughter at the expression that was plastered across his face. Someone was jealous, she thought, before grabbing his hand, and pulling him towards her so, he was standing directly beside her. "Joey, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Clark Kent."

"Boyfriend, huh?" He roamed his eyes up and down his body, grinning like a Cheshire cat, which made him feel very, very uncomfortable. "Damn girl! You've got yourself a good one, Lo. Too bad he's straight. I'd easily steal him away from you if I could."

Clark stared at him, wide-eyed, finally realizing that this guy was no threat to him, and glanced down at Lois, who was hiding a grin behind her hand. It was quite obvious that she knew that he had been jealous over this guy.

They introduced him to Pete, Jimmy and Natasha before walking inside the establishment, but before he could disappear the women quickly pulled him away from prying ears. "I need a favor, Joey."

"What is it?"

Lois leaned forward, whispering in his ear, and when she pulled away from him, he had a huge smile plastered across his face. "You really love him, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Consider it done, girls."

As soon as they returned to the men's sides, they had frowns set on their faces, and questions lingering in their eyes. "What was that about?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

Lois clapped her hands together. "Now, it's time to have some fun."

A few hours later, Clark, Pete and Jimmy were sitting at the bar, drinking beers, and laughing at the story Pete was telling them, the very one Lois had prohibited him from telling anyone about. "I can't believe they didn't want to tell us about that. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Pete eyed them both, skeptically. "Both of your girlfriends got shit faced drunk, and made out with twenty guys that night. Do you really think that, that is something they want the men they love to know?"

Jimmy nodded, and took a sip of his beer. "Yeah. You're probably right."

Clark, who was the only one who wasn't feeling the effects of the alcohol, looked around for three very beautiful women, but they had vanished, and he realized that they had been gone for well over thirty minutes, which was worrisome. "Um, speaking of, do you happen to know where are girlfriends disappeared to?"

They both looked around, also becoming worried. "Maybe we should look for them…"

As they were standing up from their stools, a bright, spotlight flashed on the stage, revealing Joey standing there. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of night where we allow anyone to sing karaoke, and the first performance is by two of my closest friends, and a new one. They are singing for their ruggedly, handsome boyfriends."

All of a sudden, a bright light shined directly on them, and every single person looked at them. It was nerve wrecking. It made them feel uncomfortable. But, most of all, they felt embarrassed.

They were going to freaking kill them!

 _ **I don't like to be alone in the night**_

Chloe stepped forward into the spotlight, and looked directly at Jimmy.

 _ **And I don't like to hear I'm wrong when I'm right**_

Lois stepped into the spotlight, standing directly next to her cousin, and locked eyes with Clark.

 _ **And I don't like to have the rain on my shoes**_

Natasha stepped directly next to Lois, and winked at Pete, flirtatiously.

 _ **But I do love you, but I do love you**_

They pointed their fingers, at their significant others, and knew without a doubt that they were probably cursing them right at this very moment, especially if the expressions on their faces said anything.

 _ **I don't like to see the sky painted gray**_

 _ **And I don't like when nothing's going my way**_

 _ **And I don't like to be the one with the blues**_

Clark, Jimmy and Pete all chuckled at the women, as they sang their lines individually, and enjoyed how it kind of matched them perfectly.

 _ **But I do love you, but I do love you**_

 _ **Love everything about the way you're loving me**_

 _ **The way you lay your head**_

 _ **Upon my shoulder when you sleep**_

 _ **And I love to kiss you in the rain**_

 _ **I love everything you do, oh I do**_

After the song ended, the crowd erupted into cheers, and Clark, Pete and Jimmy clapped and whistled, loudly at them. At first, they had been completely embarrassed, but the way they had danced and sang for them on stage was actually quite enjoyable.

They waited a whole five minutes before the woman presented themselves to them, and swept them into their arms, rewarding them with breathtaking kisses.

Lois pulled away from him, slightly. "So? What did you think?"

He rested his forehead against hers. "I think that, that was beautiful just like you."

She rolled her eyes. "How did I know that you were going to say something sappy."

"Admit it, you love me even more for it."

She was about to make a sarcastic remark when an upbeat song boomed through the stereos, and everyone began migrating to the dancefloor, even Chloe and Natasha dragged Jimmy and Pete to dance.

She looked up at him, expectedly, and pouted when he shook his head from side to side. "Come on, baby, I want to dance with you!"

"Lois, you know I suck at dancing, let alone dancing to songs like this…"

She stuck out her lower lip, pouting excellently, and batted her eyelashes at him. "Please?"

It was so, so hard to decline when she was looking at him like that, hell, he caved whenever she just looked up at him. He really was a sucker for her love, he thought, before relenting to her, which he received a sweet kiss in reward for.

It didn't matter, in her eyes at least, if he could dance or not. She wanted to just spend time with him—she wanted to be with him—she wanted to make more memories with him, and that was the only thing that mattered to him.

Her entire reason for tonight was to experience a night together just like they used to, which they accomplished, and he intended on thanking her for one of the best nights of his life once they got back home.

* * *

 _ **This is the halfway mark! It has taken me about three months to get half of this story published, and I want to thank everyone for sticking with me through this story thus far. This section of this story is almost complete, and then we move onto the more complex part of this. The last chapter, this chapter, and the next chapter are basically filler chapters, which inevitably lead the story into where it needs to go. The General had resurfaced, and I was super excited writing his character again since I enjoyed writing him earlier in this story. The song for this chapter was changed last minute, in remembrance to my father, who passed away four years ago today. It was our favorite movie, and favorite song from LeAnn Rimes. If any of my viewers have lost someone they loved dearly, I want to say that it's okay to be sad or in pain or heartbroken because no matter where you go in this life, they will always be with you.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-three!**_


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Four:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'When You Say Nothing at All' by Ronan Keating**_

* * *

"Okay. Which one?"

Lois, who had just finished getting ready for her date with Clark, looked over at her cousin, and scrutinized the two different dresses she was holding in her hands. One was a deep, dark blue color with ruffles spreading throughout the entire front of it, while the other one was a simple, elegant maroon colored one, and it had shining sparkles flowing from the middle of the dress to the bottom of it.

They were both cute, she thought, but it was obvious which one was the better choice for tonight's occasion.

"Definitely the maroon one."

She looked down at the dress, studying it with narrowed eyes for several seconds before glancing back up at her cousin. "Are you sure? Isn't a little too much?"

"No, cuz, it's not too much. It's Valentine's day, and you want to knock Jimmy' socks off, right?"

"Well, yeah, that's the point," she replied before eyeing what her cousin was wearing, and smirked, mischievously up at her, "What about you? Is that what you expect to do to Clark with that dress?"

She glanced down at her dress. It was a light violet color with bedazzled designs spreading towards the bottom of it, and flowed a few inches above her knees, while it hugged her curves, tightly. A frown formed on her features, as she looked back up at her cousin. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Nothing. It's just, um, plain and simple. Not what you usually wear, especially on dates with Clark."

She crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at her. "I'll have you know that Martha bought this dress for me."

"What about Clark?"

"What about him?"

"Come on, Lo, you just told me that what I'm choosing to wear is going to knock Jimmy' socks off. What do you think what you're wearing is going to do for Clark?"

She grinned, suggestively and mischievously. "It will knock more than his socks off…"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, at the implication behind her words, and she quickly shook away the images that were bombarding her mind—images she never, ever wanted in her head. "Never mind. I don't think I want to know."

A small, light chuckle escaped past her lips, at the expression plastered across her face before she walked over to the vanity, and checked over her appearance for about the hundredth time. "So, what does Mr. Jimbo, have planned for you two tonight?"

"I don't know!" She grumbled, miserably, and plopped down onto the bed with a heavy sigh. "He refuses to give me any hints about what he has planned. All he told me was that he would be here promptly at seven to pick me up, and that he didn't want to hear one complain coming out of me. It's driving me insane!"

"Tell me about it…"

"Clark won't tell you anything either?"

"Nope. He told me to be at the farm by seven."

She waited, patiently, for her to say more, but realized that she wasn't going to say anything more. "That's it? That's all he told you?"

"Yeah. I swear that man and his damn surprises are going to be the death of me."

She chuckled, loudly. "Let me guess, he used to do that all the time during those three months you spent together."

"That's an understatement." An expression of pure misery spread out across her face. "I remember our first date. He took me to a carnival a few towns away from Estes Park, and he literally made me sit in the damn car for three hours, refusing to tell me anything. It was freaking torture."

That was something she didn't understand. Over the past week, she had received a lot of stories about their adventures together, and it just didn't make any damn sense. "Why didn't he just, you know, use his super speed or something?"

"I asked him that very question after about the fifth surprise, and he simply responded, it's more exciting this way." She threw her hands up in the air, in complete and utter frustration. "Exciting for him maybe, but not for me, not even in the slightest. I think the man just enjoys torturing me to no end."

"You're probably right about that."

She grabbed her phone, checking for messages, and grinned from ear to ear when she realized that she had received one from Clark:

' _Don't be late, Miss Lane.'_

It wasn't anything special, but it was something he would say to her since she had a horrible habit at being late for everything, and it absolutely drove him crazy, especially when it was something that meant a lot to him.

Serves him right, she thought, since he had refused to tell her anything, but as much as she would enjoy torturing him by being late it was obvious that he was extremely excited about tonight, hell, she was excited as well, and she really, really wanted to find out what her handsome boyfriend had planned for them tonight.

Chloe watched her from the end of the bed, and grinned, widely, at the expression on her cousin' face. It was full of hope—happiness, and pure excitement. They both did this whenever they weren't in the same vicinity. It didn't matter if they were away from each other for five minutes or five hours, every single time they received a text from each other, they would grin like Cheshire cats.

It was quite romantic, she thought.

"I'm guessing the reason for that smile on your face is because of Clark."

"Yeah. He doesn't want me to be late." She quickly put her phone away, and started grabbing her things. "I should probably get going."

"Lois, wait!" She stopped her from walking out the bedroom door. "Can I talk to you about something before you leave?"

She slowly walked back towards her cousin, and sat down on the bed next to her. "What's on your mind?"

She took a deep, deep breath, and braced herself before broaching the subject she knew her cousin despised talking about. "It's about Lex and Murphy, and what you should tell Clark…"

Of course, she wanted to talk about that, she thought, as she groaned, loudly and miserably. It was about the millionth time she had mentioned it since their little conversation about them last week, and she was becoming sick and tired of hearing about it.

"Chloe, we've talked about this."

"No, we haven't. Every single time I bring up the subject you shut me out."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Chloe—"

She threw her hands up in front of her, stopping her from saying another word, and glared at her. "No. I want you to listen to me, okay?"

She nodded, even though she was positive that she didn't want to hear what she had to say.

"Look, I know that you don't want to tell him anything about what's been happening with Lex ever since you moved here or about what happened with Murphy in the past, but don't you think he deserves to know the truth?" She could tell that she was going to protest, and continued speaking before she had the chance. "I mean, I know you have your reasons for not telling him, but with everything he can do, don't you think he would understand, hell, he would do more than understand he would literally protect you with his life. I think that's been proven over the past several weeks."

She had a point, she thought, but that had nothing to do with why she didn't want to tell him everything. "It has nothing to do with knowing that he could protect me, if need me, besides I can take care of myself."

"Lois, what is stopping you from being honest with him, I mean, it can't just be because you're afraid that he'll look at you differently, which by the way is completely outrageous."

"It's not just that."

"Then what is it?"

"I have several reasons." She took a deep breath. "Look, it's not that I don't want him to look at me differently after I tell him. It's the fact that if he found out what Lex has been doing he's going to want to confront him, and that's not going to accomplish anything, especially since we don't know anything more than we did last week."

"I understand that, but what about Murphy?"

"That was something I hoped I would never have to tell him about. It's only going to give him questions—questions that I don't have answers for."

"You mean, answers you don't want to give him."

She glared at her. "That doesn't matter. Lex is a problem, we know that, but it's not like he actually knows anything, and Murphy, on the other hand, is gone, and I just don't see the point in telling him something that he can't do anything about. It's in the past. I didn't even start thinking about that again until I moved here."

"You mean, until Lex made you think about it again."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

She sighed, heavily. "I just don't think it's going to accomplish anything, other than problems—problems I don't want to deal with right now." She locked eyes with her cousin. "Chloe, I need you to promise me that you won't say anything to him until I'm ready to."

That caught her attention, and she quirked her brow, at those words. "Does that mean you intend on telling him at some point?"

"Yes. Look, I'm not naïve enough to believe that he hasn't noticed anything amiss in the past few weeks, especially since I've slipped up a few times, but of course, he doesn't question me about it because that's what we did that entire summer we spent together. We both were keeping things from each other, but neither of us forced the other to talk about it until we were ready, and that's exactly what he's doing now. We always promised to tell each other the truth, and I will…one day, but that day is not today."

"When are you going to be honest with him?"

"I don't know…"

She sighed, heavily. "That's the best I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?"

She nodded, and stood up from her position on the bed. "I know what you're attempting to accomplish here, and I love you even more for it, but it's not going to change anything. I'll tell him when I'm ready to."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Lo."

I hope so too, she thought, as she left the house.

It wasn't that she didn't think he deserved to know everything, because he did, especially since they have planned and promised each other that they would love each other forever—that they would be together forever—that they would always be honest with each other, but it was extremely difficult talking about this to anyone who didn't know everything that happened all those years ago. One part of herself, knew that if things with Lex became anymore worse than they already were than she would have no choice but to tell him the truth about everything, but that day was definitely not today.

No.

Today, she wanted to enjoy the night with him, and that was the only thing that mattered.

She could worry about what she should do about Lex and what she should tell Clark later, because right now, right now she just wanted to spend Valentine's Day with the man she loved without worrying about anything else, and that's exactly what she intended on doing.

* * *

Martha grinned from ear to ear, as she watched the woman she already saw as her daughter, glance out the kitchen window for a few seconds, her eyes scanning in every which direction, before she started pacing back and forth, and then proceeded to repeat the same exact actions a few minutes later.

It was becoming more and more hilarious by the second, especially since she had been doing it for over fifteen minutes now, and the only reason she was behaving this way was because of her son, who was currently outside setting up her surprise for tonight.

She glanced over at her husband, who was leaning against the counter, also watching her every movement, and had a huge smile plastered across his face.

As funny as this was, it was making her dizzy, and she needed to get her to think about something else, but first she had to get her to talk about it. "Lois, honey, is everything okay?"

Lois stopped pacing, almost immediately, and looked between the two people, who had been so welcoming—so supportive of her, before she sighed, heavily. "Everything's fine."

Jonathon quirked a brow at her words, and glanced over at his wife, who had this expression of pure amusement on her face. "Are you sure?"

She huffed and puffed, miserably, and plopped down onto the kitchen stool. "No. I'm not okay."

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Oh nothing. Other than the fact that as soon as your son walks inside this house I'm going to murder him."

"Why's that?" Jonathon said, even though he knew exactly what was irritating the young, feisty blonde.

"Your son told me to be here at seven, and to not be late I might add, but I've been here for over twenty minutes, and of course, he's nowhere in sight."

Neither of them could stop themselves from laughing at her little rant—laughter that they had been holding inside for the past several minutes.

She glanced between the two of them, frowning for a few seconds before she realized that they had probably figured out what was bothering her minutes after she arrived. They were really good at reading her emotions, especially Martha.

"But, you already knew that, didn't you?"

Martha nodded, as she walked over to her, and enveloped her hands around her own. "Lois, honey, I'm sure whatever Clark has planned for you tonight you're going to enjoy."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's exactly what he told me."

Jonathon slowly walked towards them. "I'd get used to it if I were you. I have a feeling that he's never going to stop surprising you."

"I'm starting to realize that." She quickly shook away her impatience and irritation once she realized that she had been focusing on her frustration instead of on the couple standing right in front of her. "Enough about Clark. What do you two have planned for tonight?"

Martha smiled, widely. "Well, my lovely husband here made reservations at a restaurant in Metropolis, got tickets to my favorite opera, and even booked us at one of the best hotels in the city."

She quirked a brow at that. "I guess I don't have to ask where Clark gets his chivalry from."

Jonathon chuckled. "Speaking of, Martha, we should probably get going. We don't want to be late."

"You're right," she said, as she started gathering up her belongings.

"Have fun tonight."

"We will. Don't worry too much, Lois, I'm sure that whatever Clark is up to will be worth the wait."

"We'll see about that."

They just chuckled at her, and walked out of the farmhouse, hand in hand.

A few minutes later, she walked back over to the kitchen window, searching for her boyfriend, but of course, he was nowhere in sight, which irritated her more than she already was.

What the hell is he doing out there?

She made her way towards the living room, intending on having some fun instead of waiting around for him to finish whatever the hell he was doing, at least until he decided to show up to their freaking date night.

Thirty minutes later, Clark glanced over the surprise he had spent the past hour setting up, feeling quite satisfied with himself, and super sped back to the house, where he found his lovely girlfriend sitting on the ground, a few inches away from the TV screen with a game console in her hand.

"Die! Die! Die!"

He walked towards her, and crossed his arms over his chest, as he leaned against the wall separating the dining room and living room. "Why am I not surprised to find you playing that stupid video game?"

She glanced over at him, a sarcastic barb on the tip of her tongue, but didn't get the chance to say anything once her controller started vibrating in her hands, and looked back at the screen, only to frown, despondently, at what she saw.

She glared at him. "You killed me!"

He grinned at her. "Good. Now, get your lazy ass up. I didn't spend the past hour outside setting up your surprise for you to sit inside all night long."

"Let's talk about this little surprise of yours," she said, as she stood up.

"Don't even try it, Lane, I'm not telling you anything."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the fact that you specifically told me not to be late, which I wasn't by the way, and then you had me wait almost an entire hour before you decided to announce your presence."

He chuckled at her, making her glare at him even more so, and walked towards her. "I'm sorry, baby, it took longer than I thought it would."

"That still doesn't excuse you."

"I know, but I promise that the rest of the night I'm all yours."

She smirked, as she walked closer to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Is that right?"

He brushed his nose against hers, softly. "Yes. Now, I want you to close your eyes."

"Clark—"

"Close your damn eyes, Lane."

She narrowed her eyes at him, defiantly, but did as she was told once he stared at her, with a determined expression, and could feel him step away from her before there was a whooshing sound.

"Okay. You can open your eyes."

When she did, she was surprised to find him wearing a nice light blue dress shirt, and black slacks. He looked very, very handsome.

He removed his hands from behind his back, revealing a bouquet of white lilies, and held them out for her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Lois."

She took the flowers from him, and smelt their sweet fragrance before smiling up at him. "These are beautiful, Clark."

"I know they're your favorite."

"They are." She kissed him sweetly before walking into the kitchen, placing them in a vase filled with water, and gently set them down on the counter. "Your off to a good start, Kent, now what else do you have planned for me, you know, since you spent the past hour setting all of this up."

He quickly held out his hand, which she slipped her own into, and he lead them outside. To say she was surprised at what she saw was an understatement. At the very bottom of the porch stairs was a pathway of white rose pedals leading through the yard.

She looked over at him, who just smiled at her, and nodded his head forward, indicating that she continues walking. She slowly walked through the pathway, her hand still intertwined with his, passing the barn, and marched her way up several hills until they ended up at an empty field, a few miles away from the house, where there were flowers spread throughout the entire field.

It was absolutely beautiful, she thought.

"What is this place?"

He walked around her, letting go of her hand, until he was standing directly in front of her. "I used to come here a lot when I was younger. It was a place where I could be completely alone when I wanted to be, of course, that was before the loft became that place for me. I haven't been here for years."

She glanced around her surroundings. "It's really beautiful here."

"I thought you might like it. I wanted to bring you here a while ago, but figured that I could wait until tonight to show you."

An all too knowing grin spread out across her face. "You've been planning this for a long time, haven't you?"

"Yes. Ever since you came back to me."

"You're such a sap, but I love you more for it."

He grinned down at her before grabbing her hand. "Come on."

He lead them through the flower-filled field for a few minutes, but she stopped dead in her tracks at the beautiful set up he had created for her. There was a blanket, the same one they had used several times before, spread out on the ground, all kinds of food spread out in front of her, and several white candles surrounding them in the shape of a heart.

It was exquisitely beautiful, she thought.

She turned around towards him with tears in her eyes. "This is amazing, Clark, I don't think anyone has ever done something so romantic for me before."

He brushed away the hair from her face, and stared deeply into her hazel orbs. "It's our first Valentine's Day together. I wanted it to be perfect."

"It's perfect. It's more than perfect."

"Really?"

She kissed him, softly. "Yes, baby."

He grinned down at her. "I'm glad you like it."

They both smiled, widely, at each other before sitting down on the blanket, and enjoyed their food in contended silence.

One hour later, they were lying on the ground, side by side with their arms wrapped around each other's bodies, and stared up at the star-filled night sky, reminding them both of all the times they used to stargaze.

She turned towards him, perching herself on her elbow, and stared, lovingly over at him. "This was amazing, Clark, I don't think I've had a more perfect night."

He copied her movements. "The night's not over yet."

She scooted closer to him. "It's not?"

He shook his head from side to side, but before he could inform her of the next portion of his surprise for her, she pressed her lips against his, hungrily. He kissed her back with just as much fervor, and wrapped his arms around her body, but his eyes snapped open when she pinned him to the ground, straddling his lap. He knew exactly what she wanted to do, hell, he was really looking forward to that part of their night, but he had other things in mind first.

He pulled away from her, slightly, making her frown at him. "I have another surprise for you."

"You do?"

He quickly stood up with her still wrapped around his body, and gently set her feet back on the ground. "Do you remember the first night we danced together?"

Memories of that night came flooding back to her. It was a happy and bittersweet memory. That was one of the best nights of her life, but it was also one of the worst because that was the night she left him.

"Yes," she said, attempting to keep her expression neutral. She didn't want him knowing that she was thinking about one of the moments that had broken both of their hearts.

It was obvious what she was thinking about, he thought, since he could see the sadness lingering in her eyes, and he'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't thinking about it too, but that's not the reason he was bringing it up.

He rested his hand on the side of her cheek, his thumb caressing her skin. "It's okay, Lois, I know you're thinking about that night, but I don't want to focus on that—I want to focus on what happened at our waterfall."

She smiled up at him. "You mean, when I forced you to dance?"

"That was the first time I wanted to tell you how I really felt about you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I wanted to tell you that I loved you more than anything, but after we danced, I just couldn't find the words to tell you."

She chuckled. "You more than made up for not saying anything that night."

He chuckled with her. "I know, but tonight, tonight I want to relive that night." He pulled out an MP3 player, and held it out in front of her. "Will you dance with me, Miss Lane?"

"I'd love to dance with you, Mr. Kent."

He quickly scrolled through the music until he found the perfect song, handed her one of the earpieces, and placed his own in his ear.

 _ **It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart**_

 _ **Without saying a word, you can light up the dark**_

 _ **Try as I may I could never explain**_

 _ **What I hear when you don't say a thing**_

They slowly wrapped their arms around each other, their bodies lightly pressed together, and softly swayed to the music.

 _ **The smile on your face lets me know that you need me**_

 _ **There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me**_

 _ **The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if wherever I fall**_

 _ **You say it best when you say nothing at all**_

They rested their foreheads together, their arms tightening around each other, as they stared into each other's eyes.

 _ **All day long I can hear people talking out loud**_

 _ **But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd**_

 _ **Try as they may they can never define**_

 _ **What's being said between your heart and mine**_

He trailed one of his hands up her body, and rested it behind her head, his fingers curling into her soft blonde locks. "I love you, Lois."

She grinned up at him. "I love you too, Clark. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day, baby."

 _ **The smile on your face lets me know that you need me**_

 _ **There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me**_

 _ **The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if wherever I fall**_

 _ **You say it best when you say nothing at all**_

He slowly leaned forward, his lips pressing against hers softly, sweetly, and passionately, as his hands tightened around her body, pulling her closer to his chest.

She tangled her fingers through his black tresses, enjoying the feel of his body pressed up against hers, and deepened their kiss, their tongues meeting halfway.

 _ **The smile on your face lets me know that you need me**_

 _ **There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me**_

 _ **The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if wherever I fall**_

 _ **You say it best when you say nothing at all**_

Unbeknownst to either of them, they slowly lifted off the ground, and floated a few feet above the ground, swaying to the music ringing in their ears, as their lips molded together.

* * *

Steve Wilkinson was becoming more and more irritated, as he walked down the streets of Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland, searching for the man his boss wanted more than anything, and he hoped against all hope that he was here.

He had to be here.

For the past four days, he had been searching this continent, and this was the last small, desolate, and isolated town.

This was literally the only place he could be, unless that document was a lie, and he was searching for someone who was either dead or somewhere else.

He really, really hoped he was here.

They needed him, especially his boss, that way they could achieve what they've spent the past four years attempting to accomplish.

Several minutes later, as he was walking down the disgusting streets he noticed something amiss happening across the street, and stopped dead in his tracks, watching the scene unfold right in front of his eyes. A tall, scrawny looking man with dirty blonde hair was thrown to the ground, along with all his belongings by an older man with a dark black goatee, who held an expression of pure disgust on his face.

"Get the hell out of here, Murphy! I never want to see your face in here again!"

Just his luck, he thought.

He watched the man disappear back inside the building before he made his way over to the man he had spent four days searching for, and held out his hand to him. "You're Murphy, right?"

Murphy eyed him, suspiciously before pushing his hand away, and standing up on his own, gathering up his belongings. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm going to take that as an affirmative yes. I think you're going to want to come with me."

He looked up at him before stalking closer to the man, and stared at him with his dead, cold brown eyes. "Why should I?"

"That's really not important, but what is important is that I have the capable means to get you off this wretched island, and back to the states. That's what you want, right?"

Of course, it was, he thought, but that still didn't convince him of anything, even if the offer was quite promising. "You really think you can get me out of here?"

He nodded.

"Look, man, I've been attempting and failing for five years straight. What makes you think you'll have any luck?"

He grinned at him. "You don't know the man I work for. Trust me, I have the means and necessity to get you out of here."

"Okay. You've definitely got my attention, but what do you or your boss want me for? It's quite obvious that you want something from me."

"You would be right about that, and I personally don't want anything from you, but my boss on the other hand, needs some vital information from you."

"What information?"

"Everything you know about Lois Lane."

A devilish and wicked grin spread out across his features, at that particular name, and memories of everything he had done to her, to her father, and to her pathetic little cousin came rushing back to him. The offer to rescue him was more than promising now, but it still raised questions and his curiosity.

"What does this boss of yours want with her?"

"The same thing you want."

"And what's that?"

"You want her gone." He took a few steps towards the man. "You see, in order for that to happen we need you to give us the information we want."

"And what information would that be?"

"My boss will explain everything once we get back to the states, but I need to make it perfectly clear that you will give us what we want before, and only before, you get what you want."

He smirked, an evil glint lingering in his eyes. "I don't just want her gone. I want revenge on her and her entire family."

"And, you'll get it after you help us."

It was an intriguing idea, he thought, and quite honestly, he would do just about anything to get off this horrid island. "You've got yourself a deal."

They shook hands, gathered up all his belongings, and made their way down the streets towards his impending freedom.

As they walked, Murphy could give absolutely two shits about what this supposed boss wanted from him, but figured that he owed the man for finding him and rescuing him, and of course, they could probably help each other achieve what they wanted.

It didn't matter.

None of it did.

It didn't because there was only one thing he cared about—only one thing he wanted more than anything else.

For five years, he had thought of—dreamed about—planned out what he wanted to do to her, to her father, to that bitch cousin of hers, and very, very soon he would be able to enact his revenge one way of another.

He was really, really looking forward to reuniting with the lovely Lois Lane…

* * *

 _ **Originally, this was supposed to be a smut chapter, but I cut it out since it didn't really mix too well with this chapter, and I personally only like writing those scenes when I feel like what both the characters are going through at the moment deserve a detailed and intimate setting. Murphy has officially been introduced, and things are about to get more and interesting. This is the last fluffy chapter in this section of this story, there might be some cute moments, but aside from that things are going to start heating up in order for this story to move forward.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-four!**_


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Five:**_

* * *

Lois groaned, loudly and quite miserably, her eyes slowly peeling open, as she felt Clark tossing and turning next to her.

It was driving her absolutely insane!

He had been doing this for over twenty minutes now. At first, she had attempted ignoring him, but it seemed that, that wasn't going to be a possibility, and ever fiber within her being wanted to berate him for interrupting her beauty sleep.

But, before she could even move one muscle, he was screaming, loudly, next to her, "I have to help them! I have to help them! I have to help them!"

All thoughts of reprimanding him went out the window, at the sound of his voice, which was filled with pain—with regret—with remorse. She quickly shot out of her position in bed, turned her entire body towards him, resting on her knees, and watched as he seemed to be having some kind of nightmare. He was tossing his head from side to side, frantically, his body was practically trembling, and sweat was cascading down his forehead, as he repeated the same thing over and over again.

She placed her hands on his bare chest, and shook him, softly. "Clark!"

It didn't wake him, actually it seemed to only make him move his body more frantically than it was before.

She tried again, and shook him a little harder this time. "Clark! Wake up!"

He didn't.

That was concerning, she thought before gripping his shoulders in her hands, her nails digging into his flesh, and shook him as hard as she could manage. "Clark! Baby! Clark! Wake up!"

His eyes snapped open, at the feel of her nails digging into his skin and the sound of her frantic voice. He quickly sat up, and locked his confused eyes with her concerned ones. "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

She frowned at him. "What's wrong? You were just screaming in your sleep. I should be asking you that question."

That was new, he thought.

Over the past three weeks, he had been having the same exact dream every single night, the one where he was trapped in darkness, unable to reach the voices that desperately wanted his help. It always started and ended the same, but he had never spoken while dreaming, which could only mean one thing…whatever these dreams meant—whatever was happening him was only getting worse.

Much, much worse.

"What was I saying?"

"You kept repeating, I have to help them, over and over again. What were you dreaming about?"

That was a question he was positive that he wasn't ready to answer yet, hell, he didn't even understand why this was happening to him, and quite honestly, he really didn't want to worry her. "I, um, I don't know. It was nothing."

She quirked a brow at him. "Nothing huh? You were just screaming in your sleep, and I'm supposed to believe that it was nothing."

Figures that she wouldn't let this go that easily, he thought before sighing, heavily, and running a hand down his face. "I-I don't know, Lo, it was just a dream, and I don't even remember what it was about."

"You don't?"

"No, I don't. Come on, just go back to sleep."

He really, really hated lying to her, but he couldn't tell her anything until he figured this out himself. He laid back down on the bed, pulling her with him, and made himself comfortable before wrapping his arms around her body, his head resting on her shoulder.

Lois watched as he closed his eyes, softly, and fell back asleep almost instantaneously, but her, on the other hand, wasn't tired anymore, actually she was wide awake now.

He had just lied to her.

He knew exactly what that dream was about.

She had seen it lingering in his eyes, but for some unknown reason, he felt the need to lie to her about it, and that worried her…immensely.

It wasn't like they told each other absolutely everything, especially about their dreams, but this, this seemed like something he didn't want her to know about, and that did more than worry her…it concerned her.

It was quite obvious that something was bothering him, hell, she's noticed that he hasn't exactly been himself the past couple of weeks. At first, she had believed that it was just restlessness, especially with everything that's been going on as of late, but now, she was certain that it was something much, much more than that.

But what could it be?

One part of her wanted to wake his ass up right this second, and demand answers out of him, but deep inside she knew that, that would get her absolutely nowhere. He would brush it off, exactly like he just had, and that meant that whatever was going on with him scared him to the point he truly believed that he couldn't tell her about it.

It was a lot like those first few weeks they had been together.

She had known that he was keeping something from her, and she had respected his decision not to tell her about it, but this was different—different because she wasn't sure if she would be able to just forget this ever happened.

Something was bothering him, that much was blatantly obvious, and she wanted to help him, like she had done several times in the past, but she didn't know how to accomplish that when he wouldn't tell her what was going on with him.

One way or another, she would get him to open up to her, no matter how long it took, and then she would help him with whatever has been distracting him for weeks now.

* * *

Chloe slowly walked down the stairs of her house, in desperate need for some refreshing coffee, especially since she had, had a late night last night. After another long day of being tormented by this week's meteor infected, she had spent the rest of the night attempting to dig up information on Lex, wanting to figure out what he wanted with Lois, and what he knew about Murphy, but of course, she had gotten absolutely nowhere.

She wasn't sure what she should do next.

She wanted to figure out what his end game was, and she also wanted to protect her cousin from whatever he was planning, but how the hell was she supposed to do that when she had absolutely no idea what was really going on.

It's not like she could watch the man's every movement.

He was calculating, that she had learned over the few years she had known him, and he was really, really good at covering his tracks.

All thoughts of Lex immediately left her mind, as she heard two voices echoing from the living room, and was completely and utterly surprised, at who she saw sitting on the couch with her father.

It was someone she never, ever thought she would see in her house again, especially since he hadn't been here in well over ten years.

"U-Uncle Sam?"

He stopped talking, at the sound of his niece' voice, and smiled, slightly up at her. "Chloe. It's good to see you. Your father here was telling me everything I've missed, and I've got to say, you've grown up so much. What happened to the spunky little girl who used to cause havoc with that daughter of mine?"

She chuckled, slightly. "Well, it's been quite a long time since those days, but I still cause as much havoc as I did before."

"I'm sure you do."

Gabe smiled at her. "Especially, now that her favorite cousin is living here."

Which brought her to the question…why was her father here?

"Not that I'm not happy you're here, but um, what are you doing here exactly?"

The smile fell from his face, and he glanced at her father, uneasily, which didn't go unnoticed by her, making her feel a little anxious at what was going on. "I'm looking for my daughter. There's something I need to discuss with her." He glanced at her, knowingly. "Do you know where she is?"

"Oh. Yeah. She's at her boy—" She stopped mid-sentence, realizing what she was about to reveal to her uncle, a man who didn't take it kindly when his daughter had boyfriends, and quickly attempted correcting herself. "Um, she's at a friend's house."

Sam chuckled, at her slip and apparent nervousness. It figures that she would be with him. He had, had a feeling that she might be, but he wanted to check here first, besides he needed to talk to both Gabe and Chloe about what was going on, especially since they were just as involved in this as his daughter was.

"She's with Clark, right?"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and her mouth dropped open, in complete shock. "Y-you know?"

"Yes. I've known about him for quite a while, actually, that was one of the many reasons I sent her here in the first place."

That was surprising, she thought before holding up her hands in front of her. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you knew before sending her to Smallville that Clark, the man she loves, lived here?"

He nodded.

"Did you know that he was the man she spent three months with before sending her here?"

He nodded again.

This was just getting better and better, she thought.

At first, she had been confused at the fact that he even knew about Clark, then she had been irritated because he knew her best friend had lived here, and now she was just pissed off. He had known for over one year, that his daughter and her best friend had spent three months together—that they fell in love with each other—that they missed each other, and he did nothing about it. He just allowed them to believe that they would never, ever see each other again.

How the hell could he do something like that?

One part of her wanted to yell—scream—berate the man for all the heartache he could have stopped, but refrained the anger she was currently feeling because she knew without a doubt that Lois would do all of those things on her own, and he would deserve every second of her wrath.

She changed the subject. "Um, well, she's at the farmhouse. I can take you there if you want…"

"No. That's okay. I know where it is."

"Of course, you do." She mumbled under her breath, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to hear her. "It might not be any of my business, but um, what is all of this about? I mean, what are you doing in Smallville?"

"I've been stationed at the base in town. I wasn't supposed to be here for another two months, but something came up, which is the reason I'm here now, and why I need to speak to my daughter immediately."

"What's going on?"

Her father looked at her, uneasily. "Um, honey, I think you're going to want to sit down."

This couldn't be good, she thought, especially since the worried expressions that crossed their faces earlier returned, and it was beginning to frighten her, slightly.

She slowly sat down next to her father, and glanced between the two of them. "What's going on?"

"It's about Murphy."

All the color drained from her face, and her hands began to tremble. "M-Murphy? What about him?"

He sighed, heavily. "Roughly about three weeks ago, I was alerted that someone had hacked into the military mainframe, and stolen a copy of the file I had on Murphy."

This couldn't be happening right now.

Who would want that man's file? Who would want anything to do with that man? Who could possibly be digging up information about him? Did this have anything to deal with Lois' past? Did someone want to harm her cousin in some way?

Her eyes widened, as realization dawned on her almost instantaneously, and she knew exactly who had stolen that file. It was the man who had caused her cousin trouble from the moment she stepped into this town—the man who seemed to know about things he shouldn't know—the man who they were currently investigating.

Lex.

"That son of a bitch!"

Sam and Gabe frowned at her, and spoke, simultaneously, "What?"

She glanced between the two of them, noticing their confused expressions, and quickly stood up. "I know who stole that file, actually both Lois and I know the person who did this."

Her father stared at her, like she wasn't making any sense. "Honey, how could you possibly know?"

"That's not important."

Sam walked closer to her. "Chloe, it is important. How could you possibly know about this? I only found out two weeks ago…"

"Look, I'm not entirely surprised by this news, and neither will Lois. This isn't the first time Murphy has come up since she moved here."

"What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that we know who did this, and we can finally figure out what he's planning to do with that information."

Sam placed his hands on her shoulders, gently. "Chloe, I need you to tell me who this man is right now."

She shook her head from side to side. "I can't do that. We'll explain everything later, but right now, we need to get Lois, and tell her what's going on." She didn't wait for either of them to respond, and quickly walked out of her house, knowing that her uncle Sam would follow her.

It was all beginning to make perfect sense.

Lex was behind everything.

He knew Murphy' name because he had, had someone get that information for him, and for weeks had been baiting her—threatening her for unknown reasons.

Why the hell was he doing this? What did he want with that information? What was his endgame to all of this? But, more importantly, what did he want with Lois?

She didn't know, but she was going to figure it out before he did something rash—before he did anything to harm her cousin.

She had been hurt enough over the years, and there was no way in hell she was letting that happen again.

* * *

Lois laughed, good-heartedly, as she ran full-force out of the barn, attempting to get away from her boyfriend, who was currently chasing her due to her endless teasing.

They had been in the loft, bantering back and forth about nonsense like they usually did, and she couldn't stop herself from annoying the living shit out of him, which of course, was the reason why she was attempting to escape from him.

Like that would do her any good, she thought, knowing that he could easily catch her with his damn super speed.

Clark kept a good distance in-between them, as he chased after her, enjoying every little second of their little game, especially since he knew that she loved it just as much as he did, but that all changed once he realized where she was headed.

The house.

Oh, no you don't, he thought, as he picked up his speed to catch up with her, only using a tad bit of his super speed.

This happened every single time they did this. She would play their little game for a little while before running towards the house, where his parents would stop them from horsing around, and of course, they always took her side, even though they knew very well that she was usually the one who started their little battle in the first place.

Once he caught up to her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and lifted her off the ground, relishing in the fact that he had once again beat her at her own damn game.

She kicked her legs, frantically, and squirmed her body in every which direction, attempting to escape from his grasp, but it was useless. "Put me down!"

"Never!" He tightened his arms around her, and nuzzled her neck, nipping at her skin there, making her giggle, uncontrollably.

"Clark freaking Kent! Put me down right this second!"

"Okay," he relented, but instead of putting her on the ground, he quickly flipped her around, so she was facing him, and wrapped her legs around his waist before resting his hands on her lower back.

She blinked several times, at the sudden change of scenery, and glared at him once she realized what he had just done. "That is not what I had in mind."

He brushed his nose against hers. "I know, but I kind of prefer you this way."

"Why? Because you have me right where you want me?"

"Exactly."

She pouted, attempting to look forlorn. "Please put me down."

"Never gonna happen, Lo."

"I hate you!"

"No, you don't. You love me."

She smirked, mischievously. "Oh really? If that's true than prove it."

And, that's exactly what he did.

He pressed his lips against hers, possessively and demandingly, as one of his hands curled into her soft blonde hair, and the other one gripped her waist, his fingers grazing across her soft skin. She moaned against his lips, her tongue prodding his lips to open up to her, and pressed her entire body against his, her fingers tangling themselves in his hair, as their tongues intertwined together.

"Lois?"

Lois' entire body froze, at the familiar sound of her father's voice, and quickly pulled away from him before staring at her father with a befuddled expression.

What the hell was he doing here?

"Daddy?"

Clark about lost his marbles, at the word that fell from his girlfriend' lips, and practically dropped her onto the ground, feeling extremely nervous, as he stared at the man, who he never, ever thought he would meet—the man who had caused them so, so many problems in the past.

Sam, who had watched their entire encounter, slowly walked towards them with a slight smile lingering on his face. "Hello, Lois." He glanced over at his daughter' boyfriend, who was staring at him wide-eyed, as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, nervously, and couldn't help chuckling at the boy' behavior. "No need to be nervous, son."

He just nodded, not entirely sure what to say to this man.

He stuck out his hand, "You must be Clark. It's nice to finally put a face to the name."

He tentatively shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you too, sir."

Lois narrowed her eyes at her father, feeling completely and utterly confused by what was happening. "How the hell do you know his name? How did you even know where I was? And, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I can answer that."

Lois and Clark looked over her father' head towards the new voice, noticing Chloe walking towards them with a small smile gracing her lips, which only confused them more than they already were. "Chloe, what are you doing here?"

"I was just surprised as you were when I found uncle Sam sitting in my living room, but we need to talk to you about something."

"You brought him here?"

She nodded, which rewarded her with a fierce glare from her cousin.

Sam just chuckled at his daughter. "Yes, she brought me here, but I was headed here anyways. There's something important I need to discuss with you.

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer the question on how you know Clark' name…"

"I've known about him before you returned from Washington."

Both of their mouths dropped open, in shock.

"H-how is that even possible? I never even mentioned anything to you or anyone for that matter. The only people that knew were Wes and…" She trailed off, realizing the other person who had seen them together, and wanted to strangle the man more than she had over one year ago. "Uncle Jeff told you, didn't he?"

"Yes."

Clark couldn't believe what he was hearing. This man—a man he hoped to never see, had known the entire time they were separated who he was, where he lived, and did absolutely nothing about it. He knew how much his daughter loved and missed him, but did nothing to relieve her pain.

It shouldn't surprise him, he thought, since he was the number one reason for most of their heartbreak within those three months, especially the two times she had left him, and the fact that he was here now only made him feel very, very uneasy.

Lois was feeling anything but thrilled at this moment.

She glared, heatedly at her father, as everything he had revealed angered her more than anything ever has before. For over one year, he had known about Clark—had known about their summer together—had known that she loved him—had known that she missed him, but did nothing about it, instead he had her living in misery, all because she had run away from base.

What the hell was wrong with him? Why the hell would he do something like that? Why would he allow her to believe that she was never going to see the one person she desperately wanted in her life?

"You knew! This whole damn time you knew! You could tell that I was hurting—that I was in pain—that I was heartbroken, and you did nothing! Did you think I deserved it because I disobeyed your damn orders? Was sending me here your way of making up for letting me live in misery for over one year? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Clark wrapped his arm around her shoulders, attempting to calm her down, but knew it was useless, especially when it came to her father.

He had a feeling that she would be angry, actually, she was more than angry right now, she was livid, and he knew he deserved it, but right now he had more pressing things on his mind than his own daughter berating him for his actions.

"Lo, you can be pissed at me all you want. I know I deserve it, but I have other pressing matters to discuss with you at this time."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I need you to come with me."

She took a step back from him, unconsciously grabbing Clark' hand, and squeezed, like he was her life support, which he was at this very moment in time. "No."

"What?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you. Not until I get the answers I want."

This is getting us absolutely nowhere, Chloe thought.

As much as she enjoyed watching Lois reprimand her father for everything he had done, there were more important things to discuss, and they couldn't do it here, not in front of Clark or the Kent'. This was a family matter.

She stepped forward, staring directly into her cousin' eyes. "Lois, we need you to come with us right now."

She glared at her. "Why are you siding with him?"

"I'm not." She took a deep breath. "Look, I can't explain right now, but you need to come with us."

She clung onto Clark's hand, feeling relieved when he squeezed her hand, reassuringly, and took another step back away from them. "No. I'm not leaving."

Sam sighed, heavily. "Lois Joanne Lane! That's enough! You will be leaving with me right this second! Is that understood, young lady?"

She glared at him, defiantly, but her expression quickly changed to concern once she noticed the worried expression plastered on her cousin' face, and the one of pure fear on her father'. It was something she hadn't seen for a very, very long time, and knew without a doubt that whatever he wanted to discuss with her was important.

What the hell was going on?

Clark felt her hand loosen its grip on his own, and turned towards her, knowing exactly what she was going to say to him. "No. Lois, don't. Please, don't do this to me again."

She reached up, resting her hand on the side of his face. "It's going to be okay, Clark."

He pleaded with his eyes for her not to leave him, as fear of what he wanted to talk to her about was going to inevitably tear her away from him again consumed him, but knew that she was going to leave with them anyways. "No. Please, don't do this to me."

She forced down her tears, at the expression of pure dread that was lingering on his handsome face, and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him. She whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, baby. I'll be back later. I promise, I won't let him take me away from you."

He pulled away from her, slightly, and stared into her beautiful eyes, only seeing truth and honesty staring back at him. "Promise me you'll come back to me."

"I promise."

He rested his forehead against hers. "Okay."

They shared a soft, sweet, and passionate kiss before she walked away with her father and cousin, wondering what the hell was going on.

Clark watched her leave, his heart pounding, frantically inside his chest, as a feeling of pure fear creeped deep inside of him.

She had promised him that she would be coming back to him, and he really, really wanted to believe that, but he couldn't help feeling like the only reason her father was here was to take her away from him again. He had caused them so much heartbreak in those three months they spent together, even in the time they were separated he had caused them pain, and had done absolutely nothing to ease their broken hearts.

So, what was stopping him from tearing them apart again?

His thoughts were interrupted by his father' voice. "Clark."

He turned towards the house, noticing his parent' standing on the porch with sympathetic expressions resting on their faces, and knew that they had watched the entire scene unfold in front of their eyes. He slowly walked towards them, not even attempting to hide what he was feeling inside.

It wouldn't matter anyways, he thought, they always knew what was going through his head, especially when it came to the woman he loved.

Martha smiled at him, reassuringly. "She'll be back, honey."

He trained his eyes on the loose gravel on the ground. "I want to believe that…"

Jonathon clamped his hand down on his shoulder. "Clark, look at me."

He did.

"Do you remember what I told you that first night you came back to us?"

He nodded.

"That's still relevant today. You two belong together. Everyone who loves you and cares about you knows that. You both knew it from the first moment you met, and you still know that she's the one for you—your soulmate. She'll come back to you. She always has, and she always will."

A smile formed on his face, at his father' words, but it quickly faded into a frown. "I know that. She knows that, but he has already torn us apart not only once but twice so, what's stopping him from doing it again?"

A sigh escaped from Martha before she stepped closer to her son. "Did he say that's what he was intending on doing?"

"No. All he said was that he needed to talk to her about something."

"Then you have no need to worry. It's going to be okay, Clark, she'll be back, besides I think we all know that, that girl would fight her father tooth and nail just to stay with you."

"Yeah. Your probably right."

As much as he wanted to believe what his parents were telling him—what Lois had told him and promised him, he couldn't help feeling like everything around him was falling apart. Firstly, the dreams he was having only made him wonder how much time he really had with the people he loved and cared about, and now the idea of Lois' father forcing her to leave him wouldn't leave his mind. He didn't like this feeling, not in the slightest, but he would believe in her—he would trust that she would be coming back to him.

He just hoped it wasn't to say goodbye.

* * *

Lois, Chloe and Sam walked through the yards of the base towards her father' new office. On their way here, they had informed her that he was being stationed here in approximately two months, and that due to particular circumstances he had to come earlier, but of course, neither of them would enlighten her on the reasons why they had dragged her from Clark, who was probably wondering if she was ever coming back or not.

God, she really hated doing this to him, but she had a feeling that this little meeting had absolutely nothing to do with her relationship with him or concerning whether her father was intending on tearing them apart again.

It was something that concerned both her and Chloe, but what could it possibly be?

All of a sudden, she stopped dead in her tracks, as she heard a familiar voice, echoing from behind her. "LOIS!"

She quickly swirled around only to see none other than her best friend running towards her, and grinned from ear to ear before running towards her. "CASSIE!"

They collided into each other's arms, and hugged, tightly, laughing, loudly, as they swung each other around in circles. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too!" She pulled away from her, and glanced down at her still flat stomach. "And, how is my little niece or nephew doing?"

"Oh, you know, giving mommy morning sickness and cravings that I can't possibly afford.

She turned around, at the sound of her best friend's booming voice, and smirked at him. "Are you complaining? I thought that this is what you wanted, Mr. all I can talk about is having a family."

"Shut up," he said before pulling her into a hug. "I've missed you, Lo, I felt like I haven't seen you in years."

"It's felt like that, hasn't it?"

He looked over her shoulder, and grinned, widely when he saw Chloe freaking Sullivan. "My, my, my, you look completely different from what I remember."

She chuckled at him. "Well, it has been a few years since we last saw each other. I see you haven't changed a bit."

He glared at her, playfully. "Now that's not very nice."

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah."

"Get your butt over here, Sullivan." He quickly entrapped her in one of his famously known bear hugs.

Chloe pulled away from him, and smiled, tenderly at Cassie. "You're looking more beautiful than ever."

She grinned at her. "Thank you. It's all because this one got me pregnant."

He snickered at her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Don't pretend like you didn't want this as much as I did."

She simply shrugged her shoulders, a small smile lingering on her face, and glanced over at her best friend. "It's really good to see you again. Too bad it's under these circumstances."

Lois glared at her cousin. "Circumstances everyone has yet to tell me about."

Wes frowned. "You don't know yet?"

"Nope. My father literally arrived at Clark' house, and dragged me here."

He grinned at her. She had told them all about reuniting with him—about how she hasn't felt happier than she has been in these past couple of months, and he couldn't more excited for his best friend. "How is Clark by the way?"

"Probably sitting in his loft, brooding, wondering if I'm ever going to come back to him."

"Why would he be doing that?"

"It's complicated," she muttered. It wasn't what she really wanted to talk about at this very moment, actually, she'd rather think about anything other than the state she had left her boyfriend in.

Wes watched her facial expression change, dramatically, and knew exactly what was probably going through that man's head. "No, it's not. Your father showed up at the farm, ordering you to leave with him, and all that did was remind him of what happened in Washington. Now, he's wondering if the same exact thing is happening again."

"You would be right."

"Well, he won't have to worry for too much longer because soon you'll be back with him, and everything will be alright."

"Yeah. As soon as I figure out why the hell I was dragged here in the first place."

Sam, who had watched the entire reunion between friends, stepped forward. "Well, you don't have to wait much longer. Come on, let's go to my office."

Several minutes later, they were all sitting in his office, in complete silence, and Lois was becoming more and more unnerved as the seconds passed, especially at the way every single one of them were staring at her with worried expressions plastered across their faces.

"Okay. Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

It was silent for a few more seconds before her father, rested his hands on the desk, gathering everyone' attention. "Lois, the reason I'm here two months before I'm supposed to be is because about three weeks ago I was informed that there was a breach of security in the mainframe."

She stared at him, wide-eyed, and felt even more confused than she did before. "How does something like that happen? And what does it have to do with me?"

Wes turned towards her. "It wasn't anything we expected to happen, but they didn't steal any government files, Lois, they stole a personal one."

"Which one?"

Her father looked her straight in the eyes. "Murphy's."

All the color drained from her face, as she felt her heart beat rapidly inside her chest, and she glanced at every single person in the room, hoping—praying that it wasn't true, but knew from the expressions on their faces that it was the truth.

She quickly stood up, feeling completely and utterly overwhelmed, and started pacing back and forth. "How the hell did this happen?"

"We don't know, Lo."

"Who would be digging up information about him?"

Chloe slowly stood up, and walked over to her. "I think you know, Lois."

She stared at her with a befuddled expression before it finally clicked, and everything that has been happening since she moved to this small town started making complete sense. "That son of a bitch!"

"We have both been wondering how he knew his name, and now we know that it's because he had someone steal that file for him."

"But why? What the hell does he want from me? What is his purpose in all of this?"

Sam, Wes and Cassie spoke, simultaneously, "Who?"

They both glanced at them, also speaking, simultaneously, "Lex Luthor."

Sam shook his head, vehemently. "No. He wouldn't do that. Chloe, he helped protect you when his father attempted killing you. Why would he want to do this to you, Lo?"

"I've been asking myself that same exact question for months now."

"No. You're wrong. It's just not possible."

"It's true, uncle Sam, he's been practically harassing her since the second she stepped into this town."

"What has he done?"

Lois chuckled, but there was absolutely no humor laced in her voice. "Oh, you know, only throwing threats at me every chance he gets, and about two weeks ago he revealed that he knew more about Murphy than he should know."

Wes slowly stood up. "What would he want information about Murphy for?"

"I have no idea."

"Has he said anything that could clue us in on what he's planning to do with this information."

Chloe and Lois glanced at each other before breaking into a fit of laughter, and once they calmed down, Chloe looked directly at Cassie. "Lex Luthor reveal his evil plan? That's hilarious. No. He hasn't done anything other than cause havoc in our lives for the past several weeks."

Sam slowly stood up. "We need to figure out what his agenda is because there is no way I'm allowing what happened five years ago happen again."

Lois shook her head at him, knowing he was feeling remorse for what happened, but she could care less about that right now. "That's not going to happen. Murphy is gone, and no one knows where he is."

Complete and utter silence filled the room.

She locked eyes with her father, who had this expression of pure regret lingering on his face. "No one knows where he is, right?"

He took a deep breath before revealing the one piece of information that he knew would send her off the deep end. "Lois, that file contained information of where we stashed him. Lex knows he's in Greenland somewhere, but he doesn't know exactly where…"

At hearing that Lex possessed the possible whereabouts of the man, who had caused not only her, but her family so, so much pain, she could feel the room beginning to spin in circles around her, and she was starting to feel very, very lightheaded and dizzy.

Wes quickly stepped directly behind her once he noticed her stumbling, slightly, in her stance, and quickly wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her against his chest. "It's okay, Lois. It's going to be okay."

The feel of her best friend' arms wrapped around her comforted her, slightly, and it helped her refocus her foggy vision, but it didn't stop the fear that was seeping deep inside of her body. "I'm okay. I'm fine."

Except she wasn't okay, actually she was feeling the complete opposite of that particular emotion.

 _You will not freak out. You will not freak out. You will not freak out._

She repeated this manta in her head over and over again, as she sat down in a chair, attempting to calm herself down, but it didn't seem to be working since question after question kept rummaging through her mind.

Did Lex know exactly where Murphy was? Was that the information he wanted? Has he already found him? Was he intending on using Murphy to get whatever the hell he wanted out of her? Has Murphy already been rescued from that disgusting and horrid town? Was he headed towards this small town as this very second? Was he already here?

And, now she was officially freaking out.

Her entire body trembled, frantically.

Her Heart beat rapidly inside her chest.

Her breathing became harsher and harsher.

Hot, burning tears filled her eyes before cascading down her cheeks like a waterfall.

Chloe immediately rushed to her cousin' side, her hands gripping her shoulders, tightly. "Lois! Lois! You need to calm down!"

"I-I can't calm down."

"Yes. Yes, you can. Come on, Lo, you can do it. Just breathe, Lois, just breathe."

She slowly breathed in and out several times, at her cousin' reassuring words, and managed to calm herself down.

"Lo? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She looked straight into her father's eyes, who was staring at her with concern. "D-do-do-is he still there?"

He lowered his head, his eyes focusing on the papers spread out across his desk. "I don't know, Lo, that's not something I can find out very easily. When I sent him there, I didn't put together a team to watch his every movement, I didn't because I never thought he would escape, and as far as we know he hasn't."

She glared, heatedly at him. "Well, General, you better fucking figure out a way to find out because I've finally reached a point in my life where I'm happy. I have a boyfriend who loves me more than anything—I have two people who care and love me like I was their own daughter—I have everything I've ever wanted, and I can't lose that—I can't lose my family again."

That stung, pretty badly, but he knew that it was mostly his fault that she didn't see him as a major part of her family anymore. He had turned his back on her not only once but twice, and it was when she needed him the most, all because he didn't want to lose his best soldier.

He should have believed in her.

He should have trusted her.

He should have known that she was telling the truth, but he hadn't, he had believed Murphy over his own daughter, and that was one of the many reasons she had completely disregarded him. "I promise you, Lo, I'm going to do whatever it takes to stop Murphy from getting to you and from Lex harming you in any way."

Chloe glared at her uncle. "And how do you expect to do that? You literally just informed everyone that Lex has the means to get Murphy out of the hell hole you placed him in over five years ago. How the hell do you expect to stop something like him escaping or Lex hurting her from happening?"

Lois tuned everything around her out. All the voices. All the noises. It all vanished from her until all she could hear was the sound of her own beating heart and her never-ending thoughts.

There was a way to figure this out, she thought before quickly standing up, interrupting their current conversation, one she was paying absolutely no attention to. "I'm going to find out what Lex knows—what he plans on doing, and I'm going to find out right now."

Chloe quickly chased after her, as she rushed to the door, and pulled her back, turning her around towards her. "No. Lois, we've been over this. You can't just confront him."

She stared into her green eyes. "What should we do then?"

"We need to go about this calmly and logically."

"She's right, Lo, we need to think up an affirmative plan before we act on anything."

She glanced over at her father. "What do you suggest we do?"

"This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

Clark was in the loft, sitting on the couch with his head lowered, and his eyes closed, as he brooded, miserably. It had been hours since he last saw Lois, and that seeping fear he had felt earlier had become so, so much more worse, as time passed by so incredibly slowly.

It wasn't that he didn't believe her when she told him that she would be back, because he did, but it was the fact that she was with her father at this very moment, and he was the only reason they had been torn apart in the first place.

He groaned, loudly, as he fell back against the couch, and stared up at the wood ceiling wishing—hoping—praying that she would walk up those stairs, if only to reassure him that she wasn't going anywhere—that she would stay with him forever and for always, just like they had always promised each other.

Thirty minutes later, Sam, Lois, Chloe, Cassie, and Wes pulled up to the Kent farm, and walked towards the farmhouse. After hours of discussing what they should do about Lex, Chloe and Lois had managed to convince everyone to come back to the farm with them, that way they could all get to know the family that they had come to love and cherish, besides they all wanted some kind of normalcy after the day they had just had.

Martha, who was currently preparing dinner, looked out the kitchen window when she overheard several voices lingering from outside, and grinned when she noticed every single one of them migrating towards the house.

"Jonathon. We have some guests."

He slowly stood up from his position on the couch, and walked towards the kitchen, "Is it Lois?"

She nodded, "And then some."

That confused him, at least until a hoard of people walked into his house.

Lois grinned, sheepishly at them. "Um, I hope you don't mind, but I brought a few guests back with me."

Martha walked towards everyone with a huge smile plastered across her face. "Of course, we don't mind. You're lucky I always make enough dinner, or we might have had a little problem."

The smile fell from her face, at what the woman she saw as her mother was implicating, and she really, really didn't want them to stay for dinner, at least not her father since that could become awkward incredibly fast. "Oh, you don't have to do that. I'm sure they're all tired, and probably don't want to stay for dinner."

Sam stepped forward, smiling at the two people who had been an important part of his daughter' life. "If the woman is offering, I'm not going to refuse, besides I'd love to get to know the family my little Lo has talked so much about."

Figures, she thought to herself, quite miserably.

Martha grinned pointedly at Lois, knowing exactly what was going through that mind of hers. "Then it's settled. You're all staying for dinner."

Jonathon chuckled, softly, at the forlorn expression spread out across the face of the woman he saw as his daughter, and decided to change the subject for her sake. "Well, Lois, are you going to introduce us, or are we supposed to guess who everyone is supposed to be."

"Right. Well, Jonathon, Martha, um, this is my father, Sam Lane." She pointed towards her two best friends. "And that's Cassie Jones and Wes Keenan, my two closest friends."

Martha smiled at all of them. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you. How about you all make yourselves comfortable in the living room with Jonathon while I finish dinner. It's almost done."

They all nodded before making their way towards the living room, but Lois stopped Jonathon before he could walk any further by grabbing his arm, and pulling him aside, away from everyone else' ears. "Um, where's Clark?"

He smiled down at her. "He's in the loft."

"How long has he been up there?"

"Ever since you left."

"Great." She dropped her head, and sighed, heavily. "He has probably been brooding all day long."

"Yeah. We tried convincing him that everything was going to be okay, and that you were going to come back…"

"But, he didn't believe you." She finished his sentence. "God, what have I done?"

He rested his hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him. "It's not your fault, sweetheart. You didn't know this was happening today, and I think the fact that this has happened before might have terrified him, slightly."

She nodded at him before walking out of the house, and towards the barn, where she was positive she wouldn't like what she witnessed.

When she got to the top of the loft stairs, she was definitely surprised by what she saw. It was not what she had been expecting. Clark, her adorable boyfriend, was half sitting half lying on the couch, and it was quite obvious that he was passed out, especially since he was making those cute little noises he makes when he's sleeping.

She suckled, softly, at the picture he painted, as she walked over to him, and sat down next to him before gingerly running her fingers down the side of his face. "Clark. Baby. Clark, wake up."

At the feel of someone touching his skin—at the sound of someone speaking softly to him, he fluttered his eyes open, slowly focusing on the beautiful long blonde hair, and the beautiful hazel eyes staring down at him. He quickly snapped his eyes open, fully, as he realized who was sitting with him, and quickly wrapped her in his embrace, pulling her into his chest, tightly.

"Lois, baby, your back."

She hugged him back, just as tightly. "I promised you I would be back."

He held onto her tighter, not wanting to let her go yet, and breathed in her sweet scent. "I know, but I, but I—"

"But, you didn't believe me," she interrupted him, knowing exactly what he was going to say.

He quickly pulled away from her, and stared deeply into her eyes. "No. That wasn't it. I, um, I just couldn't help thinking that what happened in Washington was going to happen again. I was terrified that you were going to come back to tell me goodbye…"

She rested her forehead against his, and curled herself into his lap, knowing that he needed her close to him right now. "I'm not here to say goodbye to you. I'll never, ever say those words to you again."

He wrapped his arms tighter around her body, and fell back against the couch, pulling her with him. "Lois. Please, please don't ever leave me."

"That's never going to happen."

"I have spent all day wondering what was going on—wondering if that moment we shared this morning was going to be our last—wondering if you were going to leave me again, and I realized that I can't ever lose you. I felt so scared—so afraid, and I never, ever want to feel that way again."

"Clark, baby, I know we both still have fears of being ripped away from each other, and I know that, that fear is only there because of what happened to us before, but it's something that can never, ever happen."

"Promise?"

"I promise, baby, I promise that I will be with you forever and for always. You never have to worry about that happening because there won't be one single day where we aren't with each other. I'll make sure of that."

"Good," he muttered with a grin on his face before pressing his lips against hers softly, sweetly and passionately.

Several minutes later, Lois soon realized that he had other intentions besides a full-blown make out session between them, and quickly pulled away from him before his hands could travel any further. "Clark, we can't. Both or our parents are inside the house, and you know the rules."

"I don't care. I just want this. You. I need you, Lois."

She shook her head from side to side at him. "Clark Kent, I swear to god, if we get caught I'm blaming this all on you."

"I'll gladly take that blame." He molded his lips back against hers, picking up where he had left off seconds ago, and intended to show the woman he loved how much she really meant to him.

* * *

Steve Wilkinson and Murphy walked through the many, many corridors of the large mansion, and Murphy was completely and utterly amazed by everything he was seeing, especially since for the past five years all he ever saw was disgusting, dirt and rat-filled streets.

They stopped at the double wooden doors to the main library, and knocked twice before entering the room.

Lex looked up from his desk, and grinned from ear to ear, at the two men standing in front of him before quickly standing up. "I assume that you would be Murphy."

"You would be correct."

He glanced at his right-hand man. "That will be all, Wilkinson."

The man nodded and left the room.

Murphy glanced around the room. "This is quite the place you have here."

"Yeah. It's been in my family for several years, actually it was shipped overseas brick by brick. I'm Lex Luthor by the way."

He stared him straight in the eyes, coldly. "Look, I could give to shits about your family history or about your damn name. I want to know why you rescued me. I want to know what you want from me exactly, and I want to know when I can see the one person I have waited five years to see again."

"Down to business then." They both sat down at the exact same time, and stared at each other, suspiciously. "I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I'm going to make it really simple for you. The only reason you are sitting here right now is because I need something from you."

"Yeah. Yeah. That's what your bodyguard told me. You want information about Lois, and if I'm to get what I so desperately want then I have to help you achieve whatever it is you're after."

This man was definitely a character, he thought.

"So, you understand the terms of our arrangement?"

"I understand. What do you want to know?"

He grinned, devilishly, and leaned forward in his seat. "I want to know everything that happened before you were shipped off to that god forsaken island."

He glared, fiercely, as memories of everything that had happened that has led him to this particular point in his life came rushing back to him. "You mean, when that stupid little bitch and her pathetic little cousin double crossed me."

"Are you implying that you didn't deserve everything that has happened to you?"

He laughed, menacingly. "Of course, I deserved it. I'm no saint, and I'm sure you aren't either, but that doesn't mean her, and her little family don't deserve what I have been waiting a hellish long five years to execute."

"You'll get your revenge, but first I need some vital information about Miss Lane, and once I have planned out and received what I want from her, you can do whatever you please with her."

"So, basically, you want something to manipulate her with to get the information your searching for, and once you have what you want, I can end the life of the beautiful, feisty woman who ruined my entire life?"

"Precisely."

He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his stomach, and smirked at the man. "What would you like to know first?"

"How about you just start from the beginning."

* * *

 _ **I decided to post this today, since for the next week or so I'm going to be really busy with family gatherings and holiday preparations. This chapter is basically the set up for the next two chapters, which happens to be the last two chapters of this section of the story. That's when things are going to get really interesting, especially since that part of the story was perfectly planned out before I even started writing this story.**_

 _ **I hoped you enjoyed chapter thirty-five!**_


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Six:**_

* * *

Lois sighed, inwardly, as she listened to her father inform everyone on what their next course of action against Lex was going to be.

It was the exact same thing she has heard for over one month now, and quite honestly, she was becoming extremely tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, especially since his little plan was getting them absolutely nowhere.

They still had no idea what Lex' true agenda was.

They still didn't know what he wanted with Murphy' file.

They still have no idea what he specifically wanted from her.

They still didn't know if Murphy had escaped from his hell hole in Greenland.

One month ago, when her father had revealed his brilliant plan to figure out what Lex was really planning she had actually believed that it was going to work—that they were actually going to get somewhere, but all they've been doing is discussing what they should be doing instead of acting on those thoughts, and it was doing nothing but frustrating the living hell out of her.

It wasn't all that surprising, she thought.

A part of her wished that she had never listened to him in the first place, especially since for the past month she had been planning—devising—coaxing her own course of action, which would be ten times more effective than what they were doing now.

It was time that she took matters into her own hands.

It was time that she figured out what the hell was really going on.

She quickly stood up, interrupting their current discussion, a discussion that was getting them absolutely nowhere, and forced everyone to look at her, questioningly. "So, you're telling me that in the past month, this little plan of yours has left us with more questions than we already have?"

Cassie quickly stood up. "Lo, we're all attempting to do what's best for not only you, but for everyone. This man, Lex Luthor, isn't the easiest person to get relevant information from. It's obvious that he is hiding something, and we're just trying to figure out the best way to get that information without him or anyone else finding out."

Of course, he was hiding something, she thought, that was the entire reason they were discussing him in the first place, but what they were doing was completely and utterly useless because it would take a hell of a lot more than watching him to figure out what he was really up to.

"I know that, Cass." She glared at her father. "For one month I have went along with you, but you haven't learned anything more than what we already know."

"I'm trying, Lo."

"You're trying?" She shook her head from side to side, and sighed, heavily at her father. "You don't know what Lex is really planning. You don't know what he wants from me. You don't know what he wanted that file for, and you don't know if Murphy has escaped. Mind telling me, what this little plan of yours has accomplished?"

He sighed, heavily. Of course, she was right about everything, but that didn't mean he was going to do or say something that could most likely put his daughter in danger. "Lo, I'm trying to be proactive about all of this. It's the only way I know how to protect you."

"Protect me? You mean, like how you protected me before?"

Wes quickly stood up, and stepped towards his best friend, wanting to put an end to this argument before it became even more volatile than it already was. "That was different."

"Really? How was that situation different from what's happening right now?"

She waited for someone—for anyone to contradict her, but was met with dead silence. "It's the same damn situation, except this time instead of it being Murphy it's Lex. None of you know this man like Chloe and I do. He isn't going to leave a trail of breadcrumbs like Murphy did before, and he definitely isn't going to show his hand before he wants us to know what he's really planning. What we're doing right now is exactly what he wants us to be doing."

Sam stared at her for a few seconds. "Then, what do you suggest we do, Lois?"

"Anything other than what we're doing because it's getting us nowhere, and we're no closer to any answers than we were one month ago."

"This is the only thing we can do. I will not allow anyone to hurt you the way Murphy did. This time were handing this situation strategically."

"Well, then you can figure this out all on your own because I don't have to time to just sit around, and do absolutely nothing about the obvious threat in front of us."

She started to walk away, but was stopped in her tracks by her father' loud and booming voice. "Lois Joanne Lane! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

She slowly turned back around towards him. "I'm leaving, if it wasn't obvious."

"You better not be thinking about doing something rash, young lady."

That wouldn't be the word she would have used. Effective was a better word choice for what she had in mind, but of course, she wouldn't be telling him or anyone else what she really planned on doing as soon as she left this room, especially since she knew that they would only attempt to stop her.

"Don't worry, General. I'm just going to Clark's house. He's probably wondering why I haven't called him or even stopped by the farm yet."

Chloe, who had been eerily silent during this entire exchange, stood up, and took several steps towards her cousin. "You haven't told him yet, have you?"

Not exactly, she thought to herself.

She had been meaning to tell him about what has been going on with Lex and about her past with Murphy, but she's been a little preoccupied with all of this, besides his mind has been elsewhere for several weeks now. It was quite obvious, at least to her, that whatever dreams he was experiencing were only getting worse, and he still refused to talk about them, but she had more important things to worry about…like dealing with Lex Luthor.

It was the only way to get her life back to normal.

"Not yet."

"Why haven't you told him? I thought we all agreed that it would be better if he knew everything. He needs to be prepared for whatever Lex Luthor has planned for you."

"That's none of your concern." She glared at her father, pointedly before quickly twirling back around, and walked out of the room.

Chloe watched her storm out of her uncle's office, her eyebrows scrunched together in thought, as a frown settled over her features. For a split second, she had noticed this expression of pure determination cross over her cousin' face, and she knew without a doubt that she had something planned—something she didn't want any of them knowing about.

She quickly chased after her, completely ignoring everyone' protests, and caught up to her before she could even get into her car to drive to wherever the hell she was planning on going. "You're not going to Clark's, are you?"

Lois turned around towards her, and smiled, reassuringly, hoping that was dissuade her from figuring out what she was really up to. "Of course, I'm going to Clark'. Where else would I be going?"

"You're lying, Lo."

"No, I'm not."

"You can't fool me, Lois, you forget that I practically know you almost better than anyone else. I know you're not planning on going to the farm, so how about you tell me what you really plan on doing."

She should have known better, she thought, this woman was really, really good at knowing what was exactly going through her mind. "Fine! Your right. I'm not going to the farm. I'm going to end this once and for all."

"You mean, you're going to confront Lex?"

"Not exactly."

She frowned at her. "Then what do you plan on doing?"

A smirk spread out across her features. "I'm going to break into his office at Luthorcorp."

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "You're what?"

"You heard me."

"Do you really think that's a good idea, Lo?"

She sighed. "No, but I need to figure out what the hell he is really planning."

"Lois—"

"Look, I know what you're going to say." She interrupted her. "You're going to tell me that it's stupid—that it's reckless—that it's bound to get me into a situation I couldn't possibly get myself out of, but I don't care about that anymore. I just want this to be done with already. I want my life back."

"I agree with you."

"And, I know—" she stopped mid-sentence, as her cousin' words registered in her mind. "Wait, did you just agree with me?"

She grinned at the perplexed expression that was plastered across her face. "Yes. I've been wondering when you were going to do something like this."

"Really?"

"Yeah. As much as your father wants this plan of his to work, it's getting us absolutely nowhere, and I've kind of been putting my own plan together."

That intrigued her. "And, what would that be?"

"Well, I've been thinking this over for some time now, and it makes perfect sense to break into his office at Luthorcorp since that would be the only place he would keep information about all of this, but in order for this to work, you need someone to be in constant contact with you—someone who would be with the man himself, while your attempting to get the information that we want."

She grinned from ear to ear. "And, I'm guessing that person would be you."

"Precisely. I'll be the distraction, while you hopefully can retrieve information that could lead us to what he is really planning." She frowned, slightly, as a thought occurred to her. "How do you expect to break into his office without being caught?"

"I have an idea."

"Of course, you do," she muttered. "What's this brilliant plan of yours?"

"I'll tell you on the way to the house."

They both got into her car, intending to figure out their best course of action for their plan, and were more than ready for this entire situation to be over with because they both just wanted their lives to go back to normal.

* * *

 _Darkness._

 _Clark twirled and swirled around in circles, over and over again, as he was once again trapped in a black constricting, and tantalizing cloud of darkness, but stopped his movements when he could hear the voices calling out to him._

" _Help! You have to help us!"_

 _A frown took over his features, as the voices that were pleading out to him sounded very, very familiar, and almost instantaneously, he realized who those particular voices belonged to._

 _It was his family._

 _It was his friends._

 _It was the woman he loved._

 _All of a sudden, a bright, white light cascaded throughout the entire room, clearing away the darkness, but also blinding him in the process until the light slowly faded away, revealing something he never, ever wanted to see—something that caused his heart to beat faster and faster, and caused hot, burning tears to well up in his eyes._

 _There were many, many motionless, unbreathing bodies surrounding him, but that's not what was disturbing him so profusely._

 _It was the bodies that he recognized that disturbed him._

 _His father and his mother were lying motionless on the floor, only a few feet away from him, and when he got closer to the two people who had raised him—who had turned him into the person he is today, he realized that they were gone—that they were dead._

 _He fell to his knees, staring down at their lifeless bodies, as his heart pounded, ferociously inside his chest, and tears began to fall down his cheeks._

 _This couldn't be happening._

 _This wasn't possible._

 _They couldn't be gone._

 _They couldn't be dead._

 _As he turned his head away from them, slightly, he noticed two more people who meant the world to him, and felt the tears cascade down his cheeks even faster._

 _It was Chloe and Pete, his best friends._

 _He very, very slowly stood up, and started walking towards them, knowing that they were gone too—knowing that they were dead as well, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a painful whimper echoing from directly behind him._

" _Clark…"_

 _He knew that voice._

 _It was Lois, the woman he loved with all of his heart._

 _He quickly turned around only to see the very last thing he ever wanted to see. She was lying on the ground, less than two feet away from him, as blood protruded out her abdomen at an alarmingly fast rate, and her eyes stared up at him, pleadingly._

 _Without even thinking about it, he rushed over to her, collapsed to his knees, and pulled her fragile body into his arms, crying harder than he's ever cried before. "Lois, baby. Lois, please. Please, don't leave me."_

 _She slowly brought her hand up to his face, and caressed his cheek. "You have to save us. You have to help us."_

" _NOOO!" He screamed out, as her hand fell from his face, and her eyes fluttered shut._

 _She was gone._

 _She was dead._

 _He clutched her lifeless body into his chest, rocking her body back and forth, and couldn't stop the tears from pouring down his cheeks faster and faster. "No. No, baby. Lois. Lois, please, please, come back to me. Don't leave me."_

 _Not even five seconds later, the love of his life—his parents—his friends—all of the other bodies completely disappeared, confusing him to no end, and another bright light consumed everything around him._

" _It's time, Kal-El."_

"LOIS!" Clark screamed out, as he shot out of bed, his body drenched in sweat, and his heart palpitating, wildly inside his chest.

He very slowly reached towards her side of the bed, wanting her touch—wanting her comfort right now, but felt nothing but the cold sheets, and quickly snapped his head towards the spot she was supposed to be, completely freaking out that it had all been real—that it wasn't just a nightmare, until he remembered that she hadn't stayed with him last night.

He collapsed back down onto his bed, sighing, heavily, and softly closed his eyes, as he replayed that particular nightmare over and over again in his mind.

For the past several weeks, the nightmare had always remained the same. He would be trapped in complete darkness, hearing voices he couldn't reach until a bright, white light cascaded over him, and he could hear his biological father, Jor-El, informing him that it was time.

But…

This time it was different.

This time he had realized that the voices calling out to him were the people he loved and cared about very deeply. His parents—Chloe—Pete were all dead, and the one person he couldn't imagine living without had literally died in his arms.

It was the most horrifying thing he has ever experienced in his entire life.

He groaned, loudly and quite miserably, as he stared up at the ceiling, his head beginning to hurt from the tirade of thoughts that were constantly running through his mind.

He was sick and tired of this!

Every night.

Every single night he had to deal with these dreams, this one being the worst one of them all, and he just wanted it to stop—he just wanted them to disappear, so he could go back to living his life normally, instead of worrying what these dreams meant.

There was one way to figure all of this out, he thought.

Jor-El.

It was the only explanation for what was exactly happening to him—why this was exactly happening to him, and he knew without a doubt that his biological father would have the answers that he so desperately wanted and needed.

At least, he hoped he would because there was no way in hell he could continue to live his life like this, quite honestly, he wasn't too sure if he could survive another nightmare, especially after the one he had just experienced.

He quickly super sped to the caves, knowing that this could possibly be a very, very bad idea, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. He pressed the symbols, opening up the cave wall, and walked up to the platform where one of the stones were safely placed, but before he could even utter one word he was encased in a bright, white light.

As he was being lifted off the ground, slightly, he could hear his father's voice ringing in his ears. "It's time, Kal-El."

"Time for what?"

"Your destiny, my son."

What did any of this have to do with his destiny or his fate for that matter?

"I'm not here about my destiny, Jor-El!"

Silence.

Figures, he thought.

"Jor-El, I'm having dreams about things I don't understand, and I want to know what they mean."

"They are messages, Kal-El."

Like that made any more sense, he thought to himself.

"What do they mean?"

"They are the key to everything. They will lead you to your destiny."

And, were back to the destiny thing. Didn't he understand that, that was the very last thing he wanted, especially at this particular part in his life. He had everything he has ever wanted, and there was no way in hell he would lose that, all because he wanted him to fulfil his destiny.

"How do I make them stop?"

"You don't."

"What?"

"The dreams are messages from your inner conscious, Kal-El. The only way to stop them is to begin your training."

"My training?"

"Yes. In order to stop the dreams your experiencing you must accept your destiny, my son."

"How do I do that?"

"You must retrieve the two remaining stones. They will give you the answers you are searching for."

Now, he was getting irritated.

Ever since he had returned from that abyss his father had encased him in for three months, he had informed him countless times that he needed to find the stones, and he had been vague about it than just like he was being vague about it now.

What the hell did the stones have to do with anything?

"The stones? They have nothing to do with me!"

"You are wrong, Kal-El. They are a part of your destiny. They will lead you to your destiny."

"What's my destiny, Jor-El?"

"I cannot tell you that. You must find the stones before sunset or an immense danger will be sent to earth."

"What danger?"

"Find the stones, my son."

This was getting him absolutely nowhere, he thought.

It was like talking to a freaking wall. He only gave him vague answers, and more than half of the time they didn't make any god damn sense. What did the stones have to do with his destiny? What was his destiny? What was this danger he offhandedly mentioned? What would happen if he defied his father like he did so many other times before?

As much as he'd like to ignore everything that has been happening in the past several weeks. He couldn't. Not when it was affecting his daily life, and especially not when a threat could possibly come down on everything and everyone he loved just because he refused to do what his biological father told him.

There was no choice in the matter.

He had to find the stones.

"How am I supposed to find them?"

"Look inside yourself."

He frowned, immensely. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look inside yourself, Kal-El."

In the blink of an eye, the bright, light completely disappeared, and he was lowered to the ground, feeling even more confused than he did before coming here. What did all this mean? Why was he having these dreams or messages? What did they have to do with his destiny? How could the stones lead him to his destiny? What the hell would this training consist of?

He didn't understand a single thing that was happening to him, but knew one thing for fact, the only way to stop the dreams was to find the stones, and then maybe, just maybe he could get his life back.

But…

He had a feeling that, that wouldn't be the case.

For some reason, he knew that this was only just the beginning, and that Jor-El had other things in mind for him, but right now, that didn't matter.

Finding these stones, and getting rid of these dreams were the only thing he cared about at this very moment.

After several minutes of endless contemplating, he super sped home, where he found both of his parents sitting in the living room, enjoying some coffee, and walked towards them, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He really, really didn't want to tell them this, especially since they both have their reservations against Jor-El, and for good reason, but he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Martha looked up, and smiled at her son, but that smile faded almost immediately once she noticed the forlorn expression that was plastered across his face. "What's wrong, Clark?"

He slowly sat down across from them, and sighed, heavily. "There's something I need to tell you…"

Jonathon frowned at his son' behavior. "What is it?"

He glanced towards his father, knowing that he was going to dislike this a hell of lot more than his mother. "I went to talk to Jor-El…"

"Why the hell would you do something like that?"

"Jonathon…" Martha warned, knowing that Clark wouldn't have done something like that unless he had a very good reason to do so. "What's going on?"

A soft sigh escaped past his lips before he told them everything. He explained the dreams he has been experiencing for the past several weeks, including the one he just recently had, and about the confusing conversation he had with him. After they shared their doubts, he explained what he needed to do to stop the dreams from continuing, but kept what Jor-El had vaguely mentioned about his destiny and training to himself. He didn't even understand what it all meant, even if he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be anything good for him or the ones he loves, especially Lois, but he really, really didn't want to upset them more than they already were.

Jonathon stared at his son for a few seconds, contemplating everything he had just learned. "I don't think this is a good idea, Clark. What if he attempts to take you away just like he did last summer?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, dad. I mean, it's not like I can just ignore his threat. I'm not going to allow any kind of danger hurt anything or anyone I care about. I don't really have a choice in the matter."

"Of course, you have a choice, son."

"Except that he doesn't, Jonathon." Martha intervened gently before glancing at her son. "Have you talked to Lois about this? She would probably give you some insight into all of this."

They weren't going to like this at all, especially since his mother and Lois were extremely close, almost like they had known each other for years. "Um…she doesn't know anything…"

She frowned at her son. "Are you telling me that you have been keeping this from her for weeks?"

He nodded.

"Clark…"

He glanced between his parents, feeling guilty for his actions, but he had very good reasons for why he didn't want her to know anything yet. "Look, I know that I should have told her, but I just couldn't do it. I need to figure out what all of this means before I tell her anything."

"I understand that, son, but don't you think she's going to be a little upset over the fact that you didn't tell her any of this."

"Yes, of course, she's probably going to be upset about all of this, but she'll understand. She always does."

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"I don't have a choice." He quickly stood up, and smiled, reassuringly at his parents. "I'll be back after sunset, I promise."

He walked out of the house before they could say anything more, and stopped when he was more than ten feet away from the house. He softly closed his eyes, and replayed Jor-El' words in his mind over and over again, attempting to focus on the meaning behind them.

 _Look inside yourself. Look inside yourself. Look inside yourself._

A few seconds later, a loud screeching sound pierced his eardrums, causing him to collapse to the ground, and cover his ears with his hands. It was the exact same sound he heard the day he switched bodies with Lionel Luthor, and knew without a doubt that one of the stones were calling to him.

He disappeared in the blink of an eye, towards the sound that would inevitably help him with his current problems, and help him answer some impending questions about what his destiny was and what his training would consist of.

* * *

"Okay. I'm in," Lois whispered, as she walked into Lex' office at Luthorcorp, and softly closed the door behind her.

"Good. Attempt to find whatever you can, but Lois, remember you only have a window of about ten minutes before security patrols that section of the building."

Over the past several hours, they had spent most of their time sitting in her bedroom going over the plan very, very carefully, and luckily Chloe had a blueprint for the building. It was quite obvious that she had been planning this almost as long as she had, especially since she knew exactly when security was going to be checking the upper offices.

"Yeah. I got it. Chloe, be careful with Lex, okay?"

"Don't worry about me, cuz."

For the next five minutes, Lois searched through everything in his office that would seem to hold any kind of information about what he planned on doing—what he specifically wanted from her—what he wanted with Murphy' file, including every little crevasse that could possibly be hiding something, but of course, she wasn't able to find anything. It was quite obvious that he either didn't keep anything on record or everything was locked away on his computer, which she didn't really have to time to hack into, besides she wasn't the hacker in the family, her cousin was.

She slowly ran her fingers over his desk, her eyes quickly glancing across all the paperwork, and grew frustrated when she wasn't able to find anything she could use against him.

This was a waste of time, she thought, as she slammed her hands down on the table, and accidentally knocked over some papers onto the ground.

She groaned, silently, and squatted down to gather them all, but before she could even pick up one piece of paper she noticed a button underneath his desk from her peripheral vision. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

As soon as she pressed the button, she heard low sounding noises coming from directly behind her, and turned around towards the bookshelf, where a compartment slowly opened. She walked over to it, and searched through the many files that were inside until a particular one caught her attention.

It was the file that was stolen from her father.

Of course, it wasn't anything that she didn't already know, but if worse came to worse than they could possibly have something to use against him, especially if he attempted to do anything that brought harm to her or her family.

She was tempted to search some more, but knew she was limited on time, actually, she had less than two minutes to get out of here. She quickly folded up the file, tucking it away in her pocket, and closed the compartment, making it seem like nothing had been touched in his office before walking out of the door, completely unseen.

Unbeknownst to her, there was a hidden camera in the corner of the room, blinking and recording everything that she had just done.

A few minutes after Chloe had disconnected the call with her cousin, she had made her way up to the library, where Lex spent almost most of his time, and smiled, slightly when she saw him sitting at his desk. "Lex. I need your help with something."

Lex grinned at her, pretending to be surprised by her presence, but he knew for a fact that the only reason she was here was for a distraction—a distraction that was completely unnecessary since he had just watched her cousin break into his office, not even five minutes ago. "Chloe, what a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"It's about Jimmy…"

"Let me guess…your planning something romantic and quite expensive for the boyfriend, and you need a little help."

She nodded. "Yeah. This is what I was thinking…"

He listened to her pathetic attempt to cover the real reason she was here, and a part of him wanted to call her out on her bluff, but decided that he would wait until she was finished with her little show, besides it was quite entertaining.

A few minutes later, he was beginning to become very, very bored with her.

They might think that they were actually pulling one over on him, he thought to himself, but this was exactly what he had expected them to do, and quite honestly, he couldn't wait to see the expression of pure shock cross over her face once he revealed his hand to her.

Murphy.

Once she was finished, he leaned forward in his chair, and smiled, ingenuously up at her. "Is that all?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

He smirked at her, an evil glint lingering in his pale blue eyes. "I think it's time you cut the crap, and tell me the real reason you're here."

His cutting words forced her to take a step back from him, and she shuffled from one foot to the other, quite uncomfortably before looking at him, feigning innocence. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do." He glanced down at his computer screen, where Lois was currently shuffling through papers on his desk, and tilted the screen towards her, awaiting her reaction.

Chloe' eyes nearly bugged out of her head, at was she was witnessing, and her heart started beating, like a jackhammer inside her chest, as she realized that their little plan had not only failed, but she had a feeling that he had been expecting this all along or he wouldn't have had a camera in his office in the first place.

"Now that we have all our cards on the table, maybe you would like to tell me what you and your cousin really want, you know, that little something you've been itching to say for weeks now."

She glared over at him, and felt pure anger—fury—hatred consume ever fiber within her being. "This is what you've wanted all along, isn't it Luthor?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I just happened to come across this only minutes before you walked through those doors. I am curious though, what is she looking for? And why would you need to distract me from it?"

"Don't play dumb, Luthor, you know exactly what we are searching for."

"Really? Do tell…"

"Stay the hell away from Lois, Lex! I don't know why you wanted that damn file on Murphy or what you exactly know, but I swear to god if you go within five feet of her I will be more than happy to kick your slimy, bald-headed ass!"

He chuckled, coldly. "Feisty. I like it, but you're a little late, I mean, I honestly can't believe that you haven't figured it out by now. I already know everything I need to know about what transpired five years ago, and very, very soon I will get what I personally want from Miss Lane."

"And what would that be?"

"Now, why would I tell you something like that?"

She felt even more infuriated that she did less than five minutes ago, but before she could make a snide comment towards the man she heard a familiar voice echoing from behind her—a voice that made her blood run cold.

"Well, it seems that you and that lovely cousin of yours are still up to no good." Murphy glanced at Lex, with a smirk plastered across his face. "You know, they did something very similar to this about five years ago, oh wait, you already know because I told you…everything."

It couldn't be.

He couldn't be standing right behind her.

But…

She knew without a doubt that, that voice belonged to the one person she hoped to never see again.

It was Murphy.

She very slowly turned around to face him, and glared, fiercely at the man. "You son of a bitch!"

He snickered at her. "Oh. Someone's grown a back bone over the past five years. I wonder what could have possibly changed…"

"I think you know the answer to that question."

A wide grin spread out across his features. "Gotta love my handy work, wouldn't you say Lex?"

Lex smiled, devilishly. "I would. It helps for what's to come."

"Now, Miss Sullivan, don't think just because five years has passed that I won't do it again, actually I have many, many plans for the woman who stabbed me in the back, of course, that's after Lex gets what he wants from her."

She stood her ground, determined to not allow this man to rattle her or bait her like he had done several times before. "Stay the hell away from her, Murphy! If you come near her or anyone I love I won't hesitate to put you back in that hell hole you belong in."

He smirked. "Oh. I'd like to see you try."

"You don't think I will?"

"No, and do you want to know why I know that?"

"I don't care!"

He carefully stalked towards her, forcing her to take several steps away from him until she was pressed up against the wall, and he placed both his hands on either side of her head, making it impossible for her to escape from him. "I know you won't because your terrified of me, just like you were all those years ago. I can see it in those beautiful green eyes of yours."

Of course, he was right, but there was no way in hell she would ever admit that, especially not to the man standing in front of her. "Screw you!"

He chuckled, loudly and menacingly, as not so innocent memories came rushing back to him. "I've already done that, remember?"

She glared at him. "That was the biggest mistake of both of our lives."

"I know why Lois would regret it, but you on the other hand…was it because you believed that I actually cared about you or was it because you enjoyed it more that you'd like to admit?"

"Go to hell, Murphy!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. No reason to get so testy, I'm just speaking the truth, but there is something I need you tell that feisty, determined, and opinionated cousin of yours."

"What makes you think I'll tell her anything you have to say."

"Because you want to protect her, just like you attempted doing before." He leaned closer to her, and whispered in her ear, his hot breath lingering on her neck, making her cringe, outwardly. "Tell that feisty cousin of yours that I'm coming for her, and this time she won't be escaping from me."

She quickly pushed him away from her, and glanced between the two people she hated more than anything she's ever despised before. "Don't think that you're going to get away with this." She rushed out of the mansion, with his message ringing loudly in her eardrums, and knew without a doubt that whatever Lex wanted from Lois, he was planning on using Murphy to get that information.

What the hell did he want from her?

It was quite obvious that Lex knew everything that happened five years ago, of course, he only knew Murphy's version of events, but he knew nonetheless, and that wasn't appealing information, actually, it was about the worst thing that could possibly happen.

This wasn't good.

She needed to tell Lois, and she needed to tell her now.

* * *

General Sam Lane slowly walked towards his niece' house, his mind elsewhere, as he thought about what he had witnessed less than two hours ago.

It had had been something he wasn't expecting, and something he has been fearing for over five years now.

Murphy Jonah Braxton.

He had been walking down the main streets of Smallville, having just left the Talon, where he had, had a lovely and enlightening conversation with Martha Kent, and that's when he saw him. He was walking down the streets like he had no worries—no doubts, the man even had the audacity to wave at him from across the street, and grin from ear to ear with an evil glint in his eyes before walking away.

It was like his worst nightmare come true.

He made his way into the house, only to realize that it was completely and utterly silent inside. It was quite obvious that his niece and daughter were out doing something, which really didn't surprise him, especially with the way they had left his office this morning.

As soon as he had found out about Murphy' return, one part of himself wanted to track down his daughter like he had down so many times before, but was trying to be a better father—he was trying to give her the space she so desperately wanted and needed, but this was something that she needed to know, and she needed to know before Lex or Murphy attempted to do anything to his daughter.

Lois, who had gone fifteen miles over the speed limit just to get back to Smallville faster than usual, walked into the house, in a hurried manner. "Chloe!"

Speaking of, he thought, as he heard his daughter' voice.

She walked into the living room, coming to a dead stop when she saw her father, and stared at him, questioningly. "Daddy, what are you doing here?"

"There's something I need to tell you…"

A sigh escaped past her lips, at the mere thought of whatever he wanted to tell her, she really, really didn't want to have another go around of what happened this morning. "Can it wait? I really need to talk to Chloe about something. Is she here?"

He shook his head from side to side. "No, she's not."

She fiddled with the piece of paper in her pocket, contemplating on whether she should give it to him or not, but figured that he would find out about what she had done sooner or later. "Well, since you're here, you'll probably be glad to have this back."

He took the folded piece of paper she handed him, and glanced over it, realizing that it was the file that was stolen from him, and frowned over at his daughter. "Do I even want to know how you retrieved this?"

"Um…I kind of broke into Lex' office at Luthorcorp."

"You did what?"

"Look, I know you didn't want me to do anything rash, but your way of accomplishing things were getting us absolutely nowhere, besides it's not like I walked in their blind. Chloe helped me."

A frown took over his features, as he stood up from his position on the couch. "Wait…if Chloe was with you then why don't you know where she is?"

"She wasn't with me exactly…"

"What are you talking about? You just said that she helped you."

She rolled her eyes, at his complete and utter idiocy. "This is the 21st century, daddy. It's called a cellphone. She was on the phone with me, and while I was breaking into his office she was distracting him here in Smallville."

His heart felt like it was going to explode inside his chest, especially if he got another piece of information that would most likely give him a damn heart attack. "She was at the mansion?"

She nodded.

"And now you don't know where she is?"

She nodded again.

"This is just great!"

"What's the big deal? She probably just had something else to do, you know, she does have a life, right?"

"Lois, the last place she was at was Lex Luthor', and now she's nowhere to be found doesn't that concern you?"

It was quite worrisome, especially since she hadn't heard from her, but it just wasn't possible. The man might be a major pain in her ass, and was currently getting involved into things that didn't concern him, but he wasn't stupid enough to kidnap her cousin, just to get her attention. "He wouldn't do anything to her."

"It's not him I'm worried about."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He took a deep, deep breath. "Lois, honey, I think you should sit down."

She did very, very slowly, and stared at him, noticing the concern that was etched across his features almost immediately, and wondered what had happened to make him seem so nervous. "What's going on?"

"I saw Murphy today…"

All the color drained from her face.

Her heart pounded, relentlessly inside her chest.

Her hands trembled, uncontrollably.

"W-w-when was this?"

"A few hours ago."

"W-where did you see him?"

"Outside of the Talon."

And, just like that, she lost the ability to speak.

He was here.

The man she had hoped—prayed—wished that she would never, ever see again was here.

It was about the worst thing that could possibly happen, but deep inside, one part of her knew that something like this was going to happen.

Lex wasn't stupid.

He was resourceful, and he used that resourcefulness to bring him here, obviously to get whatever he wanted out of her, but what could he possibly want from her?

It just didn't make any damn sense.

Sam stared at his daughter, worry taking over his features at the expression that was plastered across her face, and gently placed his hands over her trembling ones. "Lois?"

Silence.

"Lois?"

Silence.

"Lo, everything's going to be okay. I promise."

She finally registered that he was actually speaking to her, and looked up at him, an uncertainty lingering in her eyes. "I know. I just need a minute, okay?"

Chloe, who had just spent the past several hours driving around Smallville contemplating how she was going to inform her cousin that her worst nightmare was in town, walked into the house, intending to tell her herself, but realized that he uncle had already done that for her, if the way she was sitting on the couch, desolately said anything.

She looked at her uncle. "How did you find out?"

Sam glanced over at her, feeling relief consume him, as his fears were settled. "Where the hell have you been? I thought something might have happened to you…"

"I'm fine. I just needed some time to think some things over. How did you find out that Murphy was back?"

He sighed, heavily. "A few hours ago, I saw him outside of the Talon. How did you find out?"

She made her way towards him, and sat directly next to her cousin, who was still staring out into space, completely lost in thought. "He was at Lex'. They've been working together this entire time. He's probably been here for a while now."

Lois quickly pushed all of her impending thoughts aside, as her cousin' words registered in her mind, and she looked over at her, questioningly. "What happened?"

"It's not important. We're going to figure this out, okay? I won't let anything happen to you."

"I don't care about that. I want to know what happened."

"I was talking to Lex, attempting to distract him like we planned when he just appeared out of nowhere. He was his normal cocky and self-assured self. He made me feel quite uneasy like he he's done so many times before, but um, he did give me a message…"

"What was the message?"

"He's coming after you, Lo, and this time you won't be escaping from him like last time…"

Sam clenched his fists together, and growled, softly. "Over my dead body!"

Chloe smiled at him, slightly. "I don't think he's just after Lois. I think he wants revenge on all of us."

Lois scoffed. "It wouldn't surprise me. He wants revenge on all the people that did this to him, even though he's the only reason all of this happened in the first place."

"We're going to figure this out, okay?"

She quickly stood up, and started pacing back and forth. "Would you stop saying that! It doesn't matter! It doesn't because one way or another he's going to come after all of us, and right now we need to figure out what we need to do to stop him from hurting anyone I care about."

"You're worried that he'll go after Clark, aren't you?"

She looked him straight in the eyes. "Yes, but it's not only him I'm worried about. It's you, Wes, Cassie, Chloe, Martha, Jonathon, Pete, and even Lana. These are all people that are connected to me somehow, and we know for a fact that he enjoys going after the people that mean the most to me."

Chloe smirked at her, attempting to lighten the mood, even if it was only for a split second. "Lana means something to you?"

"I might not like the girl, but that doesn't mean I want her to get caught up in all of this, or worse end up dead because of me."

"You're right."

Sam quickly stood up, not wanting to inform his daughter of what he had planned for her because he knew that she wasn't going to like it, but it was the only way he could protect her. "Lois, I think you should leave town, while we figure all of this out."

She glared at him. "What? Are you freaking serious? You want me to leave? What about you and everyone else I care about?"

"We'll be fine, Lo. I don't want you anywhere near Smallville when everything goes down."

"Are you going to send me away like you did five years ago?" She scoffed at the idea. "I'm not leaving."

Chloe quickly intervened. "Lois, I think your dad has a point."

She glared at her. "No! God dammit! I'm not leaving! I'm not going to run away from my problems. That's not who I am. I've never been like that, and I'm not going to start now. I was naïve and foolish all those years ago, but this time, I'll be ready for him."

"What do you plan on doing? Confronting the man?"

"No, of course not, I'm not completely stupid, you know."

"I never said you were."

Chloe quickly stepped in-between them, stopping the argument that was bound to happen. "What do you plan on doing then?"

"I don't know…"

"We need to figure something out."

Lois quickly tuned out her cousin and father' conversation, not wanting to listen to this right at this very moment.

No.

Right now she wanted to do anything but talk or think about what she had literally just learned.

It was nearly impossible, she thought, since he was here in town intending on wrecking the life she had built for herself, but there was no way in hell that she was allowing the likes of Lex Luthor and Murphy Braxton to scare her off.

She had a family here—a home here, and nothing was going to jeopardize that.

As much as she knew that she needed to be helping Chloe and her father devise a plan, she couldn't deal with this right now. There was only one thing she wanted at this moment in time, and that was her boyfriend.

She quickly grabbed her car keys, and started heading out of the living room, but was stopped by her cousin grabbing her arm, pulling her back towards them. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"I'm leaving."

"We need to figure this out sooner rather than later, Lo, you do realize that he could be waiting for the opportune moment that you're alone, right?"

"I know that, Chlo. I know, but I can't think about this right now. There's only thing I want right now, and that's Clark. I just need him."

She released her grip on her arm, knowing that no matter what she told her she wasn't going to stay. "Are you going to tell him?"

"He really deserves to know, Lo," her father piped in.

"I don't know. I just need Clark right now, okay?"

She quickly walked away, leaving them both wondering what the hell they were supposed to do about this situation.

* * *

Clark walked into the caves, holding the two remaining stones in his hands, and made his way towards the platform inside the cave walls.

One of the stones had been in China, buried underneath the ground next to an important temple in the countryside, and that one had been the easiest one to find. The other one, on the other hand, was in Metropolis, actually, it had been in Lionel's safe inside his office at Luthorcorp, and of course, it had been surrounded by green Kryptonite, which had taken him quite a long time to get his hands on, luckily Lionel Luthor had been out of town on a business trip.

He carefully placed them into the chamber, directly next to the other once that was there, and watched as it formed into one large, light blue, crystal. It floated in front of him, but when he wrapped his hand around it he felt a searing pain that he had never felt before surge throughout his entire body, and was entrapped in this blinding, white light before he was transported to the middle of nowhere.

Literally.

All that surrounded him was snow and glaciers, mountains and mountains of snow, ice and glaciers.

He released the crystal, feeling completely frustrated at the thought that he had spent all day searching for those stones, and for what?

A damn trip to the Arctic.

An expression of pure surprise etched over his features, as the crystal pointed directly at a glacier several miles away from him, and without really thinking about it, he tossed it miles and miles away from him. It stopped in mid-air for a few seconds before shooting straight into the ground, and he watched in complete and utter astonishment, as an ice castle was formed from beneath the snow right in front of his eyes.

It was absolutely amazing, he thought.

As he made his way inside the ice fortress, he glanced around at everything surrounding him, and realized that it wasn't made out of ice. It was made out of crystals. He made his way towards the console in the center of the room, and noticed that it was filled with all kinds of different crystals, which seemed to have their own functions for this place.

All of a sudden, a loud and booming voice echoed all around him, seeming to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same exact time. "Welcome home, Kal-El."

He frowned, immensely, as he searched for where the voice of his biological father was coming from, and soon realized that it was coming from the fortress itself, not from anywhere in particular. "Jor-El?"

"Yes, my son."

"What is this place?"

"This is your fortress of solitude, Kal-El. This is where your destiny begins."

He stood a large step back away from the platform, at those words, and glanced around his surroundings, once more. "I've done what you asked, Jor-El. What does any of this have to do with my destiny?"

"Everything. This will become your home for the foreseeable future, my son."

And, what the hell was that supposed to mean?

"My home? My home is in Smallville. Not this place."

"Smallville used to be your home. Now it's time for you to accept your destiny. It's time for you to begin your training."

"My training?"

"Yes, my son, are you ready?"

He took several steps backwards, and shook his head from side to side, even though he knew he couldn't actually see him. "No, Jor-El, I'm not ready."

"Kal-El, you must immense your training. You must accept your destiny."

And that was the problem. He had absolutely no idea what this training consisted of, and more importantly, what his destiny really entailed. "I understand that, but I need to know one thing."

Silence.

"Am I destined to rule?"

A few minutes of unbearable silence passed before he responded. "No, my son, your destiny is to be the light to the humans of Earth. You will be their savior. Not their ruler."

That changed things…immensely.

For years, he had believed that he was destined to be a ruler over the humans, but now he knew that, that wasn't true, and it made things so much easier and so much more complicated at the same time.

It made his destiny and his training easier to accept, but it made things complicated because if he did this, it would mean that he would have to leave his family—his friends—the love of his life.

Lois.

The mere thought of leaving her brought an immense sadness to him.

It consumed every fiber of his being.

This would be the second time that he would be leaving her—that he would be forced to say goodbye to the woman he loved with all of his heart, and he hated that he had to do this to her again.

But…

Ever since he started getting those dreams, in the back of his mind and deep inside his heart, he knew that this was something that could possibly happen.

He knew without a doubt that this was going to be extremely difficult for both of them, but this was something he needed to do, besides she was always the one telling him that he was meant for greater things.

"Jor-El, I need to say goodbye to my family—to my friends—to my girlfriend."

"Lois Lane."

A million emotions consumed him, at the words he spoke, but the most prominent one was complete and utter confusion. "How do you know her name?"

"It wasn't a coincidence that you met her. You were destined to meet Lois Lane. She will be the one that helps you with your destiny. Without her, Kal-El, you couldn't be Earth's savior."

"My soulmate," he muttered underneath his breath.

From the moment he met her he knew that it wasn't just a coincidence that they met the way they had, but he had no idea that she would be the one person that helped him towards his destiny.

It was fate that they had met.

As much as he wanted to question him about that, he knew that he would either give him no answers or answer him vaguely. He was betting on the latter. "Jor-El, I need to say goodbye to the ones I love—to the ones I care about."

It was silent for several minutes, making him feel very, very nervous about what his answer would be. "You have until sunset tomorrow, my son."

"Thank you, Jor-El."

He super sped away, intending to break the news to his family and friends, and knew without a doubt that this was going to break Lois' heart, but he didn't have a choice in the matter.

He wasn't too sure how she would react, but he hoped—prayed—wished that this wouldn't break her completely.

* * *

 _ **There were supposed to be two more scenes included in this chapter, but it become way too long, and I had to cut it off, but it will be included in the next chapter. Lex and Murphy have showed their hands, well some of what their planning, and that can only mean bad things are upon everyone of Smallville.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-six!**_


	38. Chapter Thirty Seven

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Seven:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'How Do I Live' by Trisha Yearwood**_

* * *

Lois was feeling one rush of emotion after another, as she drove up the familiar dirt driveway of the yellow farmhouse, but the most prominent emotions she was currently feeling was nervousness and fear.

On the drive over here, she had come to the decision that she needed to tell Clark, Martha and Jonathon everything that happened five years ago and everything that has been happening since she moved here, including the fact that Murphy was walking around town, which was only going to bring trouble, unhappiness and fear to the people she cared about.

As she parked her car outside of the house, nervousness spread throughout her entire body, as thoughts of what was about to happen consumed her mind. It wasn't the fact that she would be telling them something—something that she had never told anyone about before. It was the fact that she wasn't too sure how Clark or his parents were going to react to what she had to tell them, hell, she wasn't even sure what she was going to say to them, but she knew without a doubt that she had to tell them the truth—she had to tell them everything.

This intense and unsettling feeling of fear rippled throughout her entire body, at that particular thought, making her heart beat even faster than it already was.

Would they look at her differently once they knew the truth? Would they turn their backs on her like so many other people have done in the past? Would Clark wonder if everything she had told him—confessed to him was even the truth? But, more importantly, would he still want her—would he still love her after hearing everything that she had kept buried inside for so long?

She quickly pushed away her never-ending thoughts, knowing that it was getting her absolutely nowhere, and slowly made her way into the house, supposing that all those mind-consuming questions were about to be answered.

It was what she needed to do.

It was what she wanted to do.

But…

She couldn't help wondering if she was about to lose the three most important people in her life.

As soon as she stepped through the front door, she was greeted by the two people who were more like parents to her, which only made her feel more nervous than she was already feeling.

"Hello, Lois."

"Lois, honey, what are you doing here? We thought you were staying with Chloe tonight?"

"I am. That's not why I'm here."

Martha stared at her for a few seconds, studying her composure, and immediately noticed that something was terribly wrong. "What's wrong?"

A slow and tight smile appeared on her face before she made her way towards them, and slowly sat down on the recliner across from them. "Oh. Nothing. I was, um, I was just wondering where Clark was. We haven't really spoken today, and it's kind of obvious that he isn't here."

Jonathon chuckled, slightly. "What? You two lovebirds can't go one day without seeing each other?"

"Yeah. Something like that." She glanced between the two of them. "Do you know where he is or when he's going to be back?"

Martha fidgeted, quite uncomfortably in her seat, knowing full well where her son was and exactly what he was doing, but she couldn't exactly tell her that, especially since it seemed that there were other things on her mind. "No, we don't, but I'm sure he'll be back soon."

With good news hopefully, she added in her head, hoping against all hope that things would return back to normal once her son returned, but deep inside she had a feeling that things were going to be changing drastically around here, and that was something she wasn't really sure would be a good thing or a bad thing.

Lois could tell that the woman she saw as her own mother wasn't exactly being completely honest with her, especially if the way she was fidgeting or in the way she seemed to be uncomfortable said anything, and even if she wanted to question her more about it, she couldn't—wouldn't, mainly because she had way, way too much on her mind at this particular moment.

Jonathon watched, quite intently, as the woman who had affected him from the first moment he had met her fidgeted anxiously, and noticed almost immediately that something was running through her mind non-stop—noticed that something was bothering her immensely. "I'm guessing that, that isn't the only reason you stopped by tonight…"

She smiled over at him. "You know me so well."

Martha frowned at her. "Honey? What's going on? What's wrong?"

It was now or never, she thought to herself.

One part of her didn't want to tell them anything for many reasons, the main one being that Clark wasn't here yet, but the other part of her knew that, that wasn't going to be a possibility. They both already suspected that something was bothering her—that something was on her mind, and she knew that they wouldn't allow her to just brush it under the rug.

It was time to open up to the two people who meant absolutely everything to her.

She just really, really hoped that this wouldn't change anything—that they wouldn't judge or ridicule her for everything that had happened in the past, a past that was very likely to repeat itself in the coming days.

She took a deep, deep breath before telling them everything. She explained, in great detail, about the day she had first met Murphy five years ago, the happiness she felt in those first few months, and how everything had changed in the blink of an eye. She explained what has been happening with Lex ever since she moved here, and how she had just recently learned that Murphy was in town working with Lex no less.

As soon as she was done spilling her guts about a time in her life that she regretted more than anything, tears were streaming down her cheeks, her hands were trembling in her lap, and her heart was racing like a jackhammer inside of her chest.

Martha was completely and utterly shell-shocked, at what she had just learned, and stared, unblinking, at the woman who reminded her of herself at that age for several seconds before she managed to assemble her befuddled thoughts. "Oh, honey, I'm so, so sorry that you, Chloe and your father had to go through all of that, but I need you to know that everything that happened wasn't your fault."

She never looked at her. "But it is my fault. If I would have seen the signs sooner then maybe, just maybe things would have turned out differently."

"No. It wasn't. Honey, you were so young, and so was Chloe. Neither of you could have suspected anything until it was too late. Nothing, and I mean nothing, would have stopped that man from doing what he did to you two girls."

"Sometimes I wonder…if I had done more back then maybe this wouldn't be happening—maybe Lex and Murphy wouldn't be a problem right now—maybe they wouldn't be attempting to ruin my life."

"No. Nothing you did could have changed what's happening right now. It's definitely not anyone's fault expect Lex'. He's the one who brought Murphy back. Not you."

Jonathon, who had been silent throughout this entire exchange, absorbing everything he had just learned, locked eyes with her. "Martha' right. It's not your fault, besides it doesn't matter what happened in the past or what's happening right now because in the end, you're going to get through this just like last time, but this time you'll have us to help you through this."

She smiled, slightly over at him. "Thanks." Her smile fell almost instantaneously, as her earlier fears came rushing back into her mind, and she glanced between the two of them, a feeling of overwhelming fear consuming her. "Does this change anything? I mean, do you guys see me differently or are you disappointed in me?"

Martha shook her head from side to side, while Jonathon simply held out his hand to her, not liking the way she was speaking. "Come here."

She hesitated.

"Come here."

She stood up very, very slowly, and walked towards them before sitting in-between them on the couch, relishing in the comfort of their arms, as they wrapped them around her shoulders.

"No, sweetheart, this doesn't change anything. Nothing could change the way we see you or the way we feel about you. You are still our stubborn, opinionated, and independent girl. No matter what happens, we will always see you that way."

"Really?"

He nodded. "None of this matters. It doesn't because this time things are going to be different. I don't care what I have to do, I will not allow Lex or Murphy to come anywhere near you. They won't be laying a finger on you, I promise."

She stared at him for a few seconds, tears pooling in her eyes before she lunged into his arms, hugging him, and squeezed him, tightly, as she buried her face into his chest. "I love you."

He hugged her back just as tightly, and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too, sweetheart."

Martha smiled at them before a thought occurred to her, and she gently placed her hand on her shoulder, making her pull away from him. "Lois, does Clark know about any of this?"

She looked over at her with a guilty expression. "No."

"Why not?"

"I never, ever wanted him or anybody to know about this part of my life. This was something that I never expected to happen again."

"You need to tell him."

"You know almost better than anyone that he could protect you a hell of a lot more than anybody else ever could," Jonathon added.

She nodded, with tears running down her cheeks. "I know that, but this isn't about my protection. It's never been about my protection. I took care of myself five years ago, and I'll do it again if I have to. I didn't tell him anything because I want to protect him."

Jonathon frowned, confusion etching across his features. "His protection? What are you talking about?"

Martha smiled at her, knowing exactly what she was attempting to accomplish. "You want to protect him like you did before, right?"

"Yes, but it's different this time. This is nothing like when I was escaping from my father. I will not run away from my problems like I've done so many times in the past, and I can't not tell him everything, especially with the threat of Lex and the fact that Murphy is back."

At first, Jonathon had been confused about their conversation, but then he realized exactly what they were talking about. She was attempting to protect his son from Lex and Murphy, mainly because she was worried that they would find out the truth about him, just like how she was afraid her father would find out about him all those months ago.

But…

This time was different.

Even if one part of himself agreed with where she was coming from, it wasn't up to them or anybody else what his son did with this information. It was up to Clark and no one else.

"I understand that you want to protect him from all of this, but he deserves to know the truth, and he deserves to hear it from you."

She glanced down, sniffling audibly, and sighed, heavily. "I know, but I'm scared."

He wrapped his arms around her. "I know, sweetie, but it's going to be okay. Everything is going to be alright."

Martha wrapped her arms around her daughter and her husband, squeezing them both tightly in her embrace. She knew without a doubt that this was going to be hard for Lois, especially with what had happened in the past and what was happening now.

It didn't matter.

None of it did.

It didn't because they would be here for her.

There was no way in hell she would allow anything to happen to her family.

And that's exactly what they were.

A family.

One she would never, ever let anyone destroy.

A few minutes later, the sound of the front door opening made them pull away from each other at a lightning fast speed, and every single one of them stood up from their positions on the couch, at who they saw standing before them.

Lois quickly hurdled towards the one person that she needed more than anything right at this moment, and practically jumped into his arms.

Clark smiled, slightly, as she ran full-force towards him, and caught her in his arms before clinging onto her for dear life, slightly lifting her feet off the ground.

"Clark! Where the hell have you been!"

Almost instantaneously he noticed that something was bothering her—that something was upsetting her, and he had a feeling that it had nothing to do with the fact that they hadn't seen each other all day long.

It was in the way she hung onto to like she never wanted to let him go.

It was in the way her body trembled underneath his touch.

It was the way her voice seemed to be strained when she spoke.

As much as he wanted to soothe her—as much as he wanted to find out what was happening with her, and what was going through her mind, he couldn't, he couldn't because he was feeling too consumed by what he had to tell his family, knowing full well that it was going to break all of their hearts, especially Lois'.

He pulled away from her, slightly. "I'm sorry. I know we haven't seen each other all day, but um, there was something that I needed to do."

"What was it?"

"I'll explain everything. I promise." He grabbed her hand, and pulled her into the living room, where his parents were standing.

Lois wasn't too sure what was going on, but deep inside she had a feeling that it wasn't anything good, especially with the way he seemed nervous and hesitant, and it was only making her feel even worse than she was already feeling. "What's going on?"

He looked her straight in the eyes. "I haven't been completely honest with you, Lo."

She frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

He glanced at his parents, who were smiling at him, encouragingly, knowing exactly what he had been doing all day before looking back at her. "In the past several weeks, I've been having these dreams—dreams where I couldn't save people that desperately needed my help, and my biological father, Jor-El, kept telling me that it was time."

"Is that why you haven't been sleeping very well as of late?"

He nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me about this? I could have helped you through this…"

"It wouldn't have mattered, Lo, I still would have had the dreams whether I told you or not."

"Are you still having them?"

He shook his head from side to side. "No, I'm not."

She smiled up at him. "Then everything is going to be alright."

"Not exactly…"

"What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath, and sighed, softly. "I already explained this to my parents this morning, but um, I woke up from a terrifying dream, one where everyone I loved died around me…Lois, you literally died in my arms…"

She stepped closer to him, and rested her hands on his shoulders. "Clark, baby, that was just a dream. Nothing like that could ever happen."

This was getting harder and harder by the second, he thought to himself.

"It wasn't just a dream, Lo, it was a warning…"

"A warning?"

"I went to the caves to speak to Jor-El because I knew that he was the reason I was having these dreams, but I realized that they weren't dreams at all, they were messages from my own subconscious telling me that it was time."

She frowned at him, feeling more and more confused by the second. "Time for what?"

"My destiny."

"Your destiny?"

"In order for me to stop the dreams from continuing, I needed to find all the stones, which would inevitably lead me to my destiny, and that's exactly what they did."

"I thought the stones had nothing to do with you?"

He sighed, heavily. "I thought that too, but um, now that I have begun the first part of my destiny, there is something that I have to do…"

Jonathon growled, softly, at his sons' words. "Of course, there is. I told you this morning that this was a mistake—that he would want something from you. He always does."

Martha stepped forward, intending to stop the argument that was brewing before it even started, and locked eyes with her son, worry plastered across her face. "What does he want?"

He glanced at every single one of them, briefly before his aquamarine eyes locked onto her hazel ones, and took a deep breath before he uttered the words he never, ever wanted to say to her. "I have to leave for my training…"

Martha gasped, loudly, and quickly covered her mouth with her hands, in complete and utter shock. She had, had a feeling that when her son came back that it wasn't going to be anything good, but she had never even thought that he could be leaving. As much as she wanted to be supportive to her son, she couldn't help wondering the effect that his departure would have not only on them, but on Lois, especially with everything that was going on.

This was about the worst time for this to happen, she thought.

Jonathon shook his head from side to side, vehemently. "What? He can't force you to leave! He has put this family through enough!"

He smiled, tightly at his father. "He isn't forcing me to do anything. This was my choice. It's time that I accept my destiny."

"Why would you just accept this blindly, Clark? He wants you to rule!"

"No, he doesn't. He wants me to be a leader—a savior, and the only way to become the person I'm supposed to be I have to accept my destiny—I have to begin my training."

Lois took several staggering steps back away from him, as he revealed that he would be leaving, and just like that everything went silent until all she could hear was the echo of her own thoughts and the beating of her racing heart.

This couldn't be happening.

She had been reunited with him not even three months ago, and now, now he was leaving. One part of her wanted to stop him from leaving, but the other part of her knew that he wouldn't be doing this unless he needed to—unless he wanted to.

He needed to accept his destiny, the same destiny she had told him countless times that he would one day embrace. He needed to become the person he was supposed to be—the person he was meant to be, and she would not be the one that stood in the way of that.

She was happy for him.

She was proud of him.

But, that didn't mean she liked this one bit.

Actually…

She hated it.

She really, really needed him right now, especially with everything that was happening right underneath his nose, but under no circumstances would she allow what was going on with her be the reason he didn't complete his training—that he didn't become the savior she knew he would one day become.

As much as she wanted to be here for him—as much as she wanted to tell him that everything was going to be alright—as much as she wanted to assure him that she would be alright.

She couldn't.

He was leaving.

He was leaving her.

And, right at this particular moment, that was the very last thing she wanted.

She wanted to spend every single day with him for the rest of their lives just like they had promised each other over and over again, but that wasn't going to be a possibility, and even though she knew that he needed her right now, she couldn't deal with this—she couldn't accept that he was leaving.

She quickly pushed down her thoughts, their voices becoming more and more clearer by the second, and took several more steps back away from him, as her emotions overwhelmed her completely. "I-I'm sorry. I-I-I have to go." She rushed out of the house, without ever looking back, her heart pounding, relentlessly inside her chest, and it felt like it was going to shatter into a million pieces, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"LOIS!"

Clark screamed out her name, as she ran away from the house—as she ran away from him, and made a move to chase after her, but was stopped by the feel of his father' hand grabbing his arm, stopping him from going after her. "Let her go, Clark."

He shook his head from side to side. "No. I can't just leave it like this. I need to explain this to her."

Martha stepped towards him, an expression of pure sadness etched across her face. "Clark, honey, this is a lot for her to take in right now. She just needs some time and space right now."

"There isn't enough time!" He glanced between his parents. "As much as I know she wants and needs space, I can't give it to her. I only have until tomorrow night. I need her more than anything right now, and I know she needs me too. I want to spend as much time with her as physically possible."

Before they could protest, he super sped out of the house, intending to find the love of his life, who' heart he had just broken, to make things right with her and to make her understand that as much as he didn't want to do this, he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

But…

He had a feeling that whatever he said or did wouldn't help her any, actually, it would probably only make things worse than they already were, but he didn't know what else he could do to help them through this.

It didn't matter.

The only thing that mattered was being with her right now, and that was exactly what he intended on doing.

* * *

Lois rushed into the house, tears streaming faster and faster down her cheeks to the point it was causing her entire body to tremble, and her heart pounded rapidly inside her chest, as she quickly ran past her cousin, uncle and father towards her bedroom, completely ignoring their protests to her haste entrance.

As soon as she reached her room, she slammed the door shut, loudly, and crawled into bed, curling herself into a ball, as she cried, harder than ever before, into her pillows.

Not even two minutes later, she heard her bedroom door slowly creak open, and felt someone crawl into bed next to her, but she didn't have the energy or want to acknowledge her presence.

It was quite obvious who it was.

Her cousin.

There was no way it could be her uncle or father for that matter since neither of them dealt with emotional situations that well, and right now, she was pretty positive that she wouldn't be able to talk to either of them, actually, she didn't want to talk to anyone, but she knew that her cousin wouldn't leave her alone until she knew exactly what had happened.

Chloe watched her cousin literally break down in front of her, like her heart had been shattered into a million pieces, and it broke her own heart. When she had seen her rush into the house, her first thought had been that either Lex or Murphy had done something to her, but that thought was thrown out the window, as soon as she noticed that she was in tears. There was only one person that could make her break down like that, and that was her best friend, which only made her worry about what the hell had happened in the short time she had been gone.

"Lo? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

She shook her head from side to side, and sighed, quite audibly before nudging her side. "Nothing huh? This doesn't look like nothing. Come on, seriously, what's going on?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

She laid down next to her, gently, and rubbed her hands up and down her arm, comfortingly. "You know, this seems oddly familiar…correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been in this exact situation before. You being upset over something—something that you don't want to talk about, but if you remember correctly, I always got you to open up me. So, you might as well just tell me what's going through that mind of yours because you know I'll get it out of you one way or another."

She slowly lifted her head from the confines of her pillows, and stared at her cousin, glaring slightly. "I hate you!"

"No, you don't."

A chuckled escaped past her lips, making her feel just a little better, but the hurt—the pain, and the heartbreak was still there. "Thanks, cuz."

She grinned, victoriously. "No problem. Now, mind telling me what has you this upset?"

Her eyes fell to the bed, as her fingers fiddled with the sheets for a few seconds before she looked back up at her. "I went to see Clark."

Of course, she had figured that much out, but that still didn't answer the millions of questions that were running rampant through her mind. "I'm guessing it didn't go as planned."

She simply nodded.

"Are you guys okay?"

A heavy sigh fell from her lips. "Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know…"

She chuckled at her confusing jumble of words. "Which one is it? Yes? No? Maybe? Or I don't know?"

"All of the above, I guess."

"What happened? I've never seen you like this before…"

She was silent for a few seconds, as everything that had transpired from the moment she left the house resonated in the forefront of her mind, and a few tears fell down her cheeks, from the memory of leaving the man she loved with all of her heart after he had confessed that he had to leave—that he had to leave her.

"He's leaving."

A frown took over her features. "He's what?"

"He's leaving for his training."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and her mouth dropped open, dramatically. "What? When? Why?"

"I don't know." She rolled over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling, and sighed, heavily. "I wasn't exactly paying attention when he was talking to his parents, but um, it does have something to do with Jor-El and these weird dreams he's been having lately."

"That's all you got? Really?"

"I told you. I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. I was too lost in my own thoughts about the fact that he's leaving." Her own words caused the tears to pour down her cheeks once more. "He's leaving me…"

Chloe wrapped her arms around her, pulling her closer to her, and gently rocked her back and forth, attempting to soothe her cousin as best she could. "I'm so sorry, Lo."

A few minutes later, she pulled away from her, and stared into her tear-filled eyes. "I'm guessing that you didn't get a chance to tell him about Lex and Murphy."

She nodded. "I told Martha and Jonathon. I told them everything, but before I could even think about saying anything to Clark, he revealed that he was leaving." She took a deep breath, and attempted to calm her racing heart and frazzled nerves. "I-I just couldn't tell him after that. Chloe, I can't be the reason that he chooses to stay, and we both know that, that is exactly what he would do if he found out about any of this. I want him to know, I really do, but I will not be the thing that stands in the way of his destiny."

She smiled, encouragingly, at her. "I think you made the right decision, Lo."

"You do?"

"Yeah. It's like you said, he would want to stay here instead of doing his training—instead of accepting his destiny, and that's the last thing either of us want. Besides, we've dealt with the likes of Murphy before, with help of course, and we can do it again."

She smiled, softly. "That's pretty much what Jonathon told me."

"I'm not surprised by that, not in the slightest. He is one hell of a wise man."

"Yeah. He is." She stared into her cousin' eyes, feeling completely and utterly miserable. "I'm scared, Chloe. What if I never see him again? What if he's gone for years? What if something happens to me, and we never get to have that happy ending, the one we've always dreamed and talked about having?"

She slowly wiped away her fallen tears. "That's not going to happen, Lo. He will be back. He always is. That forever and always that you two are constantly talking about will become reality. I promise."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know both you and Clark better than anyone else. Neither of you would ever allow anything destroy the love you share. You two spent over one year without each other, and that love never died, it only grew stronger, and that's exactly what's going to happen again. You might experience some bumps along the way, everyone does, but you'll both prosper in the end. It will all work out. You'll see."

She smiled at her encouraging words, but that smile fell almost immediately. As much as she wanted to believe that this would all work out in the end, just like it has in the past, she couldn't help feeling like her entire world was falling apart.

Lex was causing problems.

Murphy was back.

Clark was leaving.

And, all she felt was broken inside.

Chloe watched her become quite desolate and isolated, and quickly wrapped her arms around her body, comforting her as much as could possibly manage. "It's going to be okay, Lo, everything is going to be alright."

Several minutes later, she slowly removed herself from her cousin' embrace, as soon as she fell asleep, and quickly made her way back downstairs. As much as she wanted to continue to be here for her, she needed—wanted to figure out what the hell her best friends reasons were for leaving.

She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

* * *

Clark slowly walked up the small steps leading up to Chloe' house, but when he arrived at the front door he hesitated, slightly, and instead of knocking on the front door like he wanted to he leaned up against the siding of the house for a few seconds before sliding down to the ground.

When he had left his house, more like darted out of his house, he had fully intended on coming straight here, but he figured that she really did need some much needed alone time—much needed space, and came to the conclusion that tonight was probably not the best time to broach this particular topic, even if all he wanted was to be with her at this very moment in time.

It wasn't what he wanted to do, but it was what she needed, and even though it hurt him when she chose to be alone instead of staying with him. He knew that she needed this, and he wouldn't go against her wishes. He would give her what she wanted.

He softly closed his eyes, his advanced hearing focusing on the one and only thing that mattered to him, but what he heard made him regret eavesdropping on her, and it only broke his heart even more than it already was.

She was crying.

She was upset.

She was heartbroken.

And, it was all his fault.

He did this to her.

He did the one thing he had promised that he would never, ever do to her.

But…

He had done it nonetheless, and he wasn't too sure how to feel about this anymore.

One part of himself knew that he needed to accept his destiny—that he needed to begin his training, but the other part of himself didn't want to leave—didn't want to leave her.

A few tears fell down his cheeks, as her cries became louder and louder, and he quickly pulled back his super hearing, unable to continue listening to her heartbreak—to her sorrow any longer. It wasn't because he didn't want to be there for her. It was because he couldn't stand listening to what he had done—to what he had caused.

It was all his fault, and he didn't know how to fix it—to fix her—to fix them, but he would be damned if he allowed her to believe that he wanted to leave her. Because he didn't. He wanted to stay with her for forever and for always just like they had promised each other.

But…

He couldn't.

He needed to do this.

It was for him.

It was for his future.

But, most of all, it was for them—for their future, and that's all that mattered to him…having a future, a home, and an unforgettable love with the woman he was irrevocably in love with—the woman he would always be in love with.

A few minutes later, the front door swung open, and he quickly stood up, thinking that it was going to be Lois that walked through that door, but was slightly disappointed when he realized that it was just his best friend.

Chloe, who had been on a one-woman mission, stopped in her tracks when she noticed her best friend standing on the porch, and felt a multitude of emotions consume her as she stared at him.

Anger because he had caused her cousin heartbreak.

Relief because she had found him a lot sooner than she thought she would.

But, most of all, she was confused because she had absolutely no idea why this was happening or why it had to be happening right now, at a time when Lois needed him the most, of course, he didn't know that, and he couldn't know that. It would only complicate things further.

He watched as emotion after emotion crossed over her delicate features, and sighed, quite heavily before leaning back up against the side of the house. "She told you."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah. She told me."

"H-h-how is she?"

"What do you think? She's heartbroken, Clark. She literally came home in tears, and it took me well over ten minutes to get her to even open up to me."

Several tears filled his aquamarine eyes before they cascaded down his cheeks. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen. I don't want to leave."

"Then why are you leaving?"

He frowned at her. "I thought she told you…"

She shook her head from side to side. "All she told me was that you were leaving because of Jor-El and because of some weird dreams you've been having."

"That's the basic idea of it, I guess."

"How about you tell me the whole story."

And he did.

He told her everything about the dreams he had been experiencing over the past several weeks—the confusing conversations he had, had with his biological father—the mission to find the remaining two stones, in order to begin the path towards his destiny—the way the stones created his Fortress of Solitude in the middle of the artic, and what he needed to do in order to become Earth's savior.

As she listened to him explain everything—everything that her dearest cousin had either left out or never even heard, her anger and fury had subsided exceptionally, and was replaced with complete understanding and utter sorrow.

She understood why he needed to do this—why he wanted to do this, but she couldn't help feeling sadness at the thought of what this separation was going to do to her best friend and cousin.

Hurt.

Pain.

But, most of all, heartbreak.

She knew that it was going to be a difficult road for both of them, but she also knew deep inside of her own heart that they would come out of this on the other side, perfectly intact.

They always did.

"Wow! So, you're really going to do this? You're really going to become the person we all know you can be?"

"Yeah. I really am. It's time I accept that part of my life."

She waited, patiently for him to continue because she knew that there was a hell of a lot more that he wanted to add to that, but soon realized that he wasn't going to voice the opinions that she knew were rattling through that mind of his. "But?"

Figures, he thought, she could read him almost at well as his beautiful girlfriend could. "But…I'm afraid what this will do to her—what this will do to us."

"It won't do anything."

"How do you know? How do you know this won't break us? How do you know this won't tear us apart?"

She rolled her eyes at him, and sighed, heavily. "I'm going to tell you exactly what I told my lovely cousin…you two literally spent over one year without each other, and that love you shared, the love you still share never died, it only grew stronger. That's exactly what's going to happen again."

He wanted to believe that, he really did, but he was still having doubts about what this was going to do to them. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because your Lois and Clark. Your soulmates. You belong together. Nothing, and I mean nothing will destroy the love that you two share."

"I know that I will always love her, and I know that she will always love me, but what if I'm gone for years? What if too much time passes, and we lose what we have now?"

"It doesn't matter how much time passes, Clark. You two are perfect for each other, hell, everyone knew that from the moment they saw you two together, and in the end you two will prosper. You always do."

He smiled, widely at her. "Thank you, Chloe."

She smiled back. "No problem."

It was silent between them for several seconds before he slowly stepped towards the porch stairs, his back facing the house. "I should probably go…"

She frowned at him. "You're going to leave?"

"I don't know what else I should do. She needs to be alone right now—she wants to be alone right now, and as much as I want to stay with her I don't want to upset her more than she already is."

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. "You leaving is only going to make things worse."

"How? She doesn't even know that I'm here."

"That doesn't matter. She might have told you or insinuated that she wanted to be alone, but I'm telling you that, that is the very last thing she needs right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Come on, you can stay here tonight, besides I think she would rather wake up to find you next to her instead of finding you not there."

He nodded before following her into the house, and when they arrived at her closed bedroom door he turned towards her, smiling. "Thanks, Chloe."

She smiled at him. "You're welcome."

He watched her disappear down the hallway towards her own room until he was left all alone, and stood outside her room for a few minutes before entering. After closing the door, quietly behind him he climbed into bed next to her, and relished in the way she unconsciously moved closer to him, resting her head on his chest, as soon as he had gotten comfortable underneath the blankets.

He stared down at her beautiful, peaceful face, and smiled down at her before gently pressing his lips against her cheek. "I love you, Lois."

He slowly wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her closer to his chest, and buried his face into her soft, blonde hair.

It didn't matter what was about to happen because he knew without a doubt that they would be alright—that they would survive this, and he intended to make that perfectly clear to her tomorrow.

A few minutes passed before he softly closed his eyes, and allowed her sweet scent and the calm beating of her heart to lure him into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The next morning, the sun shined brightly into the room, making Lois squint her eyes and scrunch up her nose several times before she officially gave up on sleep altogether, and slowly fluttered her eyes open.

A part of her had fully expected to wake up alone since that was how she had fallen asleep, but she was pleasantly surprised when she noticed that the love of her life was lying next to her.

It was quite shocking to find him here with her, but she supposed that she shouldn't be too surprised since they both had, had a horrendous night last night, and even if she hadn't said it out loud, he had known that this is where she wanted him to be.

With her.

Her eyes swept over his beautiful and peaceful features, as he was sprawled out on the bed next to her with his hands spread out across his chest, and very gently traced her fingers down the sides of his face, careful not to wake him up just yet.

It wasn't every day that she was able to just admire him in a setting like this, and quite honestly, he looked quite adorable when he was sleeping.

This could be the last time she saw him like this for a while, she thought to herself, but quickly pushed those thoughts away, not wanting to think about that right now.

All of a sudden, her stomach twisted, churned, and lurched forcing her to grimace in disgust, and this metallic taste consumed the confines of her mouth.

It was absolutely revolting.

In a quick gust of speed, she quickly dashed out of her bedroom, down the hallway into the bathroom, and relinquished everything she had eaten the day before into the toilet. After flushing the toilet, and brushing her teeth, thoroughly she wondered what in the hell was going on with her since she had never, ever done something like that before, but figured that it was just from the stress that she had been feeling over the past couple of days, especially last night.

That had to be it.

There was no other explanation.

A few minutes later, she walked back into her bedroom where she found her man still sleeping, soundlessly, and crawled into bed next to him before pressing soft, gentle, teasing kisses across every single part of his face until she reached his lips.

Clark made a little noise of annoyance, as she peppered his face with kisses, and scrunched up his nose, while his brows furrowed together in confusion before opening his eyes, slowly focusing on the beautiful angel that was looming over him while kissing him. "Lois?"

She pulled away from him, slightly, and smiled down at him. "Morning, sleepy head."

He stared up at her for a few seconds, blinking rapidly, as he attempted to rid away his sleepiness, and smile back up at her. "Morning."

She slowly leaned down, pressing her lips back against his, kissing him softly and sweetly, and this time he responded to her. His lips molded against hers just like they had done so many other times before, as one of his hands tangled itself in her hair, and the other one rested on her waist, squeezing softly.

She pulled away from him, and rested her hands on his chest, as she straddled his hips. "You know, last night I went to sleep all by myself, and instead of waking up like that I woke up with a perfectly handsome stranger in my bed."

He chuckled at her, and squeezed her waist in his hands, a little harder than before. "Well, I couldn't go another night without you locked in my embrace." His smile fell instantaneously, at his own words. "Lois, I want—"

She pressed her finger against his lips, stopping him from saying another word. "Don't. Please don't ruin this moment, Clark."

"I don't want to, Lo, but we really should talk about this. I want today to be all about us." He said, as soon as she had removed her finger from his lips.

A frown took over her features, at his words, and she knew immediately that if he planned on spending the entire day with her than that could only mean one thing. "You're leaving tonight, aren't you?"

He nodded.

She sighed, heavily. "I thought we would have more time…"

"I know, baby. I'm sorry. I don't want to do this to you, but I don't really have a choice."

"Yes, you do, Clark, and I think you're making the right one."

"I am?"

"Yeah. You are. I'm proud of you, baby, I know that this is something that you need to do—something that you want to do, and I couldn't be prouder of you for taking this next step." She smiled, softly, at the befuddled expression that was plastered across his face. "I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you that last night. I was just upset that we have to go through this all over again."

He slowly trailed his hands up the sides of her body until they were resting on the sides of her face. "I know, Lo, I don't want to go through all of that again either. I really don't want to leave—I really don't want to leave you, but I feel like it's time for me to accept that part of my life. That's the entire reason why I want to spend the whole day with you. I want to make long-lasting memories with you before I have to leave."

She smiled, mischievously down at him. "And, I think I know the best place for us to start."

"Really? And what would that be?"

Instead of responding to him she kissed him, and she poured everything she felt for him into that one kiss. A few minutes later, after some major petting and lip locks, Clark realized what she had exactly meant, and pushed her away from him, slightly. "What are you doing?"

A smirk spread out across her features. "I'm making memories."

He grinned from ear to ear before kissing her with fervor, and quickly flipped them over so now he was pinning her down to the bed, intending to show her how much he loved her—how much he cared about her—how much she meant to him, knowing full well that this could be their last moment of pure happiness for quite a long time.

Several hours later, Clark and Lois walked hand-in-hand towards their favorite spot in Smallville—the same spot where they had spent Valentine's Day together—the same spot they had frequented many, many times over the past month.

They both stopped when they reached the top of the hill, staring out across the thousands and thousands of beautiful flowers that surrounded them, and they both attempted to keep their emotions in check, as their thoughts traveled to the day they had just had and what was about to happen between them.

A few more minutes passed before either of them uttered a single word, but they both knew that it was time, and Lois was the first one to speak. "It's almost time."

He softly closed his eyes, at her words, and his heart felt like it was going to break right then and there, but he managed to keep his resolve together, at least for now. "I know."

She slowly turned towards him. "Clark, can you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Can you promise me that no matter how far away we are from each other or how long we are apart you won't ever forget that I love you, and that I will always love you for the rest of my life."

He rested his forehead against hers, softly. "I promise, baby, I promise that I won't ever stop loving you no matter how much time passes." He stared into her beautiful hazel orbs for a few seconds. "I have something for you."

She watched as he stepped away from her, reached into the pocket of his jeans, and pulled out a silver bracelet, which had a turquoise gem in the shape of a diamond directly in the center of it.

It was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Clark, it's beautiful."

He smiled down at her. "I don't know if I've told you this before, but this bracelet was given to me by a woman named Kyla, who I had once believed was my soulmate, but before she passed away she told me that it was meant for woman I am destined to be with. That woman is you, Lois."

An unknown feeling coursed throughout her entire body, making her heart skip a beat before she glanced between him and the bracelet a few times. "Clark…I can't."

"Yes, you can." He quickly grabbed her arm, and slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. It was a perfect match just like he figured it would be. "I want you to have this. Think of it as a promise ring. I know that we don't know how long I'll be gone for or what this separation is going to do to us—to our love for each other, but whenever you're feeling lost, scared or broken just remember that I still love you—that I still think of you every single day. I want you to look at this every single time you're feeling down, and I want you to remember that I will always be with you until the moment we can really be together again."

Tears filled her hazel eyes, at his heartfelt words, and she traced the symbol on the bracelet before looking up at him, a few fears falling down her cheeks. "I love you, Clark, I love you so damn much."

He gently wiped away her fallen tears. "I love you too, Lois, I always will."

They stared into each other' eyes for several minutes, their emotions and feelings radiating through their tear-filled and sorrow-filled eyes before she reached into her pocket, and pulled out her iPod, the same one they had listened to together many times. "Will you dance with me one last time?"

"I'd love to."

 _ **How do I get through one night without you**_

 _ **If I had to live without you**_

 _ **What kinda life would that be**_

 _ **Oh I need you in my arms, need you to hold**_

 _ **You are my world, my heart, my soul**_

As soon as the music resonated in their ears, they slowly wrapped their arms around each other' bodies, and swayed, softly to the words that were very, very slowly breaking their hearts, and bringing tears to their eyes.

 _ **If you ever leave**_

 _ **Baby you would take away**_

 _ **Everything good in my life**_

 _ **And tell me now**_

They moved closer together, their bodies pressing together, and let the words flow over them, knowing that ever word—every syllable—every beat couldn't be truer.

 _ **How do I live without you?**_

 _ **I want to know**_

 _ **How do I breathe without you?**_

 _ **If you ever go**_

 _ **How do I ever, ever survive**_

 _ **How do I, how do I, oh how do I live**_

As they listened to the words, they both realized that it was perfect for what they were feeling right now and what was going to happen.

He was leaving her, even if he didn't want to, and she wasn't sure she would be able to survive without him, but they both knew that they could get through this—that they would prosper.

 _ **Without you**_

 _ **There would be no sun in my sky**_

 _ **There would be no love in my life**_

 _ **There'd be no world left for me**_

As they continued to sway to the music, they couldn't stop themselves from holding each other tighter, knowing that this was going to be their very last moment together, and their tears cascaded down their cheeks faster and faster, as their hearts shattered into a million pieces.

 _ **And I, baby, I don't know what I would do**_

 _ **I'd be lost if I lost you**_

Two hours later, Clark and Lois slowly walked into the caves, their hands intertwined together, as their hearts beat like jackhammers inside their chests, breaking even more so with every step they took because they knew that they were minutes away from uttering the words they didn't want to say to each other. It was hard enough doing this, let alone being uncertain of their own futures. Neither of them knew how long he would be gone for or what this meant for them—for their future.

Lois watched with tears pooling in her eyes, as Clark pressed three specific Kryptonian symbols on one of the cave walls, and took a step back when it slowly opened for them to walk through.

It was amazing and frightening at the same time, she thought to herself.

He started walking towards the chamber, but stopped when Lois' hand tightened around his own, and turned towards her with a frown set in place. "What's wrong?"

She glanced behind him, momentarily before looking him straight in the eyes. "I don't think I should go inside."

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid that I won't be able to walk back out of that room if I go any further than this."

A soft smiled graced his lips before he stepped closer to her, and gripped her shoulders in his hands. "It's okay, Lois, you don't have to go inside that room if you don't want to."

A few tears fell down her cheeks. "No. None of this is okay, Clark. I don't want to do this. I don't want to say those words to you again."

He gently wiped away her tears. "I know, baby, neither do I, but we have to. We don't have a choice."

She took a deep, deep breath. "I know." After a few seconds passed, she stared into his eyes, inquisitively. "Do you think everything will be the same when you return, or will things be completely different?"

"A little bit of both." He tilted his head to one side, and smiled down at her. "I think that we will be different, especially if a lot of time passes between us, but I think our love will remain the same. I will always love you, Lois, even if I return and you don't feel the same way anymore I—"

"Don't! Don't you dare say that to me!" She interrupted him. "It's never going to happen. If you remember, I attempted telling you that exact same thing before, and you refused to even listen to me, so don't you dare stand there and say those words to me. I will always love you, Clark, no matter how much time passes. You are mine and I'm yours. Nothing you can say or do will ever change that."

He rested his forehead against hers, softly. "I love you, Lois Lane, don't ever forget that."

A few tears fell down her cheeks before she softly closed her eyes. "That goes for you too. Clark Kent, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before, and I'm never going to stop."

"It's time."

"I know."

He slowly leaned forward, capturing her lips in a sweet and passionate kiss, as his hands wrapped around her body, pulling her into his chest, tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers running through his soft, black locks, as she pressed every single inch of her body against his, wanting absolutely no space between them.

They pulled away from each other, simultaneously, and stared deeply into each other's eyes, as tears cascaded down their cheeks. "Goodbye, Lois, I love you so much.

"I love you too, Clark…goodbye."

He slowly started walking backwards, his eyes still locked on hers, as their fingers were still connected until they couldn't feel each other anymore, and turned around, beginning to walk towards the inner chamber, but stopped before reaching the cave wall.

He didn't want to do this.

He didn't want to leave her.

He wished he could change his mind.

But…

He couldn't.

She stared at him with a confused expression, as he seemed to be hesitating to walk any further. "Clark?"

Instead of responding to her, he quickly spun back around, and made his way back towards her before he kissed her like he had never kissed her before.

It was passionate.

It was romantic.

It was heavenly.

But, most of all, it revealed everything he was feeling and everything that he would continue feeling until the end of time.

As soon as he pulled away from her, she blinked her eyes open, quite rapidly, feeling quite dazed after that breathtaking kiss, and stared up at him with a befuddled expression plastered across her face. "What was that for?"

"I wanted you to have something to remember me by."

"I'll never forget you or that kiss, Clark."

He smiled, softly. "I love you, Lois Lane."

"And, I love you, Clark Kent."

He slowly walked away from her, disappearing behind the cave wall, and all she could see was this bright, white light consuming the entire chamber, as soon as the light was gone she knew that he was too.

He was gone.

He had left.

He had left her.

He was about to start his training—his destiny, and as much as she wanted to be happy for him, she couldn't help the overwhelming sadness that consumed her mind, body, and soul.

She didn't know how long he would be gone, but she knew that when he did come back they would finally be alright—they would finally be able to get their forever and for always.

A few minutes later, she finally made her way outside of the caves, but barely made it two feet before she heard a familiar voice echoing from behind her—a voice she really wasn't in the mood to be listening to right now.

"Two enter, and one exits. Now, what could possibly be wrong with this picture?"

She slowly turned towards him, and glared, heatedly. "What the hell are you doing here, Luthor?"

He stepped closer to her, and smirked, evilly. "Isn't it obvious? I'm watching you, actually, I've been watching you all day long just waiting for the opportune moment that you were alone."

"Why am I not surprised? What the hell do you want? Haven't you done enough?"

"I want answers."

She frowned at him. "Answers to what?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." He slowly stalked around her body until he was standing a few inches away from her. "Don't play Ms. Innocent with me, Lois. You know exactly what I'm talking about…I want to know the truth about Clark Kent."

As soon as those particular words were uttered out of his mouth, everything that he had done in the past few months started making complete sense, and she felt like a complete idiot for not realizing it sooner. Lex only wanted information about his obsession…Clark, and he had used Murphy to get information about her past—information that he could easily use against her just so, she would tell him everything about her boyfriend.

Little did he know, she thought, that, that little tactic was completely and utterly useless. She had learned a long time ago from Murphy no less that it was easy to manipulate someone, but she also vowed to herself that she would never, ever allow it to happen again, and there was no way in hell she was letting him get any information about Clark.

She would die before telling this man anything.

"Is that what all this is about? Was this your big grand plan? You only wanted information about my boyfriend, and you were hoping that my past would be some kind of manipulation tool to use against me." She chuckled, loudly, at the absurdity of that idea. "Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Luthor, but that tactic isn't going to work on me. Maybe you should have asked your little friend that before you acted on this brilliant plan of yours."

He smirked at her. "What would your newfound parents think of you if I happened to tell them all about your colorful past, and I'm not just talking about what happened with Murphy five years ago. I'm sure that they don't know everything about you."

"And you think you do?"

"I know enough."

"It doesn't matter. They already know everything about me, so there is nothing you could possibly use against me that could hurt the ones I care about, and it certainly isn't going to force me to give you what you want. I'd rather die before telling you anything."

He laughed, coldly. "I'd think before you speak, Lois, you never know who could be listening." She frowned at his words, which only caused him to laugh even harder, and he spoke over his shoulder, like he was speaking to someone else. "She's a waste of time. I'll get what I want a different way. Have fun with her."

Murphy, who had been standing in the shadows, grinned from ear to ear, at his words, and stepped out of the darkness, relishing in the thought of being reunited with the woman he had waited five years to see again. "About damn time. I've been waiting quite a long time for this moment."

Lois took several steps back, as he revealed himself to her, stalking towards her like she was his prey, and even though she had known that something like this could have happened that didn't mean she was prepared to see him again after all of these years.

"Hello, Lois. It's been a long time."

She glared at him, as she continued to take steps back away from him. "Go to hell, Murphy!"

He chuckled, as he continued moving closer to her. "Been there. Done that. I'd rather not have to go through all of that again."

"You never should have escaped from that hell hole in the first place!"

"Well, you can thank you friend over there for that one."

"He's not my friend!"

"It doesn't matter really because you're finally going to get what you deserve. It's too bad that you couldn't have been useful to us before I ended your miserable life. He really, really likes your boyfriend for some apparent reason, and I'm quite interested in him myself."

She smirked. "Why? Are you jealous?"

He sneered at her. "Now, come on, Lois. I think you know better than anyone that the word love means absolutely nothing to me."

"You can go straight to hell!"

Lex sighed, heavily at the two of them, and was beginning to become extremely bored with this entire situation. "Would you get on with it already? I don't have all night, you know."

"Patience my friend." He looked over his shoulder at him. "My revenge isn't going to just be simply brushed underneath the rug. I plan on dragging it out very slowly and very painfully." He turned back towards Lois, realizing that she was attempting to escape from him, and quickly reached out, gripping her wrists in his hands before yanking her towards him, forcefully. "Where do you think you're going?"

She grimaced in pain, as he squeezed her wrists, roughly, but she refused to show that to this pathetic excuse of a man. "You can kill me if you want. It won't change anything. There are plenty of people that want you dead, actually, most of them are here in this small-town, and that would be about the best thing that could ever happen to you."

He growled, loudly and quite angrily before slapping her across the face, extremely hard, forcing her to collapse to the ground. "Shut up!"

The pain resonated throughout the whole side of her left cheek, but she was determined to not allow this man to get to her. She attempted crawling away from him as fast as she could, but he quickly squatted down to her level before gripping strands of her hair into his hands, and pulled her back up to her feet. "You're mouthier than I remember."

She grinned at him, attempting to ignore the pain that was radiating from her cheek and head. "I'm more resilient too. You can do whatever you want to me. I don't care. It still won't change the horrible person you really are. Your just scum, and that's all you're ever going to be."

He glared at her, fiercely. "I think you were right about her, Lex. She is a waste of time, and I would definitely rather be inflicting pain on someone a hell of lot more important than her at this moment in time." He slowly wrapped his hands around her neck, and squeezed, as hard as he could possibly manage.

She gasped, as he completely cut off her air supply, and struggled against him, attempting to escape from his embrace around her neck, but it seemed to be useless.

It was becoming harder to breathe.

Her vision was beginning to fade in and out.

Her head felt like it was going to explode.

And, then everything changed in the blink of an eye when she could hear his voice, Clark', echoing through her mind.

 _Lois…Fight…you have to fight, baby…you promised me forever and for always…please, Lois, please don't give up…fight, Lois._

She didn't really understand why she was hearing his voice in her mind, but she knew deep inside that some part of herself wanted her to fight, and she knew that she needed to listen to it—she needed to fight back—she needed to escape from him.

In a rush of speed, she brought her knee up to his groin, hitting him as hard as she could, and when he loosened his grip around her neck from the pain he was currently feeling she quickly gripped the back of his head with her hands before kneeing him in the face. Once he fell to the ground, she kicked him several times in his side, and when it was obvious that he was down for the count she took off running in the other direction.

Of course, she knew that it was useless since either Lex of Murphy could easily catch up to her, but instead of that happening she started running faster and faster until everything surrounding her was a complete blur.

It was mind-joggling.

It was confusing.

It wasn't normal.

It was like she had gained the ability of superspeed somehow.

And, that's when it hit her.

There had been a more logical reason to why she felt queasy this morning.

There was a reason she was able to get the upper hand on Murphy so quick.

There was a reason why she currently running as fast as a speeding bullet, maybe even faster.

She was pregnant—pregnant with the love of her life' baby, and he or she is the only reason she was still alive, at this moment.

Murphy couldn't believe his eyes. "W-what the hell just happened?"

Lex, on the other hand, was rendered completely speechless, as he stared at the spot Lois had just been standing in less than two seconds ago, and now, now she was gone.

She had vanished in the blink of an eye.

It just wasn't possible.

He knew for a fact that she didn't have powers of any kind, so that only meant one thing…Lois Lane was pregnant with Clark Kent' baby, which meant that he wasn't human—that he wasn't from this world, and that's all he needed—wanted to know.

Murphy slowly stood up, confusion consuming him entirely. "Did she just speed away?"

"I think so."

"What the hell? How does something like that happen?"

He smirked over at him. "It doesn't, which is precisely exactly what I needed—what I wanted to know."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that Clark Kent isn't human, which is exactly the information I have been searching for, for years now, and Miss Lane just unknowingly handed over that information."

He pondered that for a second, and a look of pure disgust spread out across his features. "Then that means she's…"

"Yes. Lois Lane is pregnant."

His eyes widened to the size of his saucers, and his stomach churned, uncomfortably, making him feel like he could vomit. "You mean, she willingly slept with an alien, and is now carrying an alien child in her stomach."

"Precisely."

"That's absolutely revolting! We should end both of their pathetic lives!"

"No!" Lex quickly stepped towards him, and stared him directly in the eyes. "That child is of no use to me dead!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"We have some serious work to do, if this plan is going to work."

"What about Lois?"

He smirked, devilishly. "Don't worry about her too much. In a few months, we'll be paying her and that mutant child of hers a visit."

* * *

Clark walked up to the main chamber inside his Fortress of Solitude, and carefully glanced around at everything surrounding him, knowing that this was going to be where he lived for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't a home.

It would never be a home.

The only place he felt at home was when he was with the love of his life, and he had a feeling that it would be quite a long time before he saw her again.

As soon as he had been transported here, he had listened to her cries of pain and sorrow for a few minutes, but eventually forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand, especially since he didn't want to hear her heartbreak—he didn't want to hear what he was putting her though.

"Jor-El?"

"Kal-El, my son, you have returned."

"Yes."

"Are you ready to begin your training?"

He took a deep breath, and sighed, heavily. "Yes, but there is something that I've been wondering."

Complete and utter silence surrounded him.

"How long is this going to take?"

"That answer is unknown, Kal-El. It depends on your diligence and concentration. You must be fully prepared to accept your destiny, or this could possibly take years."

Years? That was something he couldn't even attempt to contemplate right now. It was hard enough accepting the fact that he had to leave his family—his friends—his girlfriend, but knowing that this could possibly take years only made things so, so much more worse than they already were.

"Are you ready, my son?"

He spoke with a hell of a lot more confidence than he was feeling at the moment. "I'm ready, Jor-El."

A bright, blue light enclosed around him, slightly lifting him off the ground, and several Kryptonian symbols surrounded him, as he started his training—as he entered the first portion of his destiny.

* * *

Martha slowly walked into the kitchen, as she carried a few plates, glasses and silverware from her and Jonathon' dinner. When Clark and Lois had returned from their rendezvous together, they had offered for them to stay for dinner, but he refused telling them that he had to be back at the Fortress of Solitude before the sun had set completely.

It had been extremely hard saying goodbye to her son—to her baby boy, but she knew without a doubt that she would be seeing him again, and hopefully it would be sooner rather than later.

She started rinsing off the dirty dishes, but stopped everything she was currently doing when she looked outside the window, and saw something that she never, ever thought she would see. Lois, who had been gone a lot longer than she thought she would be, literally appeared out of nowhere, and took several staggering steps forwards before she collapsed to the ground, a few feet away from the house.

"JONATHON!"

Jonathon, who was sitting in the living room drinking some warm tea and reading his nightly newspaper, immediately dashed into the kitchen, at the panicked sound that was laced in his wife' voice. "What? What is it?"

"It's Lois."

He glanced outside the window, his heart falling into his stomach when he saw his daughter lying on the ground, and raced outside as fast as he possibly could before sliding down to the ground next to her body. "Lois! Lois! Honey, what happened?"

She looked up at him with tears pooling in her eyes, and whispered, "They're coming after me," before her eyes fluttered closed.

His heart constricted inside his chest several times before he quickly lifted her up into his arms, and carried her inside the house. As soon as they had managed to wake her up, Jonathon carefully placed her in a chair in the dining room, while Martha worried about her non-stop, as she studied the injuries on her cheek, forehead, and neck.

Lois grumbled, miserably. "I told you that I'm fine."

She glared at her. "You don't look fine."

Jonathon stepped towards the two women. "What the hell happened out there?"

A heavy, sigh escaped past her lips, at their constant worrying, but she knew that they wouldn't let this go until they knew everything that had happened. "After I left the caves, Lex confronted me. He wanted to know the truth about Clark, and when I refused to give him any information he practically ordered Murphy to dispose of me. It seemed that, that was his intentions whether Lex told him to do it or not."

He growled, loudly. "What the hell is his problem? Why does he continuously attempt to come after our family? Why can't he just leave well enough alone?"

"I don't know, honey." Martha responded, as she applied some Neosporin to the gash on her forehead, making her wince, slightly, at the pain. "Sorry."

She smiled at her, and her hands unconsciously rested on her stomach. "I'm not just worried about me anymore…"

Martha smiled, knowingly at her, while Jonathon just frowned at her, feeling completely and utterly confused by her words. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "You're what?"

Martha rolled her eyes at him. "She's pregnant, Jonathon."

He narrowed his eyes at his wife. "Why don't you seem surprised by this?"

She smiled at Lois, who was attempting to hide her amusement, but was failing, miserably. "Well, it was kind of obvious when she appeared in the blink of an eye in our driveway."

It was hard enough hearing that the woman he saw as his daughter was expecting a child, but hearing that she had abilities made him feel like he was going to have a damn heart attack. "Wait a minute! You have Clark' abilities?"

"Only the superspeed. That's the reason I collapsed to the ground. It made my stomach churn and made me feel extremely dizzy, so I definitely won't be using it that often, or at all for that matter."

Jonathon couldn't believe what he was hearing, as he stared blankly into the empty space in front of him, and slowly sat down in the nearest chair. "I'm going to be a grandpa."

Martha and Lois glanced at each other, and grinned, widely, at his reaction. "Lois, honey, I know that this is probably something you weren't exactly planning, b—"

"You could say that." She quickly interrupted her. "This wasn't supposed to happen until both of us were ready, and neither of us are ready for this. I'm dealing with the threat of Lex and Murphy. Clark is gone. How the hell am I supposed to take care of a baby on top of all of that?"

She quickly intertwined her hands with hers, and stared into her eyes. "You're not alone, Lois, you have both me and Jonathon to help. I'm sure even Chloe and Pete will step in. Everything is going to be alright. I promise."

It was nice hearing that, but it didn't stop her fears from consuming her thoughts. This wasn't supposed to happen until her and Clark were married or at least planning on getting married, but instead, she was alone with all of this. She didn't have the man she loved to help her through all of this. He wouldn't be here to see their son or daughter grow inside of her or being born, and if that wasn't bad enough, their child was now in danger.

That thought made her remember something, and all the color drained from her face. "Um. We might have another problem."

"What is it?"

"I'm pretty positive that both Lex and Murphy watched me, you know, whoosh away, so they have probably figured out that Clark isn't exactly from around here. He might believe that he's just meteor infected, but how many meteor infected pass their abilities to their pregnant girlfriends. He's not stupid. He's going to figure it out."

Martha groaned, softly. "This isn't good…"

That immediately brought Jonathon out of his stupor, and he quickly stood up, walking towards them. "Did you just say that Lex and Murphy know about Clark?"

She glanced over at him, guiltily. "Um. It could be a possibility. They watched me literally just disappear in front of their eyes. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't even know what was happening until I was half way here."

He placed his hand on her shoulder, gently. "It's okay, Lois, it's not your fault. We just need to figure out what we should about this situation."

She grimaced, slightly, as her stomach churned, uncomfortably, and she felt a wave of nausea and dizziness rush over her body. "Um. Can we wait until the morning to figure all of this out? I think I should lay down for a little bit."

Martha smiled, reassuringly at her. "Go get some rest, honey, we'll deal with Lex, Murphy and talk about the baby in the morning."

She nodded at her before kissing them both on the cheeks, and slowly walked up the stairs towards Clark' bedroom. As soon as they heard the bedroom door shut, Martha glanced over at Jonathon with a worried expression plastered across her face. "What do we do now?"

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "We protect our daughter and our grandchild."

* * *

 _ **I hope everyone had a great Christmas, even if you don't celebrate the holiday, I hope that everything went well with your families and friends.**_

 _ **This is the longest chapter I have written for this story. I was going to split it up again, but I have am organized outline, and I couldn't possibly add another chapter to this extremely long story. This is the final chapter of the second section of this story, and this is where things are going to start to either get really interesting. This is the last chapter I will be posting in 2018, so I hope that everyone has a Happy New Year!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-seven!**_


	39. Chapter Thirty Eight

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Eight:**_

* * *

TWO WEEKS AGO…

Lex Luthor breathed in deeply, the fresh air consuming all his senses, as he walked further and further away from the hell that had been his life for the past three years, and relished in the thought of being free after all of this time.

It was something he had thought about—dreamed about—wished about, and now it was a reality.

It had been completely and utterly miserable, but in the end, all that time locked away inside a cell had given him a lot of time to contemplate everything that had happened, and everything that he still needed—planned on accomplishing.

A little over seven years ago, he and Murphy had went forward with their plan, after months and months of planning, to get what each of them wanted, but of course, Miss Lane had been ten steps ahead of them, and it wasn't until four years later that they were able to successfully do anything.

It all should have worked out.

He should have gotten what he wanted from that mutant child of hers.

Murphy should have gotten what he wanted from Miss Lane.

It all should have worked out in the end.

Lois Lane hadn't only managed to escape from them for that long, but she had also met a few friends along the way, including that teleporting meteor freak. Their plan had seemed so concrete—so substantial, but somehow, every single one of them had managed to not just ship away Murphy to an unknown location once again, but they also managed to lock him up for crimes that he had been sure were hidden deep inside his past.

He glanced back at the extremely tall, wide, and horrendously grey-colored building that had kept him prisoner for the past three years, and glared, heatedly at it.

Never.

Never again.

He would get what he wanted, but this time he wouldn't fail.

No.

This time he would be enacting his revenge on Miss Lane, her mutant child, and all her little superhero friends, even it was the very last thing he ever did.

Not even one minute later, he noticed a black SUV pulling up directly in front of him, and walked towards it, knowing full-well that, that could only be one person.

As soon as he closed the door, he was greeted by his most recent right-hand man, and grinned, widely over at him. "Wilkinson, I don't think I've ever been this glad to see your face before."

He smiled, slightly at him. "Well, it has been three years, sir."

"Don't remind me." He sighed, heavily, at the thought of what he had went through since arriving at this hell hole, but quickly pushed those thoughts away, wanting to focus on something else—something he hasn't stopping thinking about. "I want to know what's been going on. What have my targets been doing? Has Clark returned yet?"

A nervous expression spread out across his face before he pressed a button, which closed the black panel door separating the front and back seats, giving them the privacy they needed for this conversation. "I've been watching out for the return of Mr. Kent, sir, but nothing. It's like he's disappeared off the face of Earth."

"I doubt that. He'll show up sooner or later. What about Lois Lane and her child?"

"They live in Smallville, sir, but she personally commutes to Metropolis for her job at The Daily Planet."

He smirked. "I'm not surprised by that. She always was one for the big cities, and I had a feeling that she would take up that particular field of profession, but that begs the question…where does the child go when she's not around?"

"School, sir, he currently attends Smallville Elementary."

"Good. I want to see him."

A befuddled expression crossed his features, momentarily before he frowned at his boss. "Sir, you can't do that."

"I know that, Steve, but you can."

He nodded, accordingly, but then a thought occurred to him. "Does this mean were going forward with the plan?"

He shook his head from side to side. "No. Not yet. We need to start from scratch. We miscalculated Miss Lane, and what she was really capable of. I won't be making that mistake again." He glanced at him, curiously. "What about Murphy? Where did her and her band of super friends ship him off to?"

"I don't know, sir, but I've ordered my men to keep searching for him."

"Good. We can't do anything concrete until he is back. This has just about as much to do with him as it does with me, even though we can't act right this second, it doesn't mean that we can't begin the planning stages to our revenge."

As the car sped down the highway, back towards his home—back towards where everything happened, he knew without a doubt that it wouldn't be too long before she realized that he had been released from prison, and that was exactly what he wanted.

Even if he wanted to act on his revenge now, when she wasn't aware, he couldn't, but he would patiently wait for the day that he could take every single one of their lives away, just like he had done to that meteor freak, Alicia Baker, and this time he wouldn't get caught.

This time he would succeed.

* * *

NOW…

"Mommy! Mommy!"

Lois stood on the porch of the Kent Farmhouse, leaning against the railing with a warm cup of coffee in her hands, and grinned from ear to ear, as the little blur of pure energy ran around the dirt driveway, laughing his little head off, like nothing could be greater than what he was doing at this very second.

It was something that made her life just a tad bit brighter, and that bundle of energy and excitement did that to her every single day.

Every single time he would smile—every single time he laughed, hell, every single time he simply looked at her it made her day feel more complete, and her heart would always fill with complete and utter happiness at the mere sight and sound of it.

He stopped dead in his tracks, when she didn't respond to him, and glanced over at her, noticing that she was just smiling at him, like she did almost every single day. "Are you watching me, mommy?"

She chuckled, slightly at him. "Yes, honey, I'm watching you."

He was filled with so much energy—so much spirit, a lot like his parents. He didn't know it, but he had his father' superhuman ability to be energetic and happy in any situation, and he had her unwavering ability to be strong and free-willed, no matter what was happening in his little world.

It was the only thing that had kept her going all of these years.

He was the one and only reason that had kept her going all of these years.

He put a bright light into her once darkened world.

He was the reason she smiled every single day.

He was the only reason she hadn't completely broken down after all of these years.

Eight years.

It had been eight, excruciatingly painful and long, years.

Before he had been born—before she had even known that she was pregnant with him, she had been overwhelmingly happy with the man she loved with all of her heart, but that happiness had evaporated when he had said goodbye to her—when Clark Kent, the love of her life—her soulmate had left her.

It wasn't his fault that he wasn't here, of course, she knew that this was something that he needed to do to become the man that she knew he could be, but she absolutely hated the fact the he wasn't here with her or with their son.

In the first few months, she had believed that he would return to her—to his family—to his friends sooner rather than later, but when a few months turned into one whole year that hope had vanished, and after more and more years passed she began to wonder if he would be coming home at all.

Even though all these doubts filled her head consistently, almost every single day, the eight-year-old bundle of energy and passion, with mesmerizing blue eyes and dark raven black hair reminded her that she had to have hope—hope that he would return to them.

Not just for her peace of mind, but for their son, Kaleb Joseph Lane-Kent, who wanted and needed his father more than anything, even if his father still had absolutely no idea that he even existed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt tugging on her shirt. She glanced down to see her beautiful son, who looked exactly like his father, staring up at her with a goofy grin that she was all too familiar with, it was a lot like the way Clark would look at her when he was teasing her, hell, everything about him reminded her of him, which she was completely thankful for.

"Mommy! Did you watch me run super, super fast?"

She ruffled his hair, which only made her glare at her and squirm underneath her touch. "Yes, honey, I did. You're getting faster and faster every single day. Pretty soon you'll be able to outrun me."

He stood, confidently, and smirked, widely at her, a trait her developed from her no less. "I can already do that."

"Yes. Yes, you can. Please don't remind me."

When he had been born, she had known that it could be possible that he would have abilities like his father since she had a few of them while being pregnant with him, but she had never expected it to happen so soon.

It had happened a little over two years ago, on his sixth birthday, and it had been the most terrified she has ever been in her entire life.

He had been running around, chasing Shelby, a golden retriever they had bought specifically for his unstoppable energy, when all of a sudden, he just disappeared in the blink of an eye, scaring the living crap out of everyone that cared about and loved him, especially her.

She had always been a strong-willed and confident person, even with everything that she had went through with Lex and Murphy, but when her son had just vanished like that she had started freaking out, more than she freaked out when she thought she was going to kill Clark the first day that they had met, and it had taken both Martha and Jonathon informing her that Clark had gone through the same exact thing at his age to calm her down.

Three hours later, while the entire family and even some of the members of The Justice League were out searching all of Kansas for him, she had received a phone call from the Phoenix, Arizona police department informing her that they had found him wandering the streets, crying, and that he was in a hysterical state, crying out her name over and over again.

It had shattered her heart into a million pieces.

Within ten minutes, her and Kara, someone who had come into her life a little over four years ago, arrived at the Police department, where Kaleb had screamed out to her, crying, and rushed into her arms.

She had been incredibly happy that he hadn't been harmed in any way and that he was safe and sound, but that happiness had turned to sorrow when he asked the one question she never, ever wanted to come out of her sweet boy' mouth. He had whispered with tears streaming down his cheeks if he was a freak, and that broke her heart more than anything ever has.

It was something that she hoped she would never have to explain to him, especially since she had expected Clark to be with her when she did, but there was no way in hell she was going to allow her child, the light of her life, believe that he was a freak.

After giving the officers a believable explanation, Kara had taken them both home, where they all sat down and explained everything to him.

Her thoughts about that horrendous day were interrupted by the serious tone that was laced in her son' voice. "What abilities does daddy have?"

She smiled down at him, and crouched down to his level. "Well, he has super strength, superspeed, and super hearing, just like you do. He also has x-ray vision, and heat vision. I'm positive that when he comes back home he'll have even more than that. Maybe he'll even know how to fly."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he grinned, widely. "You really think so?"

"Yes."

A quizzical expression crossed over his face, as he stared at her. "Do you think I'll have all of those abilities? Do you think I'll have all the abilities my daddy has?"

She slowly sat down on the porch steps, and pulled him into her lap. "I don't know, baby. We've talked about this before, Kal, you have to remember that your daddy is full Kryptonian—"

"Like auntie Kar?" He interrupted her.

"Yes, just like your aunt Kara, but you, you're only half Kryptonian so, I don't know what abilities you're going to have. It doesn't matter if you can run super-fast or if you can hear things from miles away because you'll always be my sweet little boy, and I know for a fact that your daddy would think the same thing."

He tilted his head to one side, staring at her intensely, another trait he inherited from her. He could read her almost better than anyone else. "You miss him, don't you?"

She nodded, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall. "Yes. I miss him very much."

"Do you still love daddy?"

This child was way too insightful for his age, she thought to herself.

"Yes. I love your daddy almost as much as I love you."

A wide grin spread out across his features. "But you love me more, right?"

She poked his little nose, which looked exactly like hers, and made him giggle, loudly. "Yes. I love you more than anything and anyone in this entire universe."

He quickly hugged her, tightly. "I love you, mommy."

She hugged him back just as tightly before pulling away from him. "Alright mister, it's getting late. Go get ready for school."

He pouted, slightly. "Do I have to?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, you have to go to school."

He pouted even more so, but relented when he realized that she wasn't going to budge on the matter, and quickly darted into the house.

She chuckled, softly at his behavior, and stood up from her position on the porch steps, but practically jumped out of her skin when she heard a familiar voice filtering from directly above her.

"You're getting better and better at that every single day."

She glanced up, noticing Kara floating in mid-air a few feet in front of her before she landed, softly on the ground. "Well, I have had eight years of experience."

Kara shook her head from side to side, and took a step towards her. "I'm not talking about being his mother. I'm talking about making him understand his abilities."

"Oh that. Well, I've had some experience in that department as well, besides it's not just me. I have you and the Kent' to help me with that."

"True, but he doesn't listen to us like he listens to you. You know, he's brought up the subject of his abilities to me a few times before, but I can't seem to get through to him, but you, he listens to you, actually, he hangs onto every single word you say."

"It's like I said, I've had eight years to prepare for those conversations, but…"

She stepped closer to her, frowning, slightly. "But what?"

"But, I think that all of this would be a hell of a lot easier if Clark was here to help him through all of this."

"Yeah. Your right, but I think—we all think that you're doing a great job with him. It's not easy raising a Kryptonian child, especially for humans, but I think you better at it then most Kryptonians are."

"Thanks, Kara." She stared at her, inquisitively for a few seconds. "How long did your training last?"

She smiled, slightly at her. "Not very long, but time was different on Krypton, and well, even on our planet girls were faster learners then boys. I'm sure he'll be home soon."

"I want him to come home, but I'm also worried that he's going to think I purposefully didn't tell him about Kaleb, which isn't the truth, but sometimes he jumps to conclusions without thinking. I just hope that doesn't happen when he does return."

"It won't. I promise. As soon as he sees that little bundle of joy, his heart is going to melt for him, and he won't even question that. He'll just be happy that he has a son."

"I hope you're right."

She was about to squelch her fears even further, when she heard beeping in her ear from the transmitter that was there. It was used for when members of the League needed to contact each other, and also for when they were faced with difficult missions.

Lois noticed the look that was plastered across her face, as she listened to whatever was being said, and knew that she had to leave. "Justice League duty?"

"Yeah. The work never ends for a superhero."

"Don't I know it. If you need any help with anything just call me or Chloe, and if you can't reach us than call the p—"

"Pink Princess. Will do, but I doubt that this is anything major or Bruce probably would have ordered me to get there as soon as possible."

She scrunched up her nose. "Yeah. You're probably right. He kind of is a hard nose, isn't he?"

She nodded. "I'll be back for dinner later. Don't work too hard." She winked at her before shooting off into the sky.

For several minutes, she just stared out across the vast cornfields before slowly making her way inside the house, where she found Kaleb sitting on Jonathon' lap, chattering away, like he hadn't spent the entire night with them.

"Kaleb Kent! Is there a reason you're not dressed yet?"

He immediately stopped talking, and glanced over at her with a guilty expression plastered across his face, and stammered, "um, I, um, I was just talking to grandpa for a few minutes before I got ready, and grandma was making my lunch in the kitchen, so, I was patiently waiting."

She grinned at him, and softly shook her head from side to side, at his childish excuses. "Chop, chop, young man! We don't have all morning."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am." He muttered with a smirk gracing his lips, as he jumped off Jonathon's lap, and super sped up the stairs.

She narrowed her eyes at him before he disappeared from her sights, and sighed, heavily, as she leaned against the wall. "I swear that child does things like that on purpose."

Jonathon chuckled, as he stood up from his seat, and stepped towards her. "He does, but you have to remember that you were raised on a military base, so he definitely learned that from you."

"And, he enjoys riling you up just as much as you enjoy riling him up." Martha' voice echoed from the kitchen before she appeared in the doorway. "Was that Kara I saw outside with you?"

"Yeah. She got called away on Justice League business, but she said she'll stop by later."

"And Oliver? Will my favorite billionaire be stopping by?" She frowned, slightly. "Don't tell Bruce I said that."

She chuckled at her. "Oliver will definitely be here, especially since my cousin will be here, and we all know he doesn't stray too far away from her these days."

They all chuckled, at the truth behind her words for a few seconds before they were interrupted by a gust of wind filling the room.

Kaleb grinned at them all, as he caught all of their attention, and swirled around in a circle. "Okay. I'm ready."

Lois shook her head from side to side, as she walked over to him, and spread her fingers throughout his ruffled hair. "Now, you're ready."

He grinned, sheepishly at her before rushing into his grandparent's arms, giving them tight hugs and smoldering kisses on their cheeks.

"Have a good day at school, buddy, and don't get into any trouble like a few weeks ago."

"We love you, and we'll see you later tonight."

He nodded at them before dashing out of the house.

Lois quickly grabbed her belongings, attempting to keep up with her son. At first, he was straggling to get ready, and now he was rushing her to leave the house.

Men, she thought, they were all the same, no matter how old they were.

"I'll see you guys later."

After dropping Kaleb off at Smallville Elementary, she headed towards Metropolis, more accurately towards The Daily Planet, where she has been working for the past two years, as a seasoned crime reporter and journalist.

It was quite difficult driving back and forth between Metropolis and Smallville every single day and night, but she had grown accustom to it, especially since this had been her way of life for the past two years, besides her son was more secure—safer in this small-town than in the city.

It wasn't just for his safety.

It was for her peace of mind.

In the city, it was way too dangerous for her precious boy, who remembered everything that had happened to them three years ago, but for some reason he never, ever talked about it, which she was thankful for, and she had a feeling that he probably didn't want to upset her since that was a troubling time for her and for him.

She quickly shook her thoughts away, as memories came rushing back to her, and she pushed them down into the deepest part of her mind, not wanting to think about that, even if it was constantly on her mind every single minute of every single day.

Everything was fine.

Kaleb was safe and sound.

Lex was in prison.

Murphy was gone.

They weren't able to hurt the people she cared about anymore.

They were never coming back.

Even though she repeated this over and over again in her mind, she couldn't help feeling slightly fearful, not because of everything that had happened, but because it was very likely that the life she had spent the past two years attempting to rebuild could come crashing down around her.

She immediately cursed herself for thinking that way.

Everything was alright.

Nothing was going to happen.

Kara and the rest of The Justice League would inform her if something had changed with either of their dwelling statuses.

With that thought in mind, she pushed down her fears and thoughts, ignoring the foreboding feeling that was brewing deep inside of her gut, and continued driving down the highway.

* * *

Thousands and thousands of miles away from the small-town of Kansas, there was a crystal ice palace surrounded by many white glaciers and ground packed snow in the center of the Yukon, and in the far distance a blur of red and blue streaked the blue skies towards the crystalized fortress.

Clark slowly walked towards the console, as soon as he landed inside the Fortress of Solitude, and expertly moved the several crystals into their correct positions before taking a few steps backwards. "It's done, father."

"Very well. Step onto the platform, Kal-El."

As soon as he stepped forward, a bright, white light surrounded him, and Kryptonian symbol surrounded him, as the knowledge of his training and his travels transferred into the mainframe of the fortress.

"Kal-El, my son, you have successfully completed your training. Use this knowledge well and wisely. You will need this information for the coming days and when the time comes for you to reveal yourself to the humans. You must adhere everything you have learned to effectively and proficiently become Earth's savior."

He smiled, inwardly, at his father' words, knowing that he couldn't show his excitement outwardly, and could feel emotion after emotion consume his mind, heart, body and soul. "I'm done? I can go home?"

"You can return to your Earth family, my son."

As he was about to turn around and leave, something occurred to him. "Jor-El?"

"Yes?"

"How long have I been gone?"

It was silent for a few seconds. "It's been two thousand, nine hundred and twenty consecutive solar Earth days, Kal-El."

He stared, blankly, and unblinking at the ground for a few seconds before muttering, "eight years…"

It had been eight years since he left home—since he left Smallville—since he left his parents—since he left his friends—since he left her.

Lois.

The mere thought of what that time had done to her put a million and one thoughts into his mind, and he could feel his heart racing inside his chest, as question after question rummaged through his mind.

What was her life like now? Was she in college? Did she graduate? Was she working at The Daily Planet, like she always used to talk about doing? Did she still live in Smallville? Or had she moved to Metropolis? Has she moved on from him? From their love? Did she still love him as much as he still loved her?

He quickly shook his thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on those particular questions right now. It would all become clearer once he went home, like he's wanted to do since the moment he left his family.

A look of determination took over his features, and he whispered, "thank you, father," before shooting off into the sky, intending on getting home as soon as possible to see the people he had missed more than anything.

* * *

Kara quickly made her way into Watchtower, as soon as the elevator doors opened, where every single one of The Justice League members, except for Chloe, Lois, and J'onn J'onzz, were standing around the main commuting table, and noticed almost immediately that they all seemed to be worried, as they glanced in her direction once she entered the room.

Something was definitely wrong, she thought to herself.

She slowly walked towards them. "What's going on?"

Nothing, but absolute silence.

"Bruce? You told me that this wasn't an emergency, so why the hell does everyone seem to be acting like this is an emergency?"

"It's not an emergency exactly, but it is a problem that we need to deal with immediately before it gets out of hand."

She frowned, immensely, at his words before glancing at every single one of them. "Is someone going to enlighten me on what the hell is happening?"

Bart was the first one to speak, as it seemed all the others were too lost in their own thoughts to say anything. "We have some bad news."

Obviously, she thought, of course he would be the one to state the freaking obvious.

"What kind of bad news? Are we dealing with another invasion? More meteor infected issues? Or something worse? I need answers here!"

Oliver sighed, quite heavily. "Something worse."

She scoffed at that idea. "What could be possibly worse than General Zod and his disciples?"

Arthur slowly stepped closer to her, and muttered the one thing she never, ever thought she would hear again. "Lex Luthor."

"What about him?"

Bruce closed the distance between them, complete and utter determination set in his face and laced in his voice. "He's been released from prison."

All the color drained from her face, and for a few staggering seconds she actually believed that they were pulling some sick joke on her, but soon realized that from the expressions that were plastered across their faces that they were telling the truth.

He was back.

After everything they had accomplished three years ago, they still weren't able to keep that despicable man behind bars, and now he has returned from his hellhole, most likely intending to pick up where he had originally left off.

"What? When did he get released?"

"Two weeks ago."

She glared over at Bruce. "Why didn't we know about this sooner?"

Dinah quickly made her way to the computers surrounding them, and pressed a few buttons, pulling up the information they had received before turning back towards her. "We didn't know about this sooner because as soon as his lawyer made the deal with the DA everything was done under the radar. Not even the prison knew it was happening until that day."

"We think that he's been keeping a low profile since then, and it was only because of J'onn J'onzz that we even figured this much out. He spotted him, while on patrol early this morning, and he's doing recon right now, making sure that he isn't planning on confronting Lois or Kaleb."

She groaned, loudly, at Victor' words, knowing full-well that, that was their best option for this particular situation. They couldn't risk anything more tactile, or else it could affect the two people she had spent one entire year attempting to protect.

"Kara? What should we do?"

"Nothing." They all stared at her confusingly, which only made her sigh in complete and utter defeat. "We can't do anything until we know if his plans are just as sinister as they were three years ago, but also because Chloe and Lois have a right to decide what happens from this point forward."

Oliver nodded, completely agreeing with her. "I'll tell them."

She shook her head from side to side. "No, we will all tell them together; besides I can get back to Smallville faster, and this needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible." She looked directly at Bruce and Viktor. "I need you two to gather as much information about this situation by the time I get back." She glanced at everybody else. "The rest of you need to do your patrols as scheduled. We still need to protect these streets, even with the revelation of Lex being out of prison."

They all nodded at her before she quickly left Watchtower, shooting off into the sky, as soon as she was outside the main doors, intending on finding the woman who meant more to her than she would have ever imagined—the woman who felt more like a sister than her cousin' lover, and from there she would decide what she wanted to do about this situation.

* * *

 _ **HAPPY NEW YEAR!**_

 _ **This is a much shorter chapter, but that's mainly because it's an opening to what will happen in future chapters. Some of you might not like the fact that I did another time jump, but it was the only way to speed up time, besides it would have dragged this story out even longer than it already is. I knew that I wanted to introduce The Justice League in this chapter since they are a big part of future chapters, and will basically be in almost every chapter from this point forward. I also wanted Kaleb to be a little older when things started getting intense because he plays a big part in all of this.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-eight!**_


	40. Chapter Thirty Nine

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty-Nine:**_

A few hours later, Lois slowly walked towards her and Chloe' private office, which was located on the eighth floor of The Daily Planet, and as soon as she entered the room she plopped down into her chair, feeling frustrated, as thoughts of the morning rummaged through her mind over and over again.

As soon as she had walked into her office, after having an in-depth conversation to her favorite editor and friend, Perry White, she had received a phone call from one of her most reliable sources, Eddy, who claimed to have some vital information on Jack Moreno, the king of suicide slums, and the concentration of her current drug running story.

He had seemed worried, even terrified over the phone, which only concerned her even more than she already was, and within twenty minutes she was downtown, where they usually met for conversations such as these ones, but as she made her way towards his apartment, this feeling of dread consumed her, the same exact one she has felt many times in her lifetime, and without a doubt she knew that something was terribly wrong.

That assumption was correct, she thought to herself, as she walked closer to his apartment, realizing that the front door was slightly ajar, which was very, very peculiar, especially for a man of his stature.

All thoughts of her impending timeline for her story came to an abrupt halt, and was filled with feelings of sorrow and regret, as she saw the man she had come to appreciate over the past two years lying on the floor, unmoving.

It was quite obvious that he wasn't breathing, and it seemed that it could have been an accident, especially with the way his body was sprawled out across the floor, but she knew better than that.

She knew without a doubt that Jack Moreno and his goons had everything to do with this, and she was determined to get to the bottom of this, especially since her story had just turned from drug running to murder and conspiracy.

The following three hours had been complete and utter torture for her, as she was questioned over and over again by the local police department about her connection to him, what her reasons were for being in suicide slums, and what she had heard and seen before entering the crime scene.

What part of she was a damn journalist did they not freaking understand?

After several more taunting and unnecessary questions she officially snapped at them, informing them for the last time that she was doing her damn job, just like they should be doing, and that they should be searching for his damn murderer instead of asking her the same damn questions over and over again.

That seemed to work, since they had decided to let her leave, but had demanded that she answer any further questions if they were to have any.

It had definitely been the morning that had went straight to hell. Not only did she not get any information about her story, but her closest source had been murdered, and it was quite obvious that it had happened not too long after their conversation, which only raised several more questions.

What could he have known that could have gotten him killed? Who exactly had gotten to him? Jack Moreno himself? Or did he use his goons to complete the job?

She was beginning to get the feeling that this particular case of drug running wasn't the only thing that Jack Moreno was up to these days, especially since he had now added murder to his never-ending rap sheet, one she fully planned on uncovering and revealing to the citizens of Metropolis.

A soft knocking on her door pulled her from her thoughts, and a huge smile graced her lips, as she watched none other than Jimmy Olsen walk into her office, with that camera hanging loosely around his neck, and a goofy grin spread out across his features.

Over the past three years, she has been working side by side with both Jimmy, and her cousin just like they had wished—dreamed—promised each other all those years ago, and what a crazy three years it had been.

When she returned to Kansas, a little over three years ago, she had realized that quite a lot had changed in the lives of everybody she cared about and loved, including the inevitable break up between her two co-workers.

It had saddened her, at first, especially since she remembered how much they loved and cared for each other, but she soon realized that not every relationship was meant to last—that not every love was a forever love, and it all worked out in the end since there was no sadness or regret between them, and they were now with the people they were supposed to be with.

She smiled up at him. "Well, someone is running extremely late today."

He rolled his eyes, and scoffed, loudly at her. "For your information, Miss Lane, I was here earlier this morning, but by the time I made it to the office you were already gone. I can't believe you left your favorite photographer behind."

A soft chuckled escaped past her lips, as he pouted at her. "Aw! Don't be like that Jimmy. It's not my fault that you couldn't bother to show up on time. You know better than anyone that stories and leads wait for no one. It must have been that girlfriend, soon to be fiancé of yours that made you forget that important rule."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'll have you know that I wasn't with her."

"Then why were you late?"

"I was getting us both breakfast and coffees, you know, since your partner is currently on maternal leave at the moment, and me being me thought that my lovely co-worker and friend would wait for me, but no, as soon as you got a lead from a source you leave me behind."

She shook her head from side to side, at his pathetic attempt at an excuse, and chuckled, lightly before growing extremely serious with him. "This is one lead you should be glad that you didn't witness, Jimmy."

He nodded, solemnly, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Yeah. That's kind of why I'm here. Perry wants to see you in his office."

A heavy sigh escaped her. "Of course, he does. When doesn't that man not want to speak to me about something."

"I'm pretty sure it's about the story and what happened this morning."

She slowly stood up, preparing herself for the battle ahead. "If he thinks that he can take me off this story, just because of what happened earlier then we are definitely going to have some problems."

He watched her stomp off towards his office, and was feeling quite thankful that he wasn't going to be anywhere near that office with the two of them. It was true that they were pretty close, well, as close as an editor and a reporter can be, but when they disagreed about something, it was like an explosion going off, and that was something he has personally witnessed more than a few times—something that he never, ever wanted to be a part of again.

Lois quickly rushed into Perry' office, feeling emotion after emotion course throughout her body, as her thoughts consumed her mind, blocking out her better judgement. "Perry! I'm fully aware that this story about Jack Moreno has taken a horrible turn south, but I swear to god if you even think about taking me off this story then I will not hesitate to find a new job."

A large smile graced his lips, as his favorite reporter barged into his office, and started pacing back and forth in front of his desk. "You're on contract, Lois, you can't leave, besides you'd never leave The Daily Planet…we're your family."

She immediately stopped pacing, and stared at him with a befuddled expression plastered across her face. "You mean, a family, that is attempting to rip this story right from underneath me."

"What makes you think that I want to take this story from you?"

"Well, I don't know, but—"

"Exactly." He quickly interrupted her mid-sentence. "Instead of politely asking me, you jumped to conclusions just like you always do. I'm not planning on taking the story from you, Lois, actually, I want you to find out everything you can about Jack and his upbringings, but that's not why I wanted to speak with you."

She frowned, slightly. "Then what do you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Eddy. I know that he wasn't just your source, he was your friend, and I just want to make sure that you're doing alright with everything that happened this morning."

"It's not the first dead body I've seen, Perry. You're right though, he wasn't just my source, he was my friend, and he would want me to take down Jack Moreno for good instead of sulking about his death."

He raised a skeptical brow a her. "That might be true, but what you're doing right now isn't fooling anyone, especially me, the only reason you want to continue working on this particular story is to get justice for him, and to stop yourself from thinking about what happened."

She sighed, heavily before slowly sitting down on the couch, which he had moved in here for situations such as this one. "I hate that you know me so well."

He quickly stood up, and sat down next to her. "It's alright if you want some time off to mourn for him. It wouldn't hurt any, you know."

"No." She shook her head, vehemently. "I don't want that. I don't need that. What I want—what I need to do is bring down Jack Moreno for this, and for everything that he has been doing for months now. I won't allow him to get away with this."

"You haven't changed any, Lois. You want justice for him just like you wanted justice for Alicia."

After everything that had happened with Lex and Murphy, both her and Chloe had shared the byline on that particular story, which was what had gotten her foot in the door at The Daily Planet, but it also brought her into a family that was completely different from the one she had with Martha and Jonathon.

It wasn't just Chloe and Jimmy.

It was Perry, the man who wasn't only her editor, but her confidant, and someone who had treated her more like a close family member rather than just another employee.

Eventually, she had been completely honest with him about everything, and ever since that day they have only grown closer and closer. Quite honestly, she couldn't imagine having a boss like him, but realistically, he was more than that…he was her friend.

She smiled, softly at him. "I did it then, and I'm going to do it again. He won't get away with this, just like Lex couldn't get away with what he did to Alicia."

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine once Jack Moreno is behind bars where he belongs."

He grinned, at her enthusiasm. "Well, you better get to it, Mad Dog Lane, stories don't write themselves, you know."

She started walking out of his office, but stopped before she even got to the door, and turned back around, smiling at him. "Thank you, Perry."

"No problem, Lois."

One hour later, she was sitting in her office, neck deep in piles and piles of paperwork, as she glanced over all of her notes for the umpteenth time, and was beginning to get a major headache, especially since she was getting absolutely nowhere.

It was frustrating as all hell.

A few minutes later, her cell phone rang, loudly, interrupting her concentration, and she quickly answered it when she realized that it was her cousin. "This better be important, cuz. I'm a little busy at the moment."

"You mean, you're busy getting nowhere with that Jack Moreno story."

"How do you even know about that?"

"Jimmy informed me."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Just because I'm currently out of a job at the moment doesn't meant that I don't get all the juicy details. We wouldn't be a team otherwise."

"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Is there a specific reason your calling me or did you just want to annoy me?"

"Well, since you asked so politely, I just so happen to be in Metropolis at our favorite bistro, and I was just wondering if my favorite cousin would care to join me."

She hesitated, slightly. "I don't know, cuz. I really need to continue working on this story."

"Lo, you really need a break, especially with what happened earlier, and if push comes to shove I will not hesitate to call in the cavalry."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh. I would. I wonder what they would have to say about their lovely daughter starving herself over a story."

She sighed, heavily, knowing that she would most definitely do it, and she really didn't want the lecture from them. "I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"Whatever. I'll be there in a few minutes. Did you invite the pink princess as well?"

"Of course, I did. That woman would murder both of us herself if we had lunch without her, especially at this particular restaurant."

She laughed, loudly. "She could try, but I don't think she would be very successful."

"Let's not tempt fate."

After hanging up with her cousin, she quickly made her way down the streets of Metropolis, and couldn't help thinking about her changing relationship with Lana Lang, or as she enjoyed calling her, the pink princess.

It had taken them a hell of a long time to get where they were now in their friendship. When they had first met, all of those years ago, neither of them liked each other very much, that was well known, but everything had changed when she started dating her best friend, Pete Ross.

They had been forced to spend time together, but that wasn't what changed their relationship. It was when she literally put her life in danger just to protect her and Kaleb from the dangers of Lex and Murphy. She had been there through all of it, just like her close family and friends were, and she would never, ever be able to thank her for everything she had done during those terrible times.

She quickly pushed down her thoughts, as she continued walking down the sidewalk, and blocked out any negative thoughts.

She wasn't going to think about her current predicament.

She wasn't going to think about the past that kept coming back to haunt her.

Instead, she was going to enjoy spending time with her two closest friends.

* * *

Clark slowly drifted down to the ground, directly in front of the barn, which looked slightly different than he remembered, and glanced around his surroundings, realizing almost immediately that there were some major changes.

The very first things he noticed that were different was both the farmhouse and barn.

They both seemed to be slightly larger, and they looked brand new, like his parents has refurbished both of them pretty recently. The barn wasn't as musty and worn down as it used to be, and the house pretty much looked exactly the same, except for the fact that it was slightly larger and newly painted.

It was like standing on brand-new property and land.

The last thing he noticed that was significantly different was something that he never, ever expected to find at his parent' house—at his childhood home for that matter.

Toys.

There were several children' toys scattered across the yard, next to the barn, and against the siding of the house.

It was weird, he thought to himself, as he stared at the items, but quickly rationalized that it had been eight years, and it was quite possible that his mother had managed to get pregnant or it was also possible that these items belonged to children that his friends might have. Either way, he knew that his parents would have a rational explanation for it.

As he continued glancing around his surroundings, he heard a loud gasp coming from behind him, and heard his mother' sweet voice scream out, "CLARK!"

He quickly turned towards the house, grinning from ear to ear, as he watched her run full-force towards him. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, as soon as she was close enough, and lifted her off the ground, feeling his heart fill with complete and utter love at the mere sight of his mother.

It had been eight years since he had any real human contact, and right at this moment, it felt amazing to have his mother' arms wrapped around him again.

Martha slowly pulled away from her son, feeling emotion after emotion consume every fiber of her being, as she glanced over him, and noticed that he had definitely changed in the past eight years. He was taller and more muscular than she remembered. It was quite obvious that he had been through a lot in those years, just as they all had been, but for some reason she had a feeling that everything he had experienced and learned in all that time away had changed him for the better.

Tears filled her eyes, as she placed both of her trembling hands on the sides of his face, and smiled up at him. "I've missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, mom."

"We all knew that this was something that you needed to do—something that you wanted to do, but I don't think any of us could have known that you were going to be gone this long."

He nodded, solemnly, and sighed, heavily, at his mother' words. "I never expected to be gone this long."

"None of us did, sweetheart, but none of that matters now. Your home, and that's all that matters."

"I'm home."

She dropped her hands from his face. "And now that your home I want to hear everything that you've been through. What have you been doing for eight years?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but—"

"Clark?"

At the sound of his father' voice, he stopped speaking, and slowly turned around, a huge smile gracing his lips before he rushed towards him, enveloping him in a hug.

Jonathon wrapped his arms around his son, his heart beating frantically inside his chest at the sight of his son, and in that moment he never, ever wanted to let him out of his sight again, but knew that wasn't a possibility. "I can't believe it. Your actually home."

"I'm home, dad."

He slowly pulled away from him, his eyes taking in all the obvious changes about his son before he smiled, widely up at him. "You have no idea how much we've all missed you!"

"I think I do." He frowned, slightly. "I never thought that I would be gone this long, but there wasn't a single second that passed when I wasn't thinking of you and everyone else I left behind."

"You didn't leave us behind, Clark. You needed to do this. You wanted to do this. There's nothing wrong with that."

He nodded. "I know that, but still, I feel like I should have been here for you, for mom, for my friends, but most of all for Lois. You didn't see her when I left her at the caves. She was heartbroken."

"We know, son."

"You do?"

He nodded, memories of that day coming back to him. "She came here straight afterwards, actually, she ended up living with us for quite some time after that."

That was good to know, he thought to himself. At least she had his parents to depend on, while he was away, but that still didn't take away the pain of leaving her in the first place. "How is she?"

Martha glanced at her husband, who seemed stumped at how to answer that particular question, which was completely understandable, especially with everything that has happened, and quickly intervened, not wanting to reveal things that they shouldn't be revealing. "We'll get to that, Clark, but right now, we want to know what you have been up to for the past eight years."

"It's a long story."

Martha smiled at her son. "Well, it's a good thing that we have plenty of time to listen to everything you've been though. Come on, I'll make us all coffees."

As soon as they were all sitting at the dining room table, with freshly brewed coffees in their hands, he told them everything from the moment he was transported from the caves to his Fortress of Solitude to the moment he found out he was finished with his training.

Over the past eight years, he had learnt everything that would seem unimaginable to anyone who didn't know what else was out there, starting with his home world, Krypton, the twenty-eight other galaxies, what his destiny was, and how he was supposed to become the savior that he was destined to become.

In the past couple of months, instead of being trapped inside his fortress all day and all night long, he started traveling the world, mainly remote places, saving as many people as he possibly could, and even wrote a few articles under a pseudonym, when he had some free time, which wasn't that often.

Martha and Jonathon shared a knowing glance, at everything their son had revealed, especially the last portion. "It looks like there's another journalist in this family."

"I think you're right, Martha."

Clark chuckled at them. "I don't know about that, but it would be the best occupation for me, especially once I reveal myself to the world." He frowned, slightly, as his mother' words rang in his mind. "Wait a second. Are you telling me that Lois, Chloe and Jimmy are all working at The Daily Planet? They are actually doing what they've always dreamed of doing?"

Jonathon nodded. "It took some time, and they all ran into some major bumps along the way, but every single one of them achieved what they wanted in life."

He smiled at that revelation, feeling happiness swirl inside of him before he glanced around the house, and frowned once he noticed that there were more children toys sprawled out everywhere, which only confused him more than it did when he noticed them outside. "So, what's been going on around here? Why is there so many toys laying around this place?"

They glanced at each other, quite nervously. It wasn't that they didn't think he deserved to know the truth about his son, because he did, but this wasn't something that they should be telling him, it should be Lois that told him everything.

And what a conversation that would be, they thought, simultaneously.

Martha noticed the frown plastered across his face, from their silence, and quickly spoke up before he grew even more curious than he already was. "A lot has changed over the years, Clark."

"Where do we even start?"

He immediately noticed their hesitation when he had asked that particular question, but didn't think too much about it, figuring that he would find out everything soon enough. "How about you just start at the beginning."

* * *

Kaleb was sitting on the ground, directly next to the square sandbox, and started tearing the grass from the ground by its roots before tossing it as far away from him as he could manage without using any of his abilities, just like he did every single day during recess.

It wasn't that he didn't have any friends, because he did, but quite honestly, he preferred spending his time alone or with his cousins, who were in the same grade as him, and today he just felt like being alone.

His mother had told him that it was normal for him to want to be alone, especially since his father had been the same way for most of his life, but that had nothing to do with what he was feeling at the moment.

He wasn't happy or thrilled.

It had been a pretty horrible day.

After arriving at homeroom, most of his classmates, except for his cousins and friends, had been their normal arrogant selves, teasing and tormenting him, but he managed to ignore their snide comments, which is something he endured every single day.

It was something that his entire family had told him was the best course of action.

At first, he didn't really understand why he couldn't stick up for himself, but soon realized that he wasn't in complete control of his abilities, and he didn't want to intentionally or accidentally hurt anyone.

His mommy had told him several times that when his daddy was little he used to want to stand up to the other children who picked on him and tormented him, but realized that it was much simpler to just ignore them. She wanted and hoped that he would do the same thing in those types of situations, which is exactly what he planned on doing.

A big part of himself has always wondered what his daddy was like growing up, what he was like when he met and fell in love with his mommy, and what he had went through all of his life, but all he had to go on was what his family told him, which was a bunch of stories that he didn't really understand.

It wasn't what he wanted.

He wanted to be with his daddy.

He wanted to meet his daddy.

He wanted his mommy to be happier than she was.

He wanted to have the perfect family, just like his aunts and uncles.

He just wanted things to be different than they were.

His impending and gloomy thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a tall, muscular man standing on the other side of the fence line, staring at him, and a small frown took over his features, as he realized that this wasn't the first time he had seen this particular man before.

Over the past two weeks, he had seen this same exact man staring at him at the same time every single day he was at school, and there was a part of himself that knew that he should who this man was since he looked so familiar, but he just couldn't place his face.

It was frustrating.

He watched as the man smiled, a crooked smile at him before waving, and walking away from him, completely out of his sight.

And just like that it hit him.

That particular smile had haunted him for a very long time.

He knew exactly who that man was.

It was one of the bad men.

A few years ago, there had been three bad men, who wanted to hurt his mommy and himself, and they were almost successful, but his mommy' friends had saved them both.

It was the bald one and the scrawny one that had wanted to hurt them, but the muscular one only seemed to be following orders, just like how he listened to everything his mommy told him to do. Now he was watching him, and had been for the past two weeks.

What did that mean? Was he going to hurt him or worse his mommy again? Was he following orders? Did that mean the bald man and scrawny man were back?

"Stop it! Leave us alone!"

Before he could even attempt to answer those questions himself, he heard Jacob, his cousin' voice echoing from behind him, and quickly turned around to find three older boys teasing, tormenting and pushing him and his sister, Jessica to the ground.

Now he wasn't happy. Not in the slightest.

These particular kids usually only teased him, which he was used to, but now they were messing with his family, and that wasn't alright. Not at all. He didn't care what his mommy or what his grandparents had told him about being careful when it came to bullies.

No one messes with his family.

He quickly stormed over to them, and stood directly in front of his cousin', protecting them as best as he could manage. "Leave them alone!"

The older boy, the one who was always teasing him, laughed, loudly, and sneered at him. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, Kent?"

"I'm warning you, Dawson! Leave them alone!"

He laughed, even harder than before, and glanced back at his two friends, who were also laughing. "Look who finally grew a back bone." He locked eyes with him. "What are you going to do, Kent? Fight me?"

He really, really wanted to knock some sense into this kid, but a part of him didn't want to, not only because of what his family had warned him about, but also because he didn't want to hurt him, even if he didn't like him very much.

"I'm not fighting you. Just leave us alone."

"Why should I? You're a loner. Your cousins are loners too."

He growled at him, his anger getting the better of him, but managed to calm himself down, and slowly turned towards Jacob and Jessica intending on pulling them away from this situation, but as soon as he turned his back on them was pushed to the ground.

As quick as he could possibly manage, without using his abilities, he stood back up, and turned towards them, with an angry scowl plastered across his face. "What's your problem?"

"You're my problem, Kent!" He pushed him, slightly, making him stumble backwards a few steps.

"Stop it!"

"What are you going to do about it?"

That was it, he thought to himself, before pushing him back, a little harder than he intended, but he didn't care. He was sick and tired of these kids picking on him, just because he was different from everyone else.

Dawson seemed startled for a few lingering seconds before he growled, angrily at him, and swung his fist directly at his face, intending to hit him, but was even more surprised when he caught his hand. Kaleb squeezed his hand, making the kid yelp in pain, and forcefully pushed him away from him, sending him flying five feet away from them, which shouldn't be possible for a normal child, but he wasn't normal.

He smirked at the other two boys, as they quickly rushed away from him towards their friend, who was now crying from pain and embarrassment.

Serves him right, he thought to himself before turning back around towards his cousins, and crouched to their level. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Kal."

"No problem. We're family and family always sticks together. That's what mommy always tells me. Just remember that it doesn't matter what anyone else says or thinks, okay?"

Jacob nodded, while Jessica frowned at him. "Are you going to get in trouble, Kal?"

Before he could answer that question, knowing the answer already, he heard a loud, booming male voice yell out, "Kaleb!"

He cringed outwardly and internally, as he immediately recognized that voice.

It was his teacher. The same exact one who was always giving him a hard time, and never hesitated to tell his mommy if he had misbehaved.

He slowly turned around, and as soon as he saw the expression that was plastered across the older man' face knew that he was in big trouble.

He knew without a doubt that his family, especially his mommy wasn't going to be very happy with him, and that upset him…immensely, especially since he hated it when she was mad at him.

This wasn't going to be good, he thought to himself, as he was dragged away from the playground.

* * *

Clark stared wide eyed, with his mouth slightly hanging open, at everything his parents had told him. For the past hour, they had been informing him of everything that had transpired over the past eight years, and a hell of a lot has happened over that time.

It was crazy.

It was insane.

It was unbelievable, but it all had happened.

His parents had definitely had a crazy life since he left.

His father had expanded the farm, just like he had assumed when he first arrived at home, but what he didn't notice right away was that he had gained a lot more acreage over the years, and was actually doing pretty well for himself.

His mother, on the other hand, was pretty much the same, except she had finally put some use to that business degree she achieved years ago, and was now co-manager of The Talon, which was now a restaurant, coffee shop, and movie theater.

Something that was ten times more surprising than that was the fact that his old friend and ex-girlfriend was also managing The Talon, alongside his mother. It was actually her idea to reopen the movie theater, but she wasn't just a business owner these days, she was also married to none other than Pete Ross, his best friend, and they also had two children together, twins, a boy and a girl, Jacob and Jessica Ross.

It was something that he couldn't really wrap his mind around.

When the hell did that happen? Have they always liked each other? Or did something happen that brought them together?

He didn't know, but he sure as hell wanted to find out how that had happened.

Pete was also a business owner these days. He owned and managed a bar/club called The Tavern in the central part of town, which was definitely something he never, ever thought he would see in Smallville, but it had happened, and supposedly every single one of his friends and even his parents visited this establishment at least once a week.

A lot of things were different, he thought to himself, but figured that, that was natural, especially since so much time had passed, and he had definitely missed a lot of monumental moments in his friends lives.

The most shocking news was that Chloe, his best friend, was now married to a man named Oliver Queen, who he remembered to be quite a playboy back in the day, but it was very possible that things had changed, and not only were they incredibly happy, but they were expecting their first child very, very soon.

It was all very interesting and surprising to learn all of these new things about his family and friends, but it wasn't what he wanted to be hearing right at this particular moment.

No.

He wanted to hear about her.

About Lois.

About the love of his life.

About the woman he had never, ever stopped loving, even though so much time has passed in-between them.

But, of course, his parents hadn't mentioned her even once, not unless he brought her up, and even then, they hesitated to answer him, which is something that scared the living shit out of him.

What if something happened? What if they didn't want to talk about her because she wasn't around anymore? What if she didn't love him anymore? Had she moved on from him—from them?

The questions rummaging through his mind weren't helping matters either, and he quickly pushed them away from the forefront of his mind. "What about Lois? You guys have told me everything about everyone else, but what about Lois? What is she doing these days? What has her life been like? Is she alright?"

Martha and Jonathon shared a worried glance, hesitating to answer his questions, which is something he noticed that they had been doing several times since the moment he returned home, and that freaked him out more than he already was. "What aren't you telling me?"

After a few moments of silence, his father spoke up, wanting him to stop worrying so much, but also not wanting to reveal things that weren't for him or Martha to reveal. "She is perfectly fine and healthy, son. She lives a few miles from here, and works in Metropolis at The Daily Planet, alongside Chloe and Jimmy."

He knew that already, of course, since that was one of the things he had managed to get out of them, and as happy as he was about finding out that she had achieved all her dreams, it still didn't answer all those questions he had—questions his parents were refusing to give him answers to.

It was irritating.

Martha saw the concern—the worry—the fear that was written all over his face, and knew that their vague answers weren't helping any, but it's not like she could tell him everything without revealing the truth about Kaleb.

"Clark, honey, nothing has changed. She still loves you just as much as she did eight years ago, and she misses you very, very much. She will be so excited to see you again. Maybe even more than we were."

A large grin spread out across his features, and as soon as he was about to attempt to get more answers about her—about the one person he had missed above everyone else, from his parents, the front door swung open in a rush, as a tall, beautiful blonde woman super sped into the house, with a frantic and terrified expression plastered across her face.

Martha, being the over protective mother that she is, quickly stood up, and walked towards her niece, worry taking over her expression. "Kara? Honey? What's wrong?"

She was silent for a few seconds. "I need to find Lois."

Jonathon immediately stood up, at the worried tone laced in her voice. "What's going on?"

She was about to respond, but stopped before even opening her mouth, at the man sitting less than two feet away from her, and a large smile spread out across her face. "Clark? Is that really you?"

He slowly stood up, and took a few steps towards her. "Yeah. Your Kara Zor-El. My father told me about you during my training. I thought you perished alongside the rest of our civilization, so did Jor-El. How are you even here right now?"

A soft chuckle escaped past her lips. "I left when you did, Kal-El, but some things went wrong, and I didn't actually escape my spaceship until a few years ago. It's a long story."

He nodded at her, completely understanding that she didn't want to get into details right now, especially since it seemed that she had other things on her mind, but he was still very, very curious about his cousin.

She smiled at him before glancing between Martha and Jonathon. "I need to find Lois. The League and I found out some information that affects her…immensely, but I can't find her anywhere."

"She isn't here, Kara. She was supposed to be working."

"She's not there."

Martha frowned, vastly. "Then where is she?"

Clark was feeling completely and utterly confused at the moment, especially at the mention of something called a league, but he was also feeling very worried about the woman he loved so deeply. "You can't find her? Where could she be if she isn't at The Daily Planet?"

That was the question of the century, she thought to herself.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find her." She muttered before disappearing in the blink of an eye, and shot off into the sky, as soon as she was outside.

She didn't know where she was, but she needed to find her, and she needed to find her right now.

* * *

Lois arrived at their favorite bistro in Metropolis, and grinned from ear to ear, as soon as she noticed Lana Lang, one of her closest friends, standing outside of the front doors, waiting for her. "Aw! Were you waiting for me pinkie?"

Lana rolled her eyes, dramatically before pulling her into a hug. "Don't start with me, Mad Dog Lane. I will give as good as I get."

"Whatever!" They both chuckled, good-heartedly before linking their arms together, and walking into the restaurant.

Chloe immediately spotted them, as soon as they walked inside. "Well, it's about damn time my two favorite girls decided to grace me with their presence. I would stand up and greet you both, but that's kind of impossible at the moment."

Lois rolled her eyes, exaggeratedly. "Would you stop with that bullshit already! It's all nonsense, you know, besides your pregnant not an invalid!"

She growled at her. "Hey! You two have been through this before, one of you having it harder than the other, but I haven't, and I highly doubt that you'll be saying that when this little one is born."

She ignored that jibing comment, and glanced over at Lana. "Did she just growl at me?"

She grinned, widely, as she nodded her head. "I think she did."

Chloe groaned at both of them. "Would you two just sit down already!"

Over the following hour, they all just enjoyed each other's company, as they talked about everything and nothing, the topics of their lovely husbands, children and work life coming up every once in a while. It would seem to anybody else who didn't know them, that they hadn't seen each other in years when in reality, they had, had this exact same conversation yesterday, but when the three of them were together nothing else seemed to matter than this—than just being themselves in the company of their best friends.

It was great.

As soon as every single one of them had finished their lunches, they started reminiscing about the golden days, when Lois had first moved to Smallville all those years ago, mainly about the time when her and Lana despised each other so desperately.

Things had definitely changed over the past eight years.

Lana scrunched up her nose, and shook her head from side to side, all the while laughing at her two friends. "I don't even know why we hated each other so much back then."

Chloe and Lois glanced at each other, skeptically and smiled, widely at each other because they both knew that she was full of shit. "Well, I remember it clearly, just like it happened yesterday. You were jealous over Clark and I, and I believe you called me a—"

The rest of her sentence was silenced by Lana quickly stuffing a piece of truffle cake into her mouth, forcing her to inaudibly mumble to rest of her words. "We promised to never speak of that again."

Chloe smirked. "Oh. So, you do remember…"

She groaned, loudly, feeling quite miserable at that particular moment. "Shut up!" She quickly chugged down the last of her coffee, desperately wanting this conversation to be over and done with.

They both snickered at her.

"Okay. Back to what we were originally talking about."

Lois grinned, devilishly. "You mean, about how jealous the pink princess used to be back then?"

"LO-IS!" She drawled out her name, dramatically.

It was so, so much fun teasing her, she thought to herself, actually it made her day most of the time, and she really, really needed this today.

Chloe shook her head at both of them. "Okay. Lana, what were you saying?"

She glared at Lois, mentally telling her to keep her mouth shut before she even contemplated attempting to speak again. "I was saying that I have never heard the story of how Clark and Lois met, and fell in love."

They were both shocked by that, but figured that, that was mainly because of their animosity towards each other back then, and even after they had become friends it had never came up in conversation. They had other things on their minds at their time in their lives.

Chloe grinned from ear to ear, as she noticed that her dear cousin was preparing herself to tell the story she loved hearing, even though she had heard it over a million times already, but who wouldn't want to hear the very, very intriguing and interesting tale of how Clark Kent and Lois Lane met and fell in love?

"It all started on a sunny day in June, I was running away from my father, and Clark was escaping from his past. As I was driving my car lost control, and—"

Her tantalizing story telling was interrupted by her cellphone ringing, and she quickly answered it without looking at the caller ID. "This is Lois Lane."

"Mrs. Lane, this is Principal Reynolds at Smallville Elementary. I'm calling about your son, Kaleb, he got into some trouble during recess today, and he is being sent home for the rest of the day. I need you to come down to the school to pick him up immediately."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, at what she was hearing, and she could already feel herself getting riled up from this bit of information. "What did he do?"

"I will explain everything once you arrive at the school, Miss Lane."

"I'm in Metropolis at the moment. I won't be able to get there for another hour or so, but his uncle Pete Ross can pick him up." She glanced at Lana for confirmation, who was already talking to him on her cellphone.

"That's fine, but I'll need to speak to you personally before the end of the school day."

As soon as she hung up the phone, Chloe and Lana were staring at her with worried expressions plastered across their faces. "Is Kaleb alright? What happened? Why do you need to pick him up?"

She quickly stood up, and started gathering up her belongings. "He got into some kind of trouble, but I don't know what. I swear to god that child is going to give me a damn heart attack one of these days."

Chloe quickly threw some money on the table. "I'm coming with you."

"So am I," Lana said, and quickly stood up alongside Chloe.

"You don't have to…"

"Yes, we do. That's our nephew, and we want to make sure everything is alright, as well as making sure you don't strangle the child."

She chuckled, softly before glancing at Lana. "What about work? I thought you had the afternoon shift?"

"I'll have Patricia cover my shift tonight, besides this is way more important."

They all left the restaurant as quickly as possible, attempting to get back to Smallville as soon as possible, without getting pulled over from Lois' reckless driving.

It was quite obvious to the two of them that she was worried about her son.

Lois didn't know what was going on with her son, but whatever it was it had to be bad if the school was sending him home for the day, and that was something that has never, ever happened before.

He's gotten into trouble before, obviously, but nothing this severe…so, what the hell happened?

* * *

 _ **I sincerely apologize for it taking me so long to get this chapter posted, but life has kinda been crazy as of late, and I've been working like crazy the past couple of weeks. I can't promise that my updates will be posted as fast as usual, but they will be posted. This chapter was kind of a fun little chapter before things start getting intense. It might seem weird that I have Lana being besties with Lois, but like I've mentioned before I have plans for her, and this is the beginning of it.**_

 _ **I hoped you enjoyed chapter thirty- nine!**_


	41. Chapter Forty

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty:**_

* * *

Lois, Chloe and Lana all practically jumped out of her car, as soon as it had come to a complete stop directly outside of Pete and Lana' house, where her son currently was, and she had a feeling that he was probably sulking since he knew full-well that whatever the reason was for the school to send him home, she wasn't going to take it very lightly. This was very serious.

Chloe and Lana were feeling very, very thankful that they had actually made it there it one piece, while Lois' mind was going on overdrive, as thoughts of what could have happened—why it happened—how it happened bombarded her mind, and her body felt like a train had ran her over from the continuous emotions that were beginning to overwhelm her.

She had broken about every single driving law just to get here as fast as possible, but now that she was here she wasn't sure how she should handle this particular situation. It wasn't the first time he had gotten into trouble at school or at home for that matter, but it was the first time that he had been sent home because of something he did, and that was extremely worrisome.

Over the past year, he had been acting out a little more than usual, and she supposed that that had a little to do with the fact that he was having a hard time accepting the fact that he had these special abilities, especially since he didn't have his father to help him through this particular transition in his life, but she had a feeling that it had a hell of a lot more to do with his father than anything else. It was obvious what he wanted so desperately, hell, she wanted it too, but it wasn't exactly something that she could just grant them with a click of her fingers.

He wanted his father. She wanted the love of her life, but it wasn't something either of them could easily attain, and she was going to have to figure out a way to deal with situations such as these without his help. Of course, she had been doing this for eight years now, but she couldn't help feeling that all of this would be a hell of a lot easier if Clark was here with her, and she wished—prayed that he would come home soon before his behavior escalated even more than it already was.

It was quite obvious that whatever was going through that head of his was causing him to act out a lot more than usual, and as much as she wanted to be there for him—as much as she wanted to tell him that everything was going to be alright…she couldn't.

Whatever was going on with him, it still didn't excuse whatever he had done today.

She quickly made her way inside the house, her two closest friends following closely behind her, and before she could even make it five steps she was immediately greeted by Pete, who had an uneasy expression resting on his face. "I'm glad you're here. He's been kind of out of sorts since I picked him up from school. He didn't tell me what happened, and neither did the principal, but I'm guessing that it wasn't anything good."

"Where is he?"

He pointed directly behind him. "He's in the living room." When he noticed that she was going to walk in there without really thinking about what she was going to say, he quickly reached out, and grabbed her arm before she could pass him. "Just go easy on him, Lo, he's been through a lot, and I think today all those pent-up emotions we've all been noticing came out."

She knew that, of course she did, and she wasn't planning on yelling at him or lecturing him for whatever he had done, but that didn't mean that he was going to come out of this unscathed, besides over the years she had learned that being calm and relaxed during situations such as this one was much better than any other tactic, especially when it came to her son.

It would only make matters worse, and it didn't help any when he could be just as high-strung as she was, sometimes even worse.

When she rounded the corner towards the living room, she noticed that he was sitting on the couch with his little arms wrapped around his legs, and he was definitely sulking, as a forlorn expression was plastered across his face.

It was quite obvious that he knew that this wasn't good. He was nervous—he was upset—he wasn't thrilled, which she completely understood, but for some reason she had a feeling that his attitude was about something much, much more than some trouble at school.

What the hell was going on with him?

She slowly sat down next to him. "Kaleb?"

He didn't say anything, instead he just tightened his hold around himself, and shuffled himself deeper into the confines of the couch.

"Kal, baby, look at me."

He did, very slowly, and looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, mommy."

She smiled, slightly. "What are you sorry for?"

"I didn't mean to do what I did, I swear, but it kind of just happened."

"What happened, Kal?"

He hesitated. He knew without a doubt that his mommy wouldn't yell at him, actually, she never yelled at him, not really, but she could get very, very angry with him, and that was the last thing he wanted. "Are you going to get mad at me?"

"I don't know, but I need you to tell me what happened at school today, and you know better than anyone that I will find out one way or another."

"Mr. Reynolds," he muttered, as a frown took over his features.

She chuckled softly, at the tone of voice he had used, and inched closer to him. "Yes, your principal and I will be having a conversation in a little bit, but I want to hear what happened from you."

It was useless, he thought to himself.

She would definitely find out everything sooner rather than later, he knew that for a fact, and quite honestly, he'd rather she heard his side of the story first, even though he knew that he was going to get into a lot of trouble for what had happened, besides she always listened to him better than anyone else.

"I might have pushed a kid across the playground…"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, at her son' words, and a stern expression crossed over her face. "You did what?"

At the look of disappointment, he was receiving from her, he quickly leaned forward, and turned his body fully towards hers. "I didn't mean to do it. I really didn't, but I was protecting Jacob and Jessica."

She glanced over at Pete and Lana, who just shrugged their shoulders, like they were completely clueless. It was obviously that this was the first time they were hearing anything about their children being teased at school. She glanced back at her son. "Kal, honey, they are the same age as you, I'm sure that they could have protected themselves from this kid."

He shook his head, vehemently. "Not from Dawson. No one except me has ever stood up to him before."

Dawson.

That particular name seemed awfully familiar to her, and after repeating that name over and over again in her head, she immediately remembered that her son had mentioned this kid a few times before, mainly when he was discussing trouble at school. "Is this the same Dawson, who has been picking on you?"

"Yes."

"Was this the first time he was picking on your cousins?"

He nodded.

"And you were trying to protect them, right?"

He nodded again.

She stared deeply into his tear-filled eyes. "Kal, haven't we talked about this before? I thought that you understood that no matter what happens between you and someone who is picking on you, you can't just do something like that because your—"

"I know. I know. I can't do things like that because I'm not normal." He interrupted her.

Those words just broke her heart into a million pieces. "No, honey, that's not what I was going to say. I was going to say that your special, you have these amazing abilities just like your father, and you have to be careful with them."

"Your mom is right, sweetheart. We just want you to be careful about your specialness. Not everyone is going to be as accepting about them as we are, and we don't want anything to happen to you."

That caught his attention, and he quickly stared at his Aunt Lana with a confused expression. "What would happen to me?"

"They could take you away from me, Kal."

"T-th-they would take me away from you? Why?"

"Because some people just aren't as understanding as the people who love you are. They won't be able to see past your abilities. They won't be able to see the potential that we all see inside of you."

The thought of someone taking him away from the people he cared and loved about just didn't seem right at all, and it didn't make any sense, but it did raise a few questions. "Was my daddy careful because he was scared that someone would take him away from everyone he loved? Did he have to hide himself from everyone? Did he have to deal with bullies?"

Pete quickly stepped forward, knowing that Lois only really knew what everyone had told her, but he had experienced it personally, and kneeled down in front of his nephew.

"Yes, Kaleb, but just like you he couldn't fully control his abilities at your age, and sometimes he made mistakes just like you did today. I'm going to tell you a story about a time when me and your dad had just become friends. We were younger than you are, and this bully picked on me every single day, just like Dawson picks on you.

I was a very small and vulnerable child, and I didn't know how to defend myself. One day, this bully went too far, and your daddy defended me by pushing him straight through a wooden door. That's the moment he knew that he had to be more careful, and that was also the day he stared being picked on as well, all because he was protecting his friend."

His eyes lit up, magnificently, and his face took on an expression of wonder, at this particular story about his daddy. He always enjoyed hearing things about him. "Is that when you found out that he wasn't norm—that he was special?"

He chuckled, softly. "No. I didn't find that out for many, many years after that incident, but what we are all trying to get you to understand is that you need to be extremely careful about this."

"Why? All of you know about my daddy, and nothing bad has happened to him…"

Lois quickly gripped his face into her hands, and stared deeply into his eyes, hoping that she could make him understand the importance of this situation. "That's a completely different situation, Kal, we earned his trust for him to even consider telling us anything, and some people won't be as accepting to the truth—some people might want to hurt you or hurt someone you care about. That's the last thing any of us want."

They were serious about this, he thought to himself, someone could really take him away from his family, and that terrified him. They could take him away like those three bad men did before. At that thought, he was reminded of what or rather who he saw at the playground. "Just like the bad men tried doing before."

All three of their faces paled, slightly clouding over, and they glanced at each other, nervously before Chloe stepped closer to her nephew. "Kaleb, why would you say something like that?"

He locked eyes with every single one of them before resting them on his mommy' hazel ones. "Because I saw him today. I saw one of the bad men today."

Lois felt her breath hitch in her throat, and her heart started beating rapidly inside of her chest, but she mentally told herself that that wasn't possible. "Honey, that's not possible, both Lex and Murphy are gone, and they aren't coming back anytime soon."

He shook his head from side to side. "It wasn't the bald man or the scrawny man."

"Who was it?"

"It was the muscular one," he quickly responded to his Uncle Pete' question.

They all glanced at each other, as they wracked their brains for the man he was mentioning, and when it finally registered to them, they simultaneously said, "Wilkinson."

Chloe moved closer to him. "Are you sure that's who you saw today?"

He nodded. "I've been seeing him for a few weeks now."

Those words coming out of her son' mouth caused her to snap her head towards him, and a worried expression formed across her face. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't recognize him until today."

That worried every single one of them…immensely.

"Alright, Kal, go grab your things. I'm going to drop you off at the farm, while I talk to your principal."

He frowned at her, knowing full-well that she was going to do more than that, and the thought of what would happen if she saw this man terrified him. "No."

"Excuse me?"

"What if the bad man is there? What if he tries hurting you? What if he tries taking you away from me? No. I'm coming with you."

She shook her head from side to side. "No, you're not."

He quickly stood up, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not letting you leave me!"

"That's enough Kaleb!"

"No!"

Pete, Lana and Chloe immediately noticed the blazing fire lingering in both of their eyes, and quickly escaped from the living room into a much safer place. It wasn't the first time that Kaleb had attempted challenging her, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last time either.

"Kaleb Jerome Kent! That is enough! You will be going to the farm whether you want to or not, is that understood?"

His face softened, at the tone of her voice, and tears filled his eyes. "But what if the bad man is there? What if he tries to hurt you?"

That made her heart clench in unimaginable pain. She had thought that he didn't think about what happened a few years ago anymore, but it was quite obvious that all of those memories haunted him just as just as they haunted her, and that was the last thing she wanted her beautiful baby boy to think about.

She crouched down in front of him. "That's not going to happen."

"How do you know?"

"Because we're a team, remember? Nothing is going to happen to me."

He stared at her for a few seconds, not too sure if he believed that or not. "Promise?"

"I promise. Now, go get your things."

She watched him walk away, and sighed, heavily before making her ways towards the kitchen where Chloe, Pete and Lana were waiting for them. "I thought he didn't think about that anymore…"

Lana smiled, slightly. "Lo, that child has been through so, so much in his short life. I'm not surprised that he thinks about what happened, and I'm certainly not surprised that he worries about you, he's a lot like his father in that department."

"That he is."

Chloe locked eyes with her cousin. "Do you think it's true? Do you think Steve was really at the school?"

Her face took on an expression of pure determination. "Yes. Kaleb wouldn't make something like that up. The question is…why is he stalking my son?"

"Maybe he's following orders like he did before," Pete piped in.

Lana frowned. "But why? Lex is locked up, and will be for a very long time, so what's the point of having him watch Kaleb?"

None of them knew the answer to that question, and every single one of them silently vowed to figure out what the hell was really going on, but first they had other things to deal with.

* * *

Clark stood in his old Fortress of Solitude, taking notice of all the many changes surrounding him, and was feeling even more confused than he was shortly after arriving home.

Everything was different.

Not only the house and barn had changed, but his old loft had changed as well.

It wasn't that all the furniture and decorations were different. It was the fact that it was filled with even more children toys than there were scattered outside and inside of the house.

Of course, when he had questioned his parents about it, they had explained to him that most of this stuff belonged to Lana and Pete' two children, who visited a lot, especially when they weren't in school. That he understood, but what didn't make any sense was the fact that they had so much stuff here.

It just didn't make any sense.

They weren't related in any way to his parents, at least not in literal terms, and it was highly doubtful that they needed this much stuff here, especially since these particular items seemed to belong to someone who was here…a lot.

He pushed his confusing thoughts away, as he walked over to the wooden desk, where he remembered spending quite a lot of time with Lois, and noticed that she still had several of their pictures exactly where he had left them, but there were also a few drawings sprawled out all over the place.

It was obviously done by a child.

He slowly picked one of them up, and frowned at what he noticed.

It was just plain weird.

The drawing had three stick figures on it, but the way they were arranged threw him off completely. The two stick figures, who he figured were supposed to be Lana and one of the children, was located towards the bottom of the page, while the other stick figure, who he assumed was supposed to be Pete, was near the top of the page.

It was confusing.

Where was the other child? Why was Pete so far away from his family?

Before he could think about it any further, a particular sound rang in his ears causing him to grin like a Cheshire cat.

It was a sound he had been yearning to hear from the second he left the Arctic.

Her heartbeat.

Lois.

The mere thought of seeing her after all of these years brought a blinding smile to his lips, and he quickly made his way out of the barn. As soon as he reached the threshold, he stopped dead in his tracks, the smile slowly falling from his face, as an expression of confusion and wonder formed, and he silently watched the scene before his eyes—a scene he never, ever thought would be possible.

Lois, Chloe, Lana and Kaleb slowly pulled up the gravel driveway, and she parked the car directly in front of the farmhouse, all of them, except for one felt completely and utterly relived to finally be here.

It had been one hell of a long drive, even though it wasn't even close to a thirty-minute drive, it had had felt ten times longer, but that was mainly because of the temperamental eight-year old, who was pouting, as he sat in the back seat with his Aunt Lana.

Everyone quickly exited the vehicle, and started walking towards the house, where they desperately wanted to relax for at least a little while, but Lois stopped walking once she realized that her stubborn child was still sitting in the car.

The child just wouldn't stop.

For the entire car ride over here, he had complained and complained about all of them leaving him to talk to his principal, of course, any other child would react the same exact way because they knew that they would be getting into trouble, but this was different because her child was worried about way more than a scolding from his parent.

It was extremely sweet of him to worry about her, but it was unnecessary, and quite honestly, she was completely fed up with the several little tantrums he has thrown today.

It was driving her insane!

He didn't want to be alone—he didn't want her to leave—he didn't want anything to happen to her, which she completely understood since she was literally his entire world, and he was hers, but enough was enough.

She moved closer to the car, noticing that he had his arms crossed against his chest, and was pouting, sulkily. "Kaleb. Get out of the car."

His aquamarine eyes met her hazel ones, and he glared, heatedly at her. "No!"

She glared right back at him. "Kaleb Jerome Lane-Kent!"

That immediately caused him to gulp, quite loudly, at the tone of her voice, and at the way she was staring at him. It made him feel very uneasy. He absolutely disliked it when she had that particular expression plastered across her face because it only meant one thing…he was in trouble. It was something that was happening quite a lot today, but he had very, very good reasons for his behavior, at least in his eyes he did.

He didn't have his daddy.

One of the bad men were back.

She was going to leave him, even though she knew that he was back, and he was absolutely terrified that something was going to happen to her.

She was everything to him.

She was all he had, and there was no way he was going to let anything happen to his mommy.

Nope.

He wasn't having that.

Instead of listening to her, like he knows that he should, he turned his back towards her, and brooded even more so than before.

She was seconds away from waltzing over to that damn car, and forcing him out of it, but kept her cool, knowing full-well that that would only escalate things. "Kaleb Kent! Get out of that car right this instant!"

He didn't.

"1…2…"

His face paled, immediately, knowing exactly what would happen if she got to three. That had been proven on more than one occasion, especially when he started challenging her like he was challenging her right now. He slowly got out of the car, and walked over to her, quite despondently.

"Kal, look at me."

He did, very, very slowly, and her anger dissipated almost immediately, at the pure expression of anguish that was plastered across his face.

She slowly crouched down to his level. "Why are you making this so difficult? Kal, I need you to stay here while I talk to your principal, and I need to figure out what the bad man you saw today is really up to. I can't do all of that if you're with me."

He shook his head, vehemently with tears pooling in his beautiful eyes, and grabbed her hand, squeezing it with all of his might. "No! Mommy, don't leave me! Please! I want to come with you!"

"I'm only going to be gone for a couple of hours."

He practically jumped into her arms, his hands locking behind her neck, and his legs wrapping around her waist, as he clung onto her for dear life. "No! Mommy, please don't leave me! I don't have daddy. I don't want you to leave me too."

She quickly wrapped her arms around him, hugging him into her chest, and attempted comforting him as best as she could manage. "I'm not leaving you, Kal. I promise." She sighed, heavily, as he clung to her even tighter than before standing up with him in her arms, and glanced over at Chloe and Lana, who were watching them with sad expressions plastered across their faces.

"Lana, could you grab Martha and Jonathon for me?"

She nodded, and quickly rushed inside the house, knowing that they were going to need the wisdom of the elder Kent' to get Kaleb to understand and accept this situation.

Lois and Chloe walked back towards the car, and she leaned against the hood with Kaleb still refusing to loosen his grip around her. "Kaleb, I need you to listen to me, okay? I'm not going anywhere. I'm never going to leave you."

A few tears fell down his cheeks, as he leaned back in her arms, and stared deeply into her eyes. "What if the bad man is there? What if he hurts you? What if he takes you away from me?"

She quickly wiped away his fallen tears. "That's not going to happen. You know just as well as I do that Wilkinson only followed orders from the other two, mainly Lex."

"But what if the bald man told him to do something to you?"

"He wouldn't do that."

"How do you know?"

She smiled, softly, attempting to lighten up the mood a little bit. "Because I know these things."

He stared at her with a frown, his expression clearly showing that that answer was completely unacceptable.

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips, at the look she was receiving from her son. "Alright. I'm going to tell you something—something that I'm not sure you remember or not, but Lex isn't going to do anything to me while he is locked away. When he held us captive, do you remember the way he looked at us, the way his voice sounded, and what he exactly said to us?" At his nod she continued. "And do you remember how you felt?"

"I was scared."

"Yes, baby, we both were, but you see he loves the power he holds over people, and that's why he won't do anything to either of us unless he can see it or do it himself, and that's never going to happen."

He pondered everything she had said to him for a few seconds, and supposed that it did make perfect sense, but it still worried him. "What if he comes back?"

"He's not going to come back. I promise you, Kal, it will be years from now before either of us see that man again. If we ever see him again."

He quickly nodded, and wiped away his fallen tears.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, but hurry back."

"I will, honey."

He slowly rested his head on her shoulder, and softly closed his eyes, letting the comfort his mommy provided calm him down.

Chloe, who had witnessed the entire scene between mother and son, had tears running down her cheeks, and felt like her heart was going to break. It was hard enough that her dear nephew had went through so much at such a young age, but on top of everything he had been through he was worried about something that he shouldn't have to worry about…ever.

"Is he going to be okay," she mouthed, silently.

Lois nodded, and held her son a little tighter, attempting to comfort him as much as she possible could. She absolutely hated that Lex and Murphy had done this to her son. They might not have hurt him personally, but he had been forced to watch them hurt her, and that sure as hell had scarred him for life. It was something that no child should ever have to endure, especially at such at a young age, and she vowed that she would help him through this, even though she didn't have a clue on how she was supposed to do that.

Years ago, when she had first met Murphy, the only person she had had was Chloe, and that was extremely difficult since they both had experienced similar things, but that didn't mean that she was going to allow her son to go through the same thing that they had to go through. She would attempt to help him as much as she possibly could.

All of a sudden, there was a loud, screeching gasp coming from the porch, and all three of them looked at Lana, Martha and Jonathan, who were staring at her with a remorseful expression, like they were apologetic about something, while Lana stared in the complete other direction before she screamed out, "CLARK!"

Lois couldn't believe her ears, but was quickly proven wrong when she glanced at the direction Lana was currently running towards, and at that very moment her heart stopped beating for several seconds before it started beating rapidly inside of her chest.

It was him.

Clark.

The love of her life.

He was back.

He had returned.

Chloe couldn't hold back the face-splitting grin that spread out across her face, at the mere sight of her best friend, and muttered, "Oh my god!" Before rushing over to him with as much speed as she could possibly manage.

Clark hadn't planned on announcing his presence in such a vocal way, but what else was he expecting since he had been practically gawking at Lois, the women he loved with all of his heart, since the moment she stepped out of that car.

He had watched as she had scolded, and comforted their son through everything that he was going through at this particular moment.

His son.

He had a child.

He and Lois shared a baby boy together, and that was something that he never, ever thought would be possible for them.

He was filling a million and one emotions consuming his mind, heart and soul at this very moment, but the most profound ones were realization and confusion.

Everything that had confused him from the moment he stepped foot on this farm was completely making sense now.

All the toys.

All the drawings.

It was all his.

It was all Kaleb'.

It was his sons'.

As he had listened to their conversation, that is when he became very, very confused, especially since he didn't really understand what was wrong with his son or what the love of his life was trying to get through to him. It was obvious that he didn't want her to leave, and it was obvious that she needed him to be alright before she did.

But…

That's not what was confusing him. It was the fact that they were talking about Lex, and two other guys named Murphy and Wilkinson. All he could actually grasp was the fact that Lex had held both of them captive for some reason, and they were all gone except for the one named Wilkinson.

What the hell was that all about? What had his old friend done to the people he loved? Why was his son so upset if they were all gone? Was this something that had happened just recently or was it something that happened sometime in the eight years he was gone? Why didn't his parents tell him about this?

He didn't have too much time to dwell on that fact before he was practically trampled to the ground by two other people he had missed almost as much as his parents, and quickly wrapped his arms around them, squeezing them tightly.

As soon as they had pulled away from him, question after question fell from their lips, and he just smiled, tightly at them in return. He wanted to answer them. He really did, but he couldn't stop his eyes from wavering back over to Lois and Kaleb, who were both staring at him with completely different expressions plastered across their faces. One was filled with utter and shock, while the other one was filled with wonder and confusion.

Lois couldn't believe that this was happening.

He was back.

He had returned to her—to them—to their family.

This wasn't exactly the way she had pictured how this particular reunion would play out. Not even close. She had thought that she would have had time to tell him about their son before he actually met him, but that was definitely not the case, and quite honestly, it was better this way. Not only for her, but for the love of her life and their son.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tugging at her shirt, and she glanced down to see Kaleb staring up at her with an inquisitive gaze. "Is that…?"

She smiled down at him, and slowly removed some stray pieces of hair away from his face. "Yes, baby, that's your daddy."

He quickly glanced back over at him, and an expression of wonderment formed on his precious face, as a small, but growing smile graced his lips. "My daddy…"

She glanced over at Clark, who was still staring at them with this undefinable glint in his eyes, and was completely ignoring his friends who were desperately attempting to bombard him with millions of questions before glancing back down at their son. "Would you like to go meet him?"

The smile fell from his face almost immediately before he tightened his hold around her, and hid his face in the base of her neck. It wasn't that he didn't want to meet his daddy because he did, but it was because even dreaming—wishing—praying that this would one day happen he had never actually pictured what this moment would really feel like, and now that it was happening he was feeling a little nervous about meeting the one person he had literally waited his entire life to meet.

It was daunting.

It was scary.

It was nerve-wrecking.

Lois rolled her eyes at her son' behavior. This child was like an emotional rollercoaster, she thought to herself, one minute all he could talk and think about was his father, and now he was shying away from actually meeting him.

She lowered her head towards his, and whispered in his ear, "You don't have to if you don't to, but I think he's really excited to meet you, and I'm pretty sure that you are too."

He didn't respond, he just tightened his arms around her, and she took that as his acceptance to the situation.

She slowly rubbed her hand up and down his back, as she made her way towards the man who she has been waiting a horribly long eight years to see again, and stopped her movements when she was standing directly in front of him.

It was like seeing him for the first time, she thought, as she roamed her eyes over every single inch of his body before they meshed with his own, which were staring at her with so much love—so much sincerity—so much wonder, and she couldn't stop the few tears the escaped from her lids. "Your home."

He quickly closed the space between them, not wanting to be apart from her ever again, but was careful not to squish their child, who was still safely secured in the comfort of her arms, and wrapped his arms around her body, softly kissing the top of her head. "I'm home, Lo."

She wrapped her free arm around his waist, and gently rested her head in the crook of his neck, as she breathed in his musky scent, reminding her of all the times they had held each other like this—all the times they felt exactly how she felt right now with their hearts beating so close together.

It felt like she was complete again.

It felt like she was whole again.

It felt like she was home again.

"God, Clark, I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Lois." He slowly pulled away from her, slightly, but kept his hand rested on her arm, comfortably before his eyes traveled down to the little boy in her arms, who was still hiding his face in her neck, and a wide smile spread out across his face. "How old is he?"

She smiled up at him. "He's eight years old."

That meant she had found out that she was pregnant after he had left for his training since he knew without a doubt that she would have told him if she knew before then. It wouldn't have mattered if they were fighting—if they were upset with each other—if they were dealing with the fact that he indeed had to leave for his training she would have told him, and he knew that he would have stayed with her. He really, really hated that he had missed, so, so much of his life, but now he had all the time in the world to get to know his son, who looked a lot like him, and he had a feeling that his personality was going to be a lot like hers. It was the exact way he had imagined him.

Lois slightly nudged Kaleb. "Do you want to say hello to your daddy."

He very, very slowly moved his head, and looked at his daddy, who was staring at him with a large smile spread out across his face before muttering, "Hi." And just like that, he went back into his previous position.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I promise he isn't this shy like ever. It's just, um, he's been waiting for this moment literally for his entire life, and I think he's a little nervous about it all.

He nodded, completely understanding, hell, he would be feeling nervous too if he wasn't so excited to meet—talk, and get to know him. "It's alright, Lois, it's going to take some time."

She glanced over at Chloe and Lana, who were both grinning from ear to ear at all three of them. "Um…could you guys go tell Martha and Jonathon about what happened earlier, and why we're here this early. I'll meet you guys in there in a few minutes."

They both seemed to gather themselves pretty quickly, remembering the entire reason they were here in the first place, and quickly nodded before rushing towards the house.

Clark and Lois' eyes meshed together, as soon as they were gone, and each of them could feel all the emotions—feelings bubbling up inside of them at that particular moment, but she quickly pushed down everything that she wanted to say and do with him because this moment wasn't about them or what either of them wanted.

It was about Clark and Kaleb.

Father and son.

And that was more important than anything else.

She held out her hand towards him. "Come on, let's go inside."

He quickly grabbed the hand that she was offering, intertwining their fingers together, which was one of the many things that he had dreamt about doing since he left eight years ago, and allowed her to lead them back inside of the barn.

As she walked them up the loft stairs, her heart pounded, relentlessly inside of her chest, and her body was shaking, slightly, at the thought of having the reunion she had waited eight years to have.

They both sat down on the couch, and she wanted to say, so, so many things to him, but couldn't exactly find the words she really wanted to say. The past eight years had been absolutely miserable without him, but now that he was back—now that they were together again she had no idea where to even start, and it seemed that he was feeling the same way.

It was different last time…last time they had only been apart for a little over one year, but it had been eight years, and they had so many to tell each other. The problem was they couldn't stop staring or rather gawking at each other, and neither of them knew what words could make this moment even more perfect than it already was.

Kaleb, who had immediately noticed the silence between his parents, peeked out from the place he felt safe—secure—warm, and took in the looks that were plastered on both of their faces. It was obvious, even to an eight-year-old, that they were very much in love, and everything he had been hoping for—wishing for was coming true.

His daddy was home.

His mommy was happier.

His family was perfect.

He very slowly untangled himself from his mommy' grasp, forcing both of their attention to go to him, and stared, unwavering at his daddy with wide eyes. "You're my daddy…"

They both chuckled, at the sound of pure amazement that was laced in his voice. "Yes, Kaleb, I'm your daddy."

"Mommy told me that you didn't know I even existed…why is that?"

That was a very complex question, he thought to himself.

"It's kind of complicated. I had to go away for a little while, but I never would have left if I would have known that you were going to come into my life."

He smirked, an all too familiar expression, one that the beautiful woman sitting across from him had given him several times over the time he has been with her. "She wouldn't have let you leave if she would have known."

A chuckled escaped past his lips. "I'm positive that your right about that one."

"Mommy told me that you were training…what were you training for?"

"Um…" He glanced at Lois, who had a knowing expression plastered across her face, and understood that she had at least told him some of the reasons why he had left in the first place.

"it's alright, Clark, he knows everything."

"E-Everything?"

She nodded. "Kal, how about you tell your daddy about your abilities."

That's all it took. His eyes lit up lit firecrackers, and a huge smile spread out across his face, as he practically leaped into his father' lap, catching him off guard for a split second before he focused his attention on the little bundle of pure energy, which was exactly like he expected him to be. He was exactly like Lois.

"I have superspeed, super strength, that one was the first one, and I have super hearing, that one wasn't all that fun at first."

He couldn't believe it.

Not only did he have a son, which was something he never thought that would be possible, but his child was already developing many of his abilities, and it was happening a lot faster than he could have possibly imagined.

Kaleb moved closer to him. "Mommy told me that you have all kinds of other abilities, and maybe some others she doesn't know about. What are they? Am I going to have all of the ones you have? Can you fly? What was it like growing up with these abilities? Did you have to deal with bullies? When did you tell mommy, Aunty Chlo, Aunty Lana, and Uncle Pete about them? Have you met Uncle Ollie before? What about Auntie Kar?"

Clark and Lois both broke into a fit of laughter, at the onslaught of questions that came tumbling out of his little mouth.

"Kal, baby, maybe you should ask one question at a time."

"Well, we definitely know where he got that particular personality trait from."

She softly pushed him. "Shut up!"

Clark looked deeply into his sons' eyes. "That's a lot of questions."

He nodded.

"Um, he's been asking a lot of questions about his abilities and his origins. We all try to help in any way we can, but I think that he just wants to hear it from your perspective."

That he completely understood since he had lived most of his childhood in curiosity—confusion, and there was no way he was going to allow his son to live in that same world he lived in for so, so long, He would tell him everything he wanted to know.

He was about to respond to his onslaught of questions, but was stopped by the serious expression that had taken over his features, and was startled, slightly when he reached out, resting his small hand on the side of his cheek. "Mommy says I look like you." He tilted his head to one side, and frowned. "I don't see it."

Clark chuckled at that. "I think what she meant by that was that you have my dark black hair, my deep blue/green eyes, and you look a lot like I did when I was your age."

"Really?"

"But, everything else about you is purely your mommy."

He grumbled, miserably. "I know, that's what everyone tells me."

She quickly tickled his side, making him giggle, and collapse into his daddy' chest. "Hey mister! What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, mommy."

"Hmmm." She hid the grin behind her hand, knowing full well that he was taunting her just like he did several times a day, but also because she hadn't seen her baby boy this happy before, and it was the best thing she has witnessed in a very long time.

He glanced back at his daddy. "Are you going to stay with us now?"

"Of course, I am, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You're not going to leave again, right?"

"Right."

He quickly stuck out his pinkly finger. "Promise?"

Clark seemed a little confused at first, but wrapped his larger finger around his son' smaller one, and sealed the deal.

Kaleb quickly jumped towards his father, and wrapped his little arms around his neck. "I love you, daddy."

He hesitated for about two seconds before he wrapped his arms around him, squeezing softly, and felt the tears building up behind his eyes. "I love you too, buddy."

Lois watched the scene before her, feeling the tears pooling in her eyes, but she didn't care at all. For eight years she had waited for this moment—the moment where son and father would meet, and it had turned out a hell of a lot better that she perceived it to be. It was something that she had dreamed of happening several times before, and now that it was happening, she couldn't hold in the happiness she was feeling at this particular moment.

Her heart filled with so much love, as she watched them chatter away like they had known each other for years. It was quite obvious that they already have a strong bond, and she couldn't imagine anything greater than that. It's all she's ever wanted for her son, and now he had that—they all had that.

Kaleb quickly jumped off his daddy' lap, and grabbed his hand, pulling him up from the couch before glancing at his mommy. "Are you coming with us?"

She realized that while she was watching them and thinking about everything that was changing she hadn't listened to a single word that they had uttered. "Am I what?"

He sighed, heavily. "You weren't even listening, were you?"

She shook her head from side to side.

"Daddy, she does this all of the time."

He snickered at the teasing manner their son had towards her, of course, it only reminded him of her, and knew without a doubt that they had a deep connection with each other, which was completely understandable since for eight years all they literally had was each other. "You know what, I think I believe you. I remember how she used to do that all of the time."

"She did?"

"I would be having a conversation with her, and it was like she wasn't even paying attention to what I was saying."

She glanced between the two men she loved with all of her heart, not able to believe what she was hearing. "Hello! I'm standing right here you know."

"We know," they spoke, simultaneously.

"Oh! I see how it's going to be, my two favorite men are going to gang up on me, and after everything I have done for you two."

They just laughed at her.

She slowly stood up. "Well, in that case, I will just leave you two troublemakers alone for the time being."

All funniness of the situation had died almost instantaneously, at her words, and Clark felt his heart pounding like a jackhammer inside his chest, just at the mere thought of her leaving already. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Her eyes fell to the little boy at his father' side. "Ask your son."

Kaleb gulped, loudly before glancing up at his daddy. "She has to go talk to my principal. I, um, I might have gotten into a little trouble at school today."

"Don't sugarcoat it, Kal."

Clark glanced between them, taking in the serious expression on her face, and the nervous one on his. "What happened?"

He slumped his shoulders, defeatedly. "I might have pushed a kid really, really far across the playground…"

His eyes widened, and he glanced at Lois with a worried expression plastered across his face, but before he could say anything she beat him to the punch. "Don't worry, Clark, the kid didn't get hurt, and no one saw anything, except for his cousins, who he was trying to protect. I've already had that discussion with him, but maybe you can get through to him in ways that I can't."

He nodded, knowing that he definitely would be having a conversation with his son about that, but right now he really just wanted to spend some time with the son he never even knew existed.

She smiled at both of them. "Don't get into too much trouble you two."

Clark watched her walk away from them, and felt his heart constrict, painfully, at the sight of her leaving, and realized that he hadn't done the one thing he's wanted to do since the moment he laid eyes on her again. "Lois!" As soon as she turned back towards him, he rushed towards her, and laid a searing kiss upon her lips, as his hands rested on the side of her face, his fingers twisting into her long, dark chocolate locks.

Her eyes widened, slightly, at his sudden gesture, but quickly responded, kissing him back with just as much fervor, and felt like everything was going to be right in the world.

She had Kaleb.

She had Clark.

She had the family she has always wanted.

After a few seconds, she pulled away from him, acutely aware of the grinning, blue-eyed boy staring at them, and rested her forehead against his. "I'll be back soon."

He softly kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you, Lois."

She smiled, widely up at him. "I love you too, Smallville."

A growl escaped from the back of his throat, at that particular nickname, but smiled nonetheless, at the rush of familiarity that surged throughout his entire body.

She glanced at her son. "You behave yourself mister. I'll be back soon." She slowly made her way out of the barn, and towards the house.

It was time they found out what kind of punishment they had in mind for her son, and what Steve Wilkinson was really up to or rather what Lex Luthor was ordering him to do.

She had literally just gotten the man she loved back, and there was absolutely nothing that was going to jeopardize that, especially not when both of her men were so incredibly happy.

Not when she was finally happier than she's been in such a long time.

* * *

 _ **This was supposed to include the family celebrating Clark' return, but then that turned into 20 pages, so I was forced to shorten that. It seems impossible to stop writing chapters for this story, as the author, I enjoy writing it just as much as you all enjoy reading it. The focal point of this reunion wasn't really supposed to be about Lois and Clark, it was always supposed to be about Clark and Kaleb, but don't worry that reunion will be happening very soon. As for the scenes between Lois and Kaleb, I wanted to show a little bit into what happened in the past eight years, but I also wanted to reveal what everything that has happened has done to poor Kaleb. He is very connected to Lois, and that was something that I always saw between them.**_

 _ **I hoped you enjoyed chapter-forty!**_


	42. Chapter Forty One

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-One:**_

 _ **NOTE TO READERS: I want to apologize for the very long wait for this chapter, but with my mother' wedding approaching, and college classes taking a toll on me, I haven't really had the time to concentrate on this story as much as I would like. Future updates shouldn't be as spread out as this one, but they won't be as constant either. Life has been incredibly crazy, but updates for this story will continue.**_

* * *

A few hours later, Lois, Chloe and Lana were all sitting inside the car, as they drove down the dirt roads towards the farmhouse, in complete and utter silence while their thoughts and emotions were completely focused on what they had learned about Kaleb, and all the questions they still didn't have answers to about Steve Wilkinson.

It was frustrating as all hell.

Chloe and Lana weren't too sure what to think about everything at this point, but more importantly they were worried about their dearest friend, who hadn't uttered a single word since they left the school, and they had noticed almost instantly that she had that expression plastered across her face—an expression neither of them seen in a very, very long time.

Lois, on the other hand, couldn't even attempt to shut her mind off after everything she had learned, and everything she hadn't learned, but she was determined to figure out what the hell was going on.

Over the past two hours, she had listened to the school principal recite everything that she already knew about what transpired earlier, and dish out his unnecessary punishment, which was a little too much in her opinion, but that wasn't what was unsettling her.

It was the fact that the school had absolutely no recollection of a man matching Steve Wilkinson' description loitering around the school grounds, watching her son, which only worried her even more so, and caused more and more questions to bombard her mind.

What was he doing at the school? Why was he watching her son? Who was he working for? Was he working alone? What did he want exactly? How was it even possible that no one, except her son, had seen him in the past two weeks? What the hell was really going on?

"Lois?"

Lois quickly shook her thoughts away, at the sound of her friends calling her name, repeatedly, and realized that they were parked directly in front of the farmhouse before cutting off the engine, intending to get out of the car as quickly as possible, but Chloe' hand on her arm stopped her from moving.

"Wait a minute."

She slowly turned towards her. "What?"

Chloe and Lana glanced at each other, worriedly before returning their gaze to her. "Shouldn't we talk about this before going inside?"

"Yeah. You haven't said a single word since we left the school," Lana added.

She smiled, slightly at both of them, completely understanding that they were worried about her, but they had absolutely no reason to be. "There's nothing to talk about."

Chloe stared straight into her cousin' eyes. "Don't pull that one on me, Lane, I know you almost better than anyone, and I know for a fact that you aren't going to let this matter go just because we didn't find the answers we were looking for."

"Your right. I'm not going to let this go, but there's nothing I can do about the situation today."

Lana studied her best friend for a few seconds, noticing that she still had that worried and determined expression plastered across her face. "Are you going to tell Kara or The Justice League about this?"

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. "I'll talk to them tomorrow. Right now, I just want to focus on Clark and our son."

Chloe understood that, of course she did, especially since it had been a whole eight years since she last saw him, but that particular subject did raise quite a few questions. "Are you going to tell him anything?"

She hesitated, slightly. "I don't know."

Lana shook her head from side to side. "You have to tell him, Lo, he needs to know everything, and I do mean everything."

"We kept him in the dark about this before, and it didn't help matters. Maybe this time you should be more honest with him about everything."

"I know!" She yelled, surprising herself and her friends before taking a deep breath, mentally calming herself down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. It's just that I'm a little frustrated right now. I will tell him everything, and I do mean everything, but not today. I just want to celebrate the fact that my son has his father in his life. I just want to be with my family today."

They both nodded, completely understanding her reasons for staying silent about everything for now, but they really hoped that she was honest with him soon because they had this unnerving feeling inside that whatever was going on was just the beginning, and they would need Clark's help if all hell did break loose.

As soon as they had walked into the farmhouse, they were immediately greeted by Martha and Jonathon, who were sitting in the living room, and they didn't hesitate on making their way towards them, uttering question after question about what had happened.

Chloe and Lana snickered, slightly at the way they greeted them, reminding them of their nephew in more ways than one, which only rewarded them with a glare from Lois before she turned back towards Martha and Jonathon. "Kaleb' been suspended from school."

Martha gasped, slightly at that bit of news, while Jonathon just shook his head from side to side, in utter disbelief. "Isn't that a tad bit harsh, especially since there's only one week of school left?"

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. "That's exactly why he did it. Luckily, he isn't planning on punishing Jessica or Jacob."

Martha frowned, immensely. "Why would they get into trouble?"

Lana grumbled, miserably. "Well, according to the school, they were the ones that started the argument with one of the other children before Kaleb stepped in, but since they didn't physically do anything he didn't see the point in suspending them as well."

Lois huffed, irritably. "If you want my opinion, the school is taking sides on the matter."

Jonathon scrunched his eyebrows together, in complete and utter confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that the school is believing the words of a known school bully over my son, who was only trying to protect his family."

Chloe turned towards her. "You don't really believe that."

She cocked a brow at her. "Oh, I mean every word. Ever since I enrolled Kaleb there, the principal and his teachers for that matter has had it out for him."

Martha smiled, knowingly. "It's only because he's a Kent. I remember all the phone calls we used to get when Clark was enrolled there…" She slowly trailed off, loosing her train of thought, as a thought occurred to her, and a look of utter trepidation spread out across her face.

Lois was the first one to notice her change of behavior, and quickly stepped forward, lightly resting her hand on her arm. "Mom? What is it? What's wrong?"

She stared deeply into her eyes. "I'm sorry."

A deep frown took over her features, at those particular words. "What are you talking about?"

"We should have called you as soon as Clark arrived at home today, but I guess we kind of got caught up in the fact that he was finally home."

Now the way she had looked at her earlier was making complete sense. "I'll be honest, it wasn't exactly the way I had expected to be reunited with him, but I understand that you needed time with your son."

Jonathon grinned, widely. "And I would suppose that it's your turn now, you know, since you two haven't really talked all that much."

She smiled, sheepishly. "Where are they, anyways?"

Martha was seconds away from responding, but was stopped by the front door swinging open, harshly, and a huge gust of wind whipping around the room announcing Kara' impromptu entrance. Before anyone had a chance to utter a single word, she waltzed straight towards Lois, and locked her in a body-clenching hug.

She wanted to reciprocate her affections, but the strength of her embrace was making it very difficult to breath, let alone move a single muscle. "Kara…Can't…Breathe."

At her strained words, she quickly released her, and took a few steps back. "Sorry."

After catching her breath, she grinned at the behavior of the woman in front of her. "You know, we just saw each other this morning…did you miss me that much?" When she didn't laugh or smile like she usually did, her defenses went up, and she took a step towards her. "What's going on?"

"I've been searching for you all day long, Lo. Where the hell have you been?"

A smirk spread out across her face, "I've been here, there, everywhere." But, when she remained stoic, unfazed, and even more serious she knew that something was seriously wrong. "What the hell is going on, Kara?"

She glanced at every single person in the room, who were staring at her with worry before locking eyes with the woman she saw more as her sister than anything else. "This morning after I left, I went to Watchtower, and the rest of the team found something out that affects every single one of us. It's about L—"

"No!" Lois quickly interrupted her, which rewarded her with weird and questioning glances from everyone. "I don't want to hear about anything work related today."

"Lois, this is really important."

"I don't care how important it is. It can wait until tomorrow."

"But—"

"No. I'm being serious. I literally just got Clark back today, and I'm not letting anything jeopardize my time with him or our son. That is the only thing I want to focus on today." She took a deep breath before continuing. "But, you're not the only one that has something to divulge to the team. We will discuss everything tomorrow. I promise."

She nodded, in complete understanding. "Well, I better get back to Watchtower. We don't need Oliver or Bruce saying the wrong thing tonight."

"Good idea."

Martha quickly stepped forward before Kara had the chance to disappear like she always does. "So, my favorite billionaires will be here tonight?"

"Yeah. Oliver and Bruce were both quite excited to meet the man they've heard so much about over the years."

"Oh no." Jonathon muttered, which caused every single person to glance over at him. "Were going to have two broody superhero' in the same house tonight…I wonder how that's going to go."

Kara chuckled, slightly. "I guess we'll find out."

After she left, Lois turned towards Martha and Jonathon, and clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Now, where are my two favorite men?"

Martha grinned from ear to ear. "Kaleb was very adamant about showing him his clubhouse."

Of course, she thought to herself, before making her way towards the back of the property, where she found both of them sitting on the ground chattering away with each other, and leaned against the doorway, grinning from ear to ear at the mere sight of father and son bonding.

It was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a very long time, and she honestly couldn't wait until they could spend even more time together.

Kaleb needed his daddy.

Clark needed his son.

And, she needed both of them.

She was feeling very thankful that things were going to start going back to normal, at least that's what she hoped would happen.

Clark sensed her presence, more like the sound of her racing heartbeat, almost immediately, and glanced over at her, a ginormous smile gracing his lips, as his son went on and on about absolutely everything, just like he had been doing since he dragged him to his clubhouse.

There was a small part of himself that wanted to stop her from leaving them, but he understood that she had other things to deal with, mainly sorting out the trouble their son had gotten into, and he also understood that she wanted him to spend some one on one time with his son, which is exactly what he had been doing since the moment she left.

It was ten times better than he ever thought it would be, especially since he never, ever thought that something like this could happen, but it was, and he couldn't be any happier at this moment.

But…

He has been home for hours, and all he really wanted to do was talk to her—hold her—kiss her—show her exactly how much he has missed her over the years.

Kaleb noticed that his daddy' attention wasn't entirely focused on him anymore, and followed his gaze, realizing that his mommy was standing by the door, watching them. In what felt like a flash, he was darting towards her, with a huge smile plastered across his face. "Mommy! Your back!"

She quickly caught him in her arms, and swung him around a few times before resting him on her hip. "I told you I would only be gone for a couple of hours. Are you having fun with your daddy?"

He nodded, enthusiastically. "We talked about everything. He even told me some stories about you."

"Is that right?"

Clark slowly stood up, and walked towards them. "I might have told him a few things."

"Of course, you did."

Kaleb squirmed, relentlessly to get out of her arms, which she gladly did, and he looked up at her with an undefinable gaze. "So…what did Mr. Reynolds say?"

"Well, Kaleb, I had a very long conversation with your principal, and he decided that it was best if you didn't go back to school for the rest of this year."

"What?"

She glanced over at Clark, who seemed to think that was a bit harsh, which she agreed with before looking back down at her son. "You've been suspended, Kal."

"S-s-suspended? But, there's not even one week of school left…"

"I know, honey."

He crossed his arms over his chest, and huffed, as a small frown took over his features. "This isn't fair!"

There was a small part of her of herself that wanted to tell him about the other reason she had been at the school for so long, even though he didn't seem as worried about it anymore, but decided against it…for now, mainly because Clark would have a lot of questions—questions she wasn't ready to answer yet.

She needed to figure out what was really going on before she even thought about mentioning anything about Lex and Murphy to him, and even then, she wasn't too sure that she would be brave enough to tell him everything, but a part of herself knew that it needed to be done sooner rather than later.

Clark kneeled down in front of his son, as soon as he noticed his forlorn attitude, and rested his hands on his shoulders. "Do you remember what I told you about dealing with the consequences of our actions?"

He nodded.

"Well, this is a perfect example of that. You made a bad decision, which undoubtedly got you into trouble, and now you have to deal with those consequences."

"I know."

"It might seem unfair, Kal, but maybe you'll learn from this experience."

He stared into his father' eyes. "I can't use my abilities unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Exactly." He ruffled his hair, making him giggle a little bit. "You just have to remember that we have to be more careful than other people. I had to do it when I was your age, and you will continue to do it for the rest of your life."

"Do you still have to be careful?"

"Yes. Only certain people can handle the truth, and you wouldn't want the wrong people finding out the truth."

"Is that why you told mommy? Because you trusted her?"

He glanced over at Lois, who was smiling down at him. "I trusted her, but it was more than that, I knew that she would keep it a secret because we love each other."

Lois grinned, at the father-son bonding moment, and realized that things might just be a little easier now, especially when it came to his abilities. Not only because Kaleb had his father, but because she now had the man she loved with all of her heart back in her life, and she had a feeling that things were only going to get better from this point forward.

She had her family right where she wanted them, and she never planned on letting them go.

Kaleb glanced at his parents after a few seconds of silence had passed between them, and grinned, inwardly, at the way they were smiling at each other.

Just today he had prayed—wished—dreamed that he could have the perfect family, and now all of his wishs have come true.

He had his daddy.

His mommy was happier than he's ever seen her.

And, he couldn't be more thrilled than he was at this very moment.

As much as he wanted to spend time with both of them, he had a feeling deep inside his stomach that his parents have a lot of things to discuss, and quickly made up a random excuse before dashing towards the farmhouse.

Clark and Lois watched their son dash out of the clubhouse, in quite a hurry, and chuckled, slightly, at his not so subtle way of leaving the premises. "That child is so much like you."

"Yeah. I swear he enjoys torturing me with that information, but luckily he looks exactly like you." Her smile fell almost instantly, at her own words, and within seconds tears started streaming down her cheeks, as memories of the past eight years without him came rushing to the forefront of her mind.

Without even thinking or questioning his decision, he quickly rushed over to her, and wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her tightly into his chest, knowing exactly what was going through that mind of hers, hell, it was going through his as well. "Shh. Baby, it's going to be alright. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

She pulled away from him, and stared deeply into his tear-filled eyes. "Promise?"

He rested his forehead against hers, gently. "I promise, baby."

"God, Clark, I've missed you so damn much!"

"I've missed you too." He pulled away from her, slightly, and wiped away her fallen tears, as he stared deeply into her hazel orbs. "Every single day I thought about you—about us. There wasn't a day that passed that you weren't lingering in my mind and heart. I love you, Lois. I love you so damn much. I never stopped."

"I never stopped either. I love you even more than I did eight years ago. Every single day I thought about you, and the only reason I was able to keep going without you was because of our son. He is the only reason I was able to hold it together all these years."

That literally broke his heart into a million pieces. Never would he have imagined the love of his life feeling like she couldn't move on with her life—like she couldn't live every day to the fullest without him, but all of that was over, he was here now, and he never, ever planned on leaving his family again. "You're not alone anymore, Lo, I'm here to stay forever—"

"And for always." She finished for him before leaning forward, capturing his lips in a soft, sweet and delicate kiss, as her hands wrapped around his neck, her fingers tangling in his dark locks.

He quickly wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her even tighter into his chest, and reciprocated the power of her tantalizing kisses, as his fingers gently dug into her flesh.

They pulled away from each other, simultaneously, feeling completely out of breath, and stared deeply into each other' eyes, as their foreheads rested together. As much as they wanted to reconcile their love for each other, it wasn't the time or place, and they had so, so much to discuss.

It had been a long eight years, and there was still so much they didn't know about what happened over all of that time.

As soon as they were cuddled up on the couch together with their arms wrapped around each other, they divulged everything that they have each went through over the years.

He explained everything that he had learned during his training, everything he had done over the eight years, including the fact that he had traveled to many different places, and revealed that he had gained the ability to fly, which she teased him about, relentlessly since he had believed that it wouldn't happen, more like was too afraid that it would happen.

She explained everything that she had personally went though over the past eight years, excluding any details about Lex and Murphy, which made it a little difficult since most of her memories included them. She explained the moment she realized that she was pregnant, revealing that she gained a few of his abilities, which worried him, slightly, but she quickly assured him that everything went fine, including his birth. She explained how her, and Kaleb had only moved back to Smallville a few years ago, also explaining the fact that for the first five years of his life they were traveling, which was kind of hard to explain due to the fact that Lex and Murphy were the very reason they weren't able to be where they wanted to be…home. She explained how and when he developed each of his abilities, including the horrifying day he literally ran all the way to Arizona, which had terrified her more than anything ever has before. Lastly, she revealed what the past eight years without him had been like…completely and utterly miserable, but that she had been able to perceiver through it all, due to the fact that their son needed her and that a part of her always knew that he would come back to them.

After she was done explaining everything, he rested his hand on the side of her face, his fingers caressing her skin, and locked his aquamarine eyes with her hazel ones. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't here for you or for Kaleb, but I need you to know that I'm here now, and you'll never, ever have to be alone again."

At his words, her heart constricted inside her chest, and she couldn't stop the tears from building in her eyes. "I started losing hope, Clark. I started wondering—questioning if you were ever going to come back to us, but looking at our beautiful, stubborn and intelligent son every single day made me keep holding on to the fact that you would return to us."

A few tears fell down his cheeks from her heart-breaking words, and gently wiped her own away. "I'm so, so sorry, baby. I never expected to be gone that long, but I promise you that I will never, ever leave you again."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

They slowly leaned forward, their lips crashing together, passionately, which sealed their promises to each other, and within seconds their innocent kisses became much more heated, passionate, and zealous.

She quickly swung her leg over his body, straddling his waist, as he wrapped one arm around her body, pulling her roughly into his chest, while his other hand squeezed her waist, and at each other's moans of complete pleasure, their tongues darted into each other' mouths, battling for dominance.

It had been a very long eight years since they last saw each other, kissed or even touched, and that was the only thing they could think about at this moment in time.

He slowly started smothering kisses down the side of her neck, finding her pulse point, and gently bit down on her flesh, as his hands slipped underneath her shirt, feeling the soft, smooth skin brushing against his fingertips.

God, he had missed this—missed her so god damn much.

Right when things were about to get even more intense, they heard voices echoing from directly outside the wooden doors.

"Hey, lovebirds! Dinner will be ready soon!" They heard Chloe' voice, which had a hint of humor laced in it.

"So, stop your nonsense, and get your asses inside the damn house!" Lana added.

They heard them giggling, loudly before their voices completely disappeared, and they grinned, uncontrollably at each other. "I guess that's our cue."

"I guess so." Lois replied, as she crawled off of his lap, and resembled the mess he had made of her clothes. "So, are you ready for this?"

He slowly stood up, also reassembling his own clothes. "I don't know, but I'm about to find out."

They intertwined their fingers together, and started walking towards the house, where the reunion everyone has been waiting eight years for was about to take place.

Little did he know, she thought to herself, he was about to discover a lot of new, surprising things, and meet quite a few new faces.

* * *

All the way across town, several miles away from the Kent Farmhouse, Lex Luthor roamed his eyes around the place that he used to call home only a few years ago, with complete and utter disdain, as he made his way towards his main office.

Everything was disorganized, musty, dusty, and there was even graffiti spread out across the walls throughout the entire mansion.

It was an absolute disaster.

A part of himself knew that his home would have been abandoned almost as soon as he was incarcerated, but he never, ever thought or even imagined that it would be this pitiful, and even though he could have ordered Wilkinson to keep this entire place clean and orderly for his return, he didn't, mainly because he wanted—needed his focus to be on more important things.

He slowly opened the double wooden doors to his office, which were a little worn down, completely ignoring the disarray of all his belongings, as he walked towards his dusty glass desk, and sat down in his leather chair, his mind reciting everything that has happened since he was released from prison.

Over the past two weeks, he had been spending most, if not all of his time in Metropolis dealing with LuthorCorp, soon to be LexCorp since his father had finally passed away a little over one year ago, and was constantly meeting with his financial team, attempting to correct his frozen accounts.

After everything was back to they way it was before his entire life was ripped out from underneath him, he concentrated his focus to the one and only thing that mattered to him at the moment in time…Lois Lane, her mutant child, and her freak friends, who were now calling themselves The Justice League.

They had been particularly busy since he was incarcerated, but that was all about to change, and as soon as he had everything he planned in order he could finally get what he has wanted for almost nine years now.

Every single one of them would pay for what they had done to him, even if that meant taking each and every single one of them out just like he hade done to that teleporting freak, Alicia Baker. All of them would pay in the same way she did. All of them except Miss Lane and her child. He had much more devious plans for them.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging open, and noticed Wilkinson rushing into the room with a very weird expression plastered across his face, but he didn't care about that, and glared, menacingly at him. "What the hell are you doing here? Your supposed to be at the Kent farm watching our targets!"

He took a deep breath. "That's exactly why I'm here, sir. It seems that we might be adding another name to that list."

A slight frown took over his features. "What are you talking about?"

"He's returned, sir."

A slow, devilish smile spread out across his face, at the direct meaning behind his words, and it was like music to his ears. "Are you sure?"

He nodded.

"So, Clark had decided to return home…and what perfect timing he has."

"What would you like me to do, sir?"

"I need you to continue watching every single one of them, but under no circumstances, will you allow him to notice you. I highly doubt that he knows anything as of yet, and we need to keep it that way for now."

"Yes, sir." He nodded before leaving the room.

Lex intertwined his fingers together, his smile growing wider, at the thoughts of what was to come.

At first, his plan only included Lois and Kaleb, but now that Clark has returned he would now be a part of his plan, and that only thrilled him more than anything has before. He might not have been part of his downfall, but this all started because of him, and it was sure as hell going to end with him.

As soon as everything was perfectly put into place, he would get everything he's ever wanted, and would rejoice in the deaths of that mutant family.

* * *

Several hours later, the entire family was sitting in the living room, having just finished dinner, and were immensely enjoying each other' company, also rejoicing in the fact that Clark was finally home after all of these years, as they chattered on and on about everything and nothing, just like they had been doing for quite some time now.

It was nice, Clark thought to himself, as he glanced around the room, smiling at every single person.

His parents were sitting in the loveseat directly across from him, cuddled up together like teenagers in love, and had a small, fluffy blanket covering them, as they conversed with each other.

Pete was very unsuccessfully chasing his troublesome twins around the room, attempting to get them to calm down, but after the dessert his mother had just served them he highly doubted that that would happen anytime soon.

Lois, Chloe, Lana and Kara were hurdled in the corner of the room, laughing and giggling, as they conversed about whatever their little hearts desired.

And, Kaleb was currently outside playing with Shelby, the golden retriever his parents owned, and the mere thought of his son entertaining himself brought a larger smile to his face.

He was a lot like him in that way.

He didn't need anybody or anything to make him feel happy or at home, which only reminded him of all the times he experienced that as a child, but his son was a hell of a lot better at it than he was at that age.

He glanced over at Lois, who was currently holding her sides in slight pain from laughter, and figured that that had a lot to do with her. She had raised him for eight years all by herself, and she had done a magnificent job with him, but now that he was here he supposed that things would be a lot easier on her part, especially when it came to his abilities.

As he watched all of the people he loved and cared about, he couldn't help feeling incredibly happy at this moment in time, and knew without a doubt that it couldn't get any better than this.

Over the past several hours, he had learned quite a lot about his friends and family, and even more about everything he had missed in the past eight years.

He had learned how Pete and Lana fell in love, how Kara came into their lives, how Chloe met Oliver Queen, and how Kara met Bruce Wayne. Surprisingly enough, the love of his life was the main reason all of his friends were together, happy and in love.

There were still two people he hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet, but he figured that that would happen soon enough, and he was quite intrigued at the idea of finally meeting the two men he had been hearing about all night long.

His thoughts were interrupted by his son, who slowly climbed into his lap, and wrapped his little arms around his neck before resting his head on his shoulder.

It was a surprising and emotional notion.

Surprising because he never, ever thought that he would have a child, and emotional because he had never felt so much love for one single person before.

It was completely different from the way he felt about his friends, family, and especially Lois. It was a different form of love, one that he was beginning to get very used to, and he couldn't be any happier than he felt right at this moment, as his son clung onto him like he was his lifeline.

Kaleb slowly lifted his head, and stared deeply into his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

Figures, he thought to himself, his son was so much like his mother. He would be the one to deduct that he was lost deep in thought.

He ruffled his hair, making him squirm in his arms. "I was thinking about you, your mommy, and our family."

He tilted his head to one side. "What about our family?"

"I'm just happy that I have you, your mommy and everyone else back in my life again."

A slow smile crept upon his features before he rested his head on his shoulder again, and whispered into his chest, "I'm happy that your home, daddy."

"So, am I, buddy," he replied, as he squeezed his son into his chest.

A few minutes of silence passed between them, and he absently started rubbing his hands up and down his back in a calmly matter before glancing down at him, who was drawing invisible designs on his chest, as his mind was obviously elsewhere. "Are you getting tired, buddy?"

He looked up at him, and shook his head, vehemently. "Nope. Mommy usually allows me to stay up late when I don't have school."

"Kal, just because you don't have to go to school anymore doesn't mean that you can ignore or disregard what happened today."

"I know."

He nudged him, slightly, forcing him to return his gaze to him. "Did you have fun with Shelby?"

A heavy frown took over his features, and he glared, fiercely, as he huffed, miserably. "I was until she decided to go to sleep."

A soft chuckled escaped past his lips, at the small pout that was plastered across his face. "Well, you probably tired her out, champ."

He shrugged his shoulders, like he didn't have a single care in the world. "Did you have any animals growing up?"

"Yeah. I didn't have a dog or anything like that, but I helped your Grandpa with all the cows and horses. We even had the occasional barn cat come visit us."

"I don't like cats." He grimaced, dramatically. "They're mean."

"I don't like them either."

He grinned over at him before resting his head back on his shoulder, and whispered, "I love you, daddy."

At those particular words coming from his son' mouth, he felt like his heart was going to explode from so much love, and felt the tears building behind his eyes, but quickly pushed them down. "I love you, too."

He glanced over at Lois, who was standing across the room from them, grinning from ear to ear, and he grinned right back at her, as she made her way towards them. "What are you two talking about?"

Kaleb quickly shot up into a sitting position, at the sound of his mommy' voice, and grinned at her. "We're talking about you, mommy."

She quirked a brow, as she glanced in-between them. "Is that right?"

He nodded before quickly grabbing her hand, and pulled her closer towards them. "Come sit with us."

A part of herself wanted to comply with his demands, but she couldn't help herself from wanting to tease her two favorite men. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think you two look perfect just the way you are. I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Mommy!"

Clark narrowed his eyes at her, and smirked when he noticed the teasing glint lingering in her eyes. "Get your butt over here."

She chuckled at the expression plastered across his face before making herself comfortable in his lap, and wrapped one arm around his neck, while the other one rested on her son' back, who was cuddled back up against his father' chest.

He pulled her closer to him, and rested his hand on her waist, squeezing softly. "What were you four troublemakers talking about?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." She snickered when he glared at her, and gently brushed her nose against his. "If you must know, we were discussing some plans I have for you."

That piqued his interest, immensely. "And what would that be?"

A large grin spread out across her face, at his horrible attempt at coaxing information out of her, and shook her head from side to side. "I don't think so, mister. I'm not telling you a single thing."

He pouted. "Why am I not surprised?"

"It might have been eight years, baby, but that certainly hasn't changed, you know, I'm just getting back at you for all those times you surprised me all those years ago."

Memories of everything he had done for her within those short three months they spent together came rushing back to him, and he grinned like a Cheshire cat. "God, that feels like just yesterday when I saw you for the first time."

"I think about those days every single day."

"So, do I, baby."

She rested her forehead against his, and stared deeply into his eyes. "I love you, Clark."

He slowly trailed his hand up her body until it was rested on the side of her face. "I love you too, Lois."

They shared a quick, sweet and passionate kiss, completely aware of the little eight-year old watching them with a smile plastered on his face, before she rested her head on his shoulder, and he leaned his head against hers.

This was the life, he thought to himself, as he tightened his hold around his perfect family.

When he had first arrived at home, he had believed that he would reunite with his family—with his friends—with Lois, and everything would go back to the way it was before, but it was so, so much better than he could have possibly imagined.

He had his son.

He had his cousin.

He had multiple more people in his life, including his niece and nephew, and there were a few people he still had yet to meet.

Speaking of, he thought to himself, as the front door opened, and two men appeared in the foyer. One of them was a tall blonde, who he surmised was Oliver Queen, and the other one was a tad bit shorter, a little bit more muscular, and had dark raven hair, which he assumed to be Bruce Wayne.

As soon as Kaleb saw his uncle', an earth-shattering smile graced his lips, and he practically leaped off his lap towards them. "Uncle Ollie! Uncle Bruce!"

Oliver grinned, at the little bundle of energy running towards him before quickly lifting him into the air, enjoying the way he giggled, relentlessly, and spun him around several times. "What are you still doing awake, squirt?"

He smirked at him. "Because I can."

"No, you can't, mister, but nice try." She slowly stood up, grabbing Clark; hand in the process, and pulled him off the couch.

Oliver simply ignored her, and focused all his attention on his nephew. "What did you do today? Get into any trouble?"

He ducked his head, slightly. "Maybe, but um, I met my daddy today."

He glanced over at Clark, who was walking towards them with Lois by his side, and was looking at him with an inquisitive glance, like he wasn't too sure what to make of him.

Which was completely understandable, he thought to himself, since he was very close to his girlfriend, son, and was married to his best friend.

There was a small part of himself that want to joke, tease and torment the guy, but he wasn't too sure how he would respond to that, and quite honestly, he'd rather not get a beating from Lois within only five minutes of being here.

He slowly lowered Kaleb to the ground, and grinned from ear to ear, at the brunette walking towards him before wrapping his arms around her. "Hello, legs, it seems like you've had quite an eventful day today."

She pulled away from him before wiggling her finger at him, dangerously, and glared, slightly. "Be nice."

He threw up his hands in surrender. "I wasn't going to do anything."

She just hummed at him before turning towards Bruce, and grinned, at the way he was already tensing up his body. "You know, I'd hug you, but I know how much you hate that, unless it comes from your lovely wife."

"And, were not discussing that, Lois." He glanced over her shoulder, at the very man he has heard multiple stories about. "So, are you going to introduce us to your boyfriend?"

She rolled her eyes, dramatically at him before turning towards Clark, and intertwined their fingers together. "Oliver, Bruce, I'd like you to meet Clark Kent."

Oliver was the first to strike out his hand, which Clark quickly shook. "It's nice to finally meet the man who swept Lois off her feet all those years ago."

A loud chuckle escaped past his throat. "It wasn't too hard."

"Hey!" Lois bellowed, as she glared at him, and slapped him against his chest.

He quickly kissed her cheek. "Love you."

She sighed, heavily, as she rolled her eyes at him, and glanced at Bruce, who was just eyeing him. "Bruce really isn't a people person, unless it comes to Kara."

He glared at her before focusing his attention on Clark. "It's nice to meet you, Clark, your lovely woman here had told us pretty much everything there is to know about you."

He snickered, slightly, at the attitude and disdain that was laced in his voice before glancing between both of them. "It's nice meeting both of you. I've heard quite a few things about the two of you as well."

Oliver groaned, loudly. "Let me guess, you heard everything from one spunky, witty blonde, and the other one was also blonde with major attitude, and fire."

He nodded, unable to stop himself from laughing out loud, at the eerie description of his best friend and cousin.

"I'd watch it if I were you."

Oliver quickly spun around, at the sound of his wife' voice, completely ignoring her words, and gently rested his hand on her stomach before kissing her cheek. "And, how are my two lovely ladies doing?"

Bruce scoffed, loudly, at the spectacle those two made. "Women." He reached out, and grabbed Clark' shoulder. "Let me tell you something, never, ever listen to the women, their versions of stories are always overdramatized."

"What was that, darling?"

He quickly straightened, at the sound of his wife' voice echoing from directly behind him, and quickly turned towards her. "Nothing, sweetheart."

Clark chuckled at both of them, knowing full-well that they meant every single word, but quickly shut his mouth, at the expression he received from the love of his life.

Oliver turned back towards him. "Well, now that that's taken care of, I think we have some major catching up to do."

Bruce nodded. "Come with us."

Lois, Chloe and Kara glared at the two of them, and simultaneously said, "Be nice."

Oliver glared, heatedly at all three of them. "We're just going for a damn walk. No need to get your panties in a bunch. Maybe you three should focus on womanly stuff, and leave well enough alone."

Both Clark and Bruce stared wide-eyed at Oliver with their mouths slightly hanging open, unable to believe the words that literally just came out of his mouth. As soon as Bruce noticed the glares they were all receiving from their women, he quickly started pulling them all away from them. "And, that's our cue."

All three of them burst into a fit of laughter, as soon as the front door closed behind the men.

It was always fun teasing them to the point where they were literally scared for their precious lives.

Kaleb, who had stayed silent during that entire exchange, watched his daddy leaving with his uncle's, feeling a tad bit left out since he wanted to spend time with them too, and yanked on his mommy' shirt. "I want to go with daddy!"

She glanced down at him, and shook her head from side to side. "No, Kal."

He glared at her, crossed his arms over his chest, and pouted. "I want to be with daddy!"

A soft sigh escaped past her lips before she kneeled down in front of him. "Kal, your daddy and uncles are going to have a grown-up conversation. It's no place for a child."

"I'm not a child!"

She quirked a brow at him, and smirked, wickedly. "Is that right?"

His eyes widened to the size of saucers, at the expression on her face, and knew almost instantly what was about to happen. "No, mommy don't!"

"Don't what?" Faster than he expected, she lunged towards him, tackled him to the ground, and started tickling him, relentlessly.

He squirmed, kicked, and swatted his hands at her, as he giggled, for several seconds. "Okay! Okay! I give up!"

She halted her movements. "What's the magic word?"

"Maple donuts."

"That's right. Now go play with your cousin' for a little bit."

He didn't hesitate on escaping from her, and rushed back into the living room.

When she stood up, and turned towards Chloe and Kara, they were staring at her with undefinable expressions plastered across their faces. "What?"

Chloe couldn't hold in her laughter any longer, and once she was able to calm down, muttered, "Maple donuts? Really?"

"It's our favorite dessert."

Kara snickered. "You mean, it's your favorite dessert, and you practically forced that child to eat those things when he was little."

"Whatever! How about you two go torment someone else!" She didn't wait for their response, and made her way to the kitchen, where she found Martha doing the dishes. "Need any help?"

Martha smiled over at her, and handed her a dish towel. "It sounds like everyone is having a pretty great time tonight."

"Yeah, I think we all kind of needed this tonight anyways. Things have been a little crazy in the past couple of months."

"But, things should be easier for you now that Clark is home…where is he by the way?"

She grinned, widely over at her. "Our favorite billionaires took him for a walk, meaning they are about to question him beyond belief."

"Are they going to talk to him about Justice League stuff?"

"Yeah, but he'll learn all about that tomorrow, among other things."

She halted her movements, and glanced over at her, noticing that she had a weird expression spread out across her face. "Are you planning on telling him anything?"

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips, and she looked over at the one person that understood her almost better than anybody else. "I know that I should tell him everything, but I can't force myself to tell him anything about Murphy, at least not yet."

"So, you are going to tell him about Lex then?"

"I don't really have a choice."

She frowned, slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I'll explain it all tomorrow." She turned around, and leaned up against the counter, her mind going a million miles a minute. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do in a situation like this. I should have told him years ago, but I didn't want to be the reason he decided to not complete his training, and we both know that's exactly what would have happened if I told him anything."

Martha turned her body towards, and rested her hands on her shoulders. "I understand that, sweetie, we all do, but I think he deserves to know everything about Lex and Murphy."

"I know, but um, I guess I'm just a little bit nervous about it all. What if he hates me for keeping it a secret this long? What if he looks at me differently? What if telling him changes things?"

"That's never going to happen, sweetheart."

"How do you know?"

"Because he loves you. He has loved you from the first moment he laid eyes on you, and he's loved you through all the times life has gotten in-between the two of you. It's not going to matter to him because he loves you with all of his heart, and that's never going to change."

She grinned from ear to ear at her. She always knew the right thing to say to make her feel better about any situation. "Your right. I'm just overthinking this. It's time that he knows everything."

They continued doing the dishes in complete silence for a few seconds before a thought occurred to Martha, and she turned towards her daughter. "Weren't you supposed to be setting up something for Clark?"

A large grin spread out across her face. "It's already done, but I need to be out there before he gets back with Bruce and Oliver."

"He's going to love it, Lois."

As soon as they finished the dishes, she quickly made an escape towards the surprise she had already set up for the love of her life. It was just the beginning of what she had planned for him, but she knew without a doubt that it would mean a lot to him.

* * *

 _ **HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!**_

 _ **This chapter was mainly just a fluff piece, with some family bonding, and I wanted to have one full chapter of pure happiness before things literally hit the fan, which will be happening very, very soon. I wasn't really to positive about the way I wrote Bruce' character, so I hope that it wasn't completely out of character for him, but I kind of want to make him a little more comedic, as well as keeping his broody nature. Again, I want to apologize for the long wait on this chapter, future chapters will be sooner, but not as constant as before either.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter forty-one!**_


	43. Chapter Forty Two

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Two:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'Heaven' by Bryan Adams**_

* * *

Clark slowly walked, side by side with Bruce and Oliver, in complete silence, as they made their way through the back fields of his parents' property, not too far away from his son' clubhouse, and quite honestly, he wasn't too sure what he should be feeling at this particular moment, but nervousness was definitely a resonant emotion he was experiencing.

It wasn't that he didn't like them, because he did, actually they were quite welcoming and polite characters, but he really didn't know them all that well, and even though he supposed that they wanted some one on one time with him, he wasn't all that positive on why they wanted him to come outside or what they even wanted to discuss with him.

It was quite obvious that they both had something important on their minds—something that they would rather not discuss in front of everyone else, mainly the women, but he had absolutely no idea what was so important that they needed to be alone with him.

He didn't have to wait very long for those never-ending questions rattling in his mind to be answered when they both stopped walking, and turned towards him, simultaneously before staring at him with inquisitive expressions.

It only made him feel more uncomfortable than he already was.

Oliver grinned, widely, at the nervousness that was radiating off of him in waves, and took a small step towards him. "You're probably wondering why we dragged you all the way out here."

"Yeah. Maybe just a little bit."

Bruce took notice of his nervousness almost immediately. "No need to worry, Kent, we just wanted to talk to you about something without any of the women putting in their two sense about the situation."

He snickered, slightly, at his apparent attitude towards the women, mainly his lovely girlfriend, which was completely understandable since she could be a tad bit brash and opinionated sometimes, but those were some of the qualities he loved most about her. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I guess you could call it an initiation of sorts."

That was an extremely weird way of putting it, he thought to himself. "An initiation?"

Oliver chuckled at him. "Sort of. Lois and Chloe wanted us to wait to discuss this with you, but we, and the rest of the team figured that you deserved to know."

This was just getting more and more confusing by the second. "Deserve to know what? What team?"

"The Justice League."

Just like that, a light switched on in his mind, as he remembered his cousin off-handedly mentioning this team earlier when she was searching for Lois, and even though at the time he was a little curious about this ominous team, he wasn't really sure what he had to do with any of this. "What is The Justice League?"

Oliver grinned, widely at his complete and utter confusion. "It's a team that I created several years ago."

"A team?"

"Yeah. It's basically a team of superpowered people whose mission in life is to help those who need it, and we've occasionally saved the planet a few times."

He shook his head from side to side, as thoughts of what they were attempting to tell him consumed his mind. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that your team is a bunch of vigilantes, like the people who run around in tights saving the day?"

Bruce chuckled, loudly at that before glancing sideways at Oliver. "I don't wear tights, but he does."

He glared at him. "They. Are. Not. Tights."

"Whatever. Believe what you want Robin Hood, but they are most definitely tights."

Before either of them could start a bickering match he quickly intervened, figuring that this was something that they did a lot from just the way they've been interacting with each other in the past few minutes. "So, does that mean you two are meteor infected or something?"

"Not even close." Bruce replied, but at the expression of pure confusion slowly spreading across his face, he continued, "I know you've been out of the loop for a few years, but I'm sure you've heard of the infamous Batman and Green Arrow before."

An expression of realization crossed over his face, at those particular code names, and an unbelievable grin slowly graced his lips. "Are you telling me that you're the vigilante that has protected the streets of Gotham for years?" At his nod, he glanced at Oliver. "And, you're the one that's responsible for many saves in Star City, as well as here in Kansas, mainly Metropolis?"

He nodded.

Figures, he thought to himself, his lovely girlfriend would have surrounded herself with superpowered beings while he was away. Not because she needed to or searched for them, but she did seem to have a knack for being a magnet to those type of people. Without even trying, she attracted not only him to her, but also many of the meteor infected they had encountered, even Alicia Baker, and now she was best friends with two superheroes, maybe even more.

As enthralling as all of this was to learn, he was still a little confused about all of this. "Okay. I understand what you're telling me, but um, what does all of this exactly have to do with me?"

Bruce sighed, heavily, and decided to jump straight to the point. "We want you to Join our team, Kent."

"You want me to join your team?"

He nodded. "You've been doing the same exact thing for many years, just like us, but with your skills and specialness you would be a great addition to the team, besides the others are quite interested in the mere idea of you joining us."

He frowned, slightly, at those particular words. "My skills?"

"Yeah. You know, the fact that you and Kara come from the same world…"

At the expression slowly forming across his face, Oliver quickly intervened. "Don't worry. Lois didn't tell us anything until we confronted her about it, but it was pretty easy to put two and two together when your superpowered cousin came to Earth, and if that didn't do it than we would have figured it out when your son started developing your abilities."

Everything they were revealing to him was very slowly starting to make complete sense to him, and he was understanding why they both wanted to speak with him alone.

They were both superheroes.

They both wanted him to join this team of theirs.

As intriguing and enthralling as that idea sounded since he knew that was exactly what his future entailed—what his true destiny meant, it was still a little confusing in some aspects. "So, basically, you two, my cousin, and my girlfriend are a part of this team, in which you help people who can't help themselves all around the world?"

Oliver nodded. "Among others."

"Others?"

Bruce stepped towards him. "Your best friend is also among those people, but you'll meet everyone else tomorrow."

This was just becoming more and more confusing by the second, even though most of his questions had been answered.

Oliver noticed his look of apprehension almost immediately. "Look, I can tell that you're a little confused about all of this, which is understandable, but I guess our question to you is…are you willing to use your gifts for the greater good of the human race?"

It was all very interesting, intriguing, and it was definitely something that piqued his interest, immensely, but there was still quite a lot of aspects of his destiny that he needed to figure out, and how he was going to incorporate that into his normal everyday life. "I don't know, I mean when I finished my training I knew that I would end up helping people, just like your team does, but there is still a lot I need to figure out on my own, and I need to speak to my parents and Lois about all of this."

Bruce nodded, in complete understanding. "She is actually the one that mentioned you joining us as soon as you returned, but take all the time you need, Clark, you will always be a welcome member to The Justice League."

He smiled at them, but it fell quickly, as a particular thought came to the forefront of his mind. "So, how did you two meet Lois in the first place? I mean, I know you two met Chloe and Kara through her, but how did you two personally get involved with her?"

They both glanced over at each other, sharing knowing glances before looking back over at him, and Oliver was the first one to open his mouth. "I came into her life not too long after you left, actually she was still pregnant with Kaleb when I met her." At his frown, he continued, "When I first started this lifestyle, I wasn't always doing things for the greater good, I mean I was helping people in my own way, but I guess you could say that I had turned into your everyday Robin Hood."

He rose a brow at that. "So, you were a thief or something along those lines?"

"I was going after billionaires, who had been dealing in the black market, which of course, brought me straight to Metropolis…"

It was quite obvious what he actually meant, or rather who he actually meant. "You mean, brought you to Lionel Luthor."

He nodded. "And to his son, but at the time Lex wasn't really a problem."

At those particular words, he remembered the conversation he had overheard Lois having with their son earlier, knowing that his old friend turned enemy had done something to the people he loved, but he really didn't understand what his reasons were for it. Maybe, just maybe he could finally get some answers to all his never-ending questions. "When did he become a problem?"

Oliver and Bruce glanced at each other, worriedly. A part of them wanted to tell him everything that had happened, but it wasn't the time of place, besides Lois needed to be the one that told him everything, she would be the only one to make understand everything that has happened in his absence.

"It doesn't matter. Anyways, Chloe and Lois tracked me down after I stole something from Lionel, and they helped me get on the right track when it came to saving people. I've been building and recruiting this team ever since that day."

He grinned. "So, that's what Chloe meant when she explained how you two met."

He grinned right back. "From the first moment I saw her, I knew that she was the one for me. We started dating a few months after that, and my life has been completely different since then."

That sounded a lot like the way Chloe explained it, he thought to himself, and it was quite obvious that those two were literally perfect for each other. He glanced over at Bruce, who was smiling, softly at his friend. "What about you? How did you meet Lois?"

"I'm not surprised that she never told you about me."

He frowned, slightly. "What do you mean?"

A grin spread out across his face, at how clueless he seemed to be, which he figured he would be, especially when it came to their particular relationship. "I've known Lois since we were children, of course at the time I thought she was quite annoying since all she ever did was follow me around like a lost puppy dog. I'm pretty sure she had a crush on me back then, but honestly, she was a lot like the little sister I never had." He took a deep breath before continuing, "I had just lost my parents, and was being raised by a family friend when her father was stationed in Gotham. That is how our story began. After she moved away two years later, I kind of felt like I was losing my best friend, but once I became older I visited her as much as I possibly could. A little over six years ago, she ended up on my door step with your son wrapped up in her arms, and I've been in her life ever since."

That entire story was quite surprising, especially since she had never, ever mentioned him one time, but he figured that she had her reasons for that, and it brought a few more questions to his mind. "Why was she in Gotham?"

That was a loaded question, he thought to himself. As much as he wanted to tell him everything about that particular time of their lives, he couldn't, not because he didn't want to, but because it wasn't his story to tell. It was Lois'.

"She recruited me for a job that the team was working on, and I've lived in Metropolis ever since that day."

Everything he had learned was very surprising and intriguing information, and he was very thankful that she had so many supporting people in her life while he was away. "I'm glad she has you two in her life."

Oliver smiled, widely. "We should be the thankful ones. She's the one who brought us to the love of our lives, and we can never, ever repay her for that." He clapped his hands together, quite excitedly. "Now that you know everything you wanted to know, I think its time we move onto a particular subject that we are both very, very curious about."

He quirked a brow at that. "And, what would that be?"

Bruce grinned, widely. "The subject of how you met the lovely Mad Dog Lane."

"Mad Dog Lane?"

"That's her nickname, but we never, ever say those words in front of her."

"Unless we want a beating," Oliver added, with a grimace.

A loud chuckle escaped part his throat, at the very idea of his lovely girlfriend giving a beating to these two men.

It would be a funny and hilarious sight, he thought to himself.

Bruce stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to say something, but when he remained silent, he huffed, silently. "Well, are you going to tell us or not?"

"I'm sure you've already heard the story."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "We've heard her version—"

"And, we've already discussed how the women overdramatize their stories," Bruce interrupted him.

"Now, we want to hear your version."

He chuckled at them, and shook his head from side to side. "Alright, it all started ten years ago…"

One hour later, Clark, Oliver and Bruce walked back into the farmhouse, laughing, wildly, having an absolutely great time, as they enjoyed each other' company and listened to their crazy stories about their lovers.

Their amusement was interrupted almost as soon as they walked through the front door by Chloe' teasing voice, "Sounds like you three are having a great time."

Oliver rolled his eyes at her. "Everything went perfectly fine. I told you not to worry. We weren't that hard on him."

She quirked a brow at him before locking eyes with her best friend. "Is that true?"

He chuckled at her, as he nodded, while Oliver stepped away from her, feigning an expression of complete and utter shock. "You don't trust me with your best friend?"

"Oh, I trust you, darling, but Bruce, on the other hand…"

He glared, heatedly at her. "I take offence to that."

"Good."

He was about to say something else, but the sound of his wife' voice stopped him in his tracks. "I see they have returned. Do I even need to ask how much you tortured my poor cousin?"

They both groaned, loudly before simultaneously saying, "You women are ridiculous."

"What was that?"

Clark shook his head from side to side, laughing at the spectacle all four of them made, as they disappeared into the kitchen before slowly edging into the living room, intending to search for his lover, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice from directly behind him.

"Daddy!"

He quickly spun around, catching his son in his arms, as he literally leapt into them, and swung him around in circles a few times before resting him on his hip. "Hey, buddy. Did you have fun while I was gone?"

"Yes." He glanced around, like he was searching for people, who could possibly be eavesdropping on them before leaning in close to him, and whispered, "But, now I'm on a secret mission…"

"What secret mission?"

"I have orders from mommy herself…she wants you to meet her at her favorite spot in Smallville."

He grinned, widely, as memories of all the times they spent together in just that one place filled his mind, even though the last time they were there was a very sad and depressing moment for both of them, it was still a place where they could always be happy, content, and settled.

After whooshing his son around like an airplane directly into his father' lap, he made his way towards 'their' field, where he found the most beautiful sight in the entire world.

His beautiful women.

She had definitely changed in the past eight years.

Her hair was much darker, just like he was assumed it would be when they had first met all of those years ago, her hips were a little wider, mainly from giving birth to their son, and the years had definitely done her justice.

She looked even more beautiful than she did eight years ago.

He quickly came up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest, tightly, as he pressed soft kisses along her neckline.

A bubble of laughter escaped past her throat, at the feel of his lips brushing against her skin, and slowly turned around in his arms before leaning away from him, slightly. "Well, hello there, handsome."

Instead of replying to her, he slowly leaned forward, capturing her lips in a sweet kiss, but pouted, slightly when she pulled away from him way too soon for his liking. "You're still a tease."

"That will never change, baby."

"Figures."

"So, how was the male bonding session? They weren't too hard on you, were they?"

He chuckled, softly. "You sound just like Chloe and Kara."

"We're all just looking out for you."

"It was fine. I learned a little bit about The Justice League, and I learned even more about you."

She quirked a brow at that. "Oh no. What did they tell you?"

"Just how you met both of them. I'm surprised that you never mentioned Bruce before since you've known him for years."

There were reasons for that, she thought to herself. "Well, the subject never came up in conversation, besides it had been a few years since I last saw, let alone talked to him." She quickly changed the subject, not liking where this particular conversation was headed. "What did they tell you about The Justice League?"

"They just explained everything about the team, and that they were interested in me joining them." He tightened his arms around her, effectively pulling her closer to him. "They did mention that both you and Chloe are on the team. What do you two do exactly?"

She grinned, widely at him. "You'll find out everything tomorrow. I think the most important thing is what you want to do with everything you learned tonight."

"You mean joining them?" At her nod, he continued, "I want to. I really do, but there is still a lot I need to figure out about my own destiny."

"I thought that's what the training was for?"

"It was, but it's more complicated than that. I can't just reveal myself to the world right away, at least not until the people of Earth are ready for the truth, and honestly, I'm not too sure if I'm ready for that either."

That was completely understandable. "Then what do you want to do, Clark?"

"I know what I need to do, but I just need to figure out how I'm going to accomplish it."

"Take however long you need, baby, I'll be here for every step of the way."

"I'm counting on that." He rested his forehead against hers, gently, and stared deeply into her eyes. "So, why was I ordered to come all the way out here from our son no less?"

She grinned like a Cheshire cat. "This, baby, is my surprise for you."

"And, what would that entail exactly?"

"Well, it's kind of a ritual of ours to dance after being apart for so long, and I figured that there is no better place than here."

Memories of when she came back into his life after being separated for over one year came rushing back to him, but what he felt in that moment would never, ever compare to the happiness he felt right at this moment.

A teasing glint formed in his aquamarine eyes. "Are you flirting with me, Miss Lane?"

She giggled, at his teasing nature. "Maybe just a little bit."

"Well, what are we waiting for then? I've waited a hellish long eight years to dance with you again."

She slowly released her hold around him, quickly setting up their iPod, the same exact one they have used so, so many times before, and as soon as the music echoed in their ears she moved straight back into his arms.

 _ **Oh, thinkin' about all our younger years**_

 _ **There was only you and me**_

 _ **We were young and wild and free**_

As the soft music and endearing lyrics reminded them of the first three months they ever spent together, a time in their lives where they were young, wild and free, they tightened their arms around each other, their bodies pressing together, softly, as their hearts beat perfectly with each other'.

 _ **Now nothin' can take you away from me**_

 _ **We've been down that road before**_

 _ **But that's over now**_

 _ **You keep me comin' back for more**_

They slowly moved in sync with the beat of the music, swirling around the field they had danced together in quite a few times before, and tightened their arms around each other, as she rested her head on his chest, while he leaned his head upon hers.

 _ **Baby, you're all that I want**_

 _ **When you're lyin' here in my arms**_

 _ **I'm findin' it hard to believe**_

 _ **We're in heaven**_

They slowly pulled away from each other, their foreheads resting together, as they stared deeply into each other' eyes. "Do you have any idea how much I missed you?"

He swept his fingers through her hair, and smiled down at her. "I do, baby, and I missed you just the same."

They slowly leaned forward, their lips meeting for a soft, sweet, and passionate kiss, as the entire world around them disappeared into the great abyss.

 _ **And love is all that I need**_

 _ **And I found it there in your heart**_

 _ **It isn't too hard to see**_

 _ **We're in heaven**_

Thirty minutes later, they walked back into the farmhouse with their arms wrapped around each other, and smiles plastered across their faces, as they rejoiced in the mere fact that they were finally together again after all of these years.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

They looked up to see their rambunctious child running full-force towards them, with a huge smile lingering on his beautiful face, and it only made them smile even wider from just the pure happiness that was radiating off of him.

Lois ruffled his hair. "Oh man, I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Mommy!"

Clark grinned down at the expression of pure irritation on his face. "What have you been doing? Causing trouble?"

Before he could answer that, his grandpa appeared in the doorway, and gripped his shoulders in his hand, squeezing softly. "He was plotting, just like usual."

"Plotting, huh?"

He nodded, excitedly before his facial expressions grew serious. "I'm on another secret mission…"

"Another one? What is this one about?"

He beckoned his mommy to come closer, which she willingly did, and he whispered in her ear, "I want to take daddy home."

She smiled down at him, loving that idea, immensely. "That's a very good idea, Kal. How about you ask your daddy?"

His eyes lifted up to his father. "Do you want to come home with us, daddy?"

Those particular words coming out of his son' mouth brought a humongous smile to his face, and it thrilled him in more ways than one, but mostly it touched every single corner of his heart. "I'd love to, Kal."

They spent the next few minutes getting ready to leave, and uttered their goodbyes to everyone they cared about and loved before heading towards the beginning of their new life.

* * *

Lex Luthor was sitting in his office at LexCorp, going over absolutely everything that he had missed over the past two years, and he was quite surprised by everything he had learned.

His business had gone into the boiler, literally, as well as his assets, and over the past two weeks he had been slowly returning everything to the way it was before he was incarcerated, but that wasn't what was troubling him the most.

It was the fact that the people who had literally ruined his life were walking around like nothing had ever happened—like they had absolutely nothing to worry about.

It was irritating as all hell.

But, the most important thing he had learned over the past couple of days, was the fact that little Kaleb Kent had definitely been born with his father' alien genes, and was already starting to develop quite a few of his abilities, which of course would make things just a tad more difficult, but no matter what he was determined to get what he wanted from that child before disposing of every single one of them, especially Miss Lane.

He glanced up at the door, away from the paperwork sprawled out across his desk, and straightened his back when he noticed Wilkinson walking past the glass doors towards him. "Did you get what I asked for?"

He shook his head from side to side. "My team wasn't able to figure out where Clark Kent has been for the past eight years, but they are still working on that."

"Then why are you here?"

"We found something else that might interest you…"

"What would that be?"

"Murphy."

A slow smile spread out across his face. "You found him?"

He nodded. "It took a very long time, but we finally tracked down his whereabouts."

"Where is he?"

"He's in Tristan Da Cunha, The British Overseas Territory, sir. It seems that our subjects went into a hell of a lot of trouble to place him somewhere where no one would ever find him."

A feeling of pure hatred consumed every fiber within his being. "That doesn't surprise me. I need you to retrieve him as soon as possible."

He hesitated for a split second. "Will we be putting the plan into action once he's back in Metropolis?"

He glared at the man. "Have we finished setting everything up yet?" When he shook his head from side to side, he continued, "Then you know the answer that that pathetic question. Just get him here. We'll figure out everything else once we have our secret weapon."

He nodded, and quickly left the room.

For the past two weeks, he had been wondering how they were going to get everything ready for his master plan, but now that he had found the one person that could help in that particular department, he could get his operation up and running a lot sooner than planned.

The sooner his partner in crime returned the better, and soon enough they would both be getting what they've waited over two years for…revenge.

* * *

Clark couldn't believe what he was witnessing, as they pulled up to the little farmhouse, where the love of his life and son lived, actually he couldn't believe that she even owned a house in Smallville, which was conveniently only a few miles away from his parent' house.

It was incredible.

It was unbelievable.

It was shocking.

But…

It also made him feel incredibly happy, thrilled and overwhelmed.

Happy because there was a part of himself that had always wanted to live in a little farmhouse, such as this one with the woman he loved with all of his heart, and it seemed like that dream was finally coming true.

Thrilled because he couldn't wait to find out how this had happened—because he couldn't wait to spend every since day and night inside this house with his family.

Overwhelmed because he had never been too positive about what their future would look like, but it was quite obvious that everything he has ever wanted from life was coming true, and he couldn't possibly imagine feeling anymore excited than he did at this very moment.

As soon as they all exited the vehicle, he roamed his eyes around all of his surroundings, taking notice of the large, tan farmhouse, barn, shed, and it seemed that they had quite a lot of acreage.

He glanced over at Lois, who was smiling at him. "This place is great, Lo."

She grinned at him. "Just wait. You haven't even been inside of the house yet."

Kaleb quickly grabbed his hand, and started pulling him towards the house. "Yeah. I have so much to show you."

After Kaleb had literally showed him every single square foot of the house, which took roughly about thirty minutes, he led them to his bedroom, and twirled around in several circles with his hands pointed outwards before grinning up at him. "And, this is my room."

It was quite large for an eight-year old, he thought to himself, but figured that Lois wanted to give him anything and everything he wanted, which was completely understandable.

He took notice of everything that was inside his son' room, not only was it filled with mundane children toys, a lot like the ones at his parent' house, but there was a lot of his things in the room as well. His planetary system was perfectly set up in one of the corners of his room, and his old telescope was sitting directly in front of the window, just like how he used to have it set up in his old Fortress of Solitude.

"Are these from the barn?"

Kaleb nodded, excitedly. "Mommy moved them here."

"A few years ago, I realized that he was interested in the same exact hobbies you were, and instead of just leaving them up there, I figured that it would be a good idea to bring them here, besides he wouldn't stop asking for them."

He chuckled at that. "I'm glad someone found a use for them."

Kaleb quickly ran over to his telescope, and rested his hand right on top of it. "When I was younger, mommy used to tell me all about the constellations and planets, even the stories behind them all, but I don't need her help anymore. I know everything."

Clark stepped closer to his son, and ruffled his hair. "I'm the one who taught her everything she knows."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Can you tell me that story?"

Lois quickly stepped forward, interrupting their father-son bonding moment. "I think it's past your bedtime, young man."

He pouted, sulkily. "But, I want to hear the story!"

She shook her head from side to side, as she grinned down at her son. "Your daddy will tell you the story, if and only if you get ready for bed right this second."

Just like that, he rushed into the bathroom without uttering another word, intending to get ready for bed as fast as possible because he wanted to hear one of his daddy' stories more than anything else.

They both chuckled, as they walked out of his room, and once they were in the living room, Clark roamed his eyes around the entire place. "This place is really amazing, Lo."

She stepped closer towards him. "You really think so?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but I am curious to the fact why you ended up buying a house here in Smallville and not in Metropolis, like you always dreamed of doing."

A part of herself wished that she could answer that question with complete honestly, but she couldn't…not yet at least, not until he understood everything that she had been through over the years, and that was something she really, really didn't want to think about.

"I didn't buy this place." At his frown, she continued, "I built it, well with the help of everyone. I wanted to live in Metropolis at one point, but that was before I gave birth to Kaleb. I knew that he would be better living here in Smallville than in the big city."

"So, you did it for him?"

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. "Not exactly. A part of it was because of him, but I also did it for me."

He frowned even more so. "You've lost me."

Her eyes fell to the ground, unable to look him in the eyes, as she uttered the feelings—the emotions that she had been feeling deep inside of her heart from the moment she watched him disappear in a bright, white light at the caves, the one place she had never went back to after having to say goodbye to him there.

"Clark, when you left that night, a part of myself left with you, and all I literally had was our memories together. Nothing else. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else other than here. This is where you have lived your entire life. This is where your family lives. This is where we shared memories together, and I guess a part of myself believed that if I stayed here I would be close to you in some way, even though you weren't actually here."

Those words coming out of her beautiful mouth literally broke his heart into a million pieces, of course, he knew that she would feel a little heartbroken when he left all those years ago, but he had absolutely no idea that it would have done that to her—that it would have made her feel that way. A part of himself regretted ever leaving her, but the other part of himself knew that it would have happened one way or another, and he was very thankful that it happened when it did because he couldn't imagine leaving her at this point in their lives.

"Lois, look at me."

She didn't.

He slowly walked towards her, resting his hand on her arm, as his other hand rested underneath her chin before slowly lifting her head up towards his, their emotion-filled eyes meshing together. "Lois, baby, I know that things have been hard since I left you, and I can't even imagine the pain and heartbreak I put you through, but I need you to believe me when I tell you that I'm home now—that I'm never, ever going to leave you again. You will never have to go through anything alone again. I'm here. Forever and for always."

She stared deeply into his eyes, her emotions and feelings clearly resonant in her tear-filled hazel orbs. "I know."

"Good."

He leaned forward, intending to kiss her—to prove to her that everything he was telling her was the absolute truth, but stopped his movements, at the excited tone of his son' voice, echoing from behind them. "I'm ready."

They both chuckled at their son before following him into his room, prepared to tell him whatever story his little heart desired, knowing full-well that this was something he has been dreaming about for years, and they would both do whatever it took to keep that heart-stopping smile lingering on their little boy' face.

It was the one and only thing that mattered to them.

One hour later, Clark and Lois quietly tiptoed out of their son' room, trying their hardest not to make any noise, as they made their way towards the living room. Over the past hour, they had told him multiple stories, ones he's heard over and over again until he fell asleep in the arms of his father.

As soon as they made it to the living room, Lois noticed that Clark was about to say something, but quickly pressed her fingers to his lips, shushing him, and grabbed his hand, leading him to their bedroom. Once the door closed softly behind her, she turned towards him with an apologetic smile plastered across her face. "I swear that child will wake up at the sound of a pin dropping, and I kind of want the rest of the night to be about us."

He quirked a brow at her words, and a slow, seductive smile spread out across his face. "Is that right?"

She giggled, softly, at the expression lingering on his handsome face, and knew exactly what was going through his mind, hell, it had been going through hers all day and night, but there was something of major importance that was also on her mind.

"I, um, I made something for you." She slowly walked over to her dresser drawer, and pulled out a light turquoise book, staring down at it for a few seconds before walking back towards him. "When I found out I was pregnant, at first I was really upset and depressed about it, not because I was going to have a child, but because I knew you weren't going to be here to see him grow—to hear his first word—to watch him walk for the first time—to witness him develop his abilities."

He sighed, heavily, at the mere thought of how he missed all of those little moments that would have made his entire life that much better. "I'll be honest, it would have been amazing to see all of those things, but I'm just glad that I have a son, and that I'm not going to miss another moment of his precious life."

"That's why I made you this."

He slowly grasped the book in his hands, but as soon as he opened the cover, his heart collapsed inside his chest straight down to his stomach, and he lowered himself to the bed, as he glanced at the first picture of his son.

It was the most beautiful and thoughtful thing she could have ever done for him.

It started from the moment he was born to his eighth birthday party, which wasn't that long ago.

A few minutes later, he closed the book, and set it down on the bed, gently before looking up at her with tears pooling in his eyes. "I've missed so much."

She slowly sat down next to him. "I know, baby, but you're here now, and you'll never have to miss another memory with your son."

"Our son," he corrected her.

"Our son."

He tilted his head to one side, slightly. "I still can't believe it."

She smiled at him. "It took me nine months just to get used to the idea, and I was nervous, overwhelmed, but mostly I was scared, scared that I wasn't going to be what he needed the most—that I was going to be a horrible mother. That all changed the moment I held him in my arms for the first time because as soon as I felt his heartbeat, heard his first cry, and stared into his beautiful baby blue eyes I knew that it would never matter to him. He loved me, and I loved him. Nothing else mattered in that moment."

"You're a great mother, Lo."

"And, you're going to be a great father."

He shook his head from side to side. "I only just met him. He's spent eight years with you, and I can tell that he loves you more than anything. You two have a bond stronger than anything I've ever seen before."

She nodded, agreeing with him. "And, I love him, but he loves you just the same. You might not have been here, but you're here now, and that's all that matters to that little boy, you know, every single day he would ask about you—he would want to know everything about you. Every single time he asked, I told him anything he wanted to know, no matter what it was, because in some way I think he believed that if he knew things about you that you were with him in some way."

He gently rested his forehead against hers. "Thank you, Lois."

"For what?"

"For everything. For giving me a child. For loving me. For doing everything in your power to let that little boy know that I loved him, even if I didn't know he existed. Just thank you for everything."

A few tears fell from her eyes, at his heartfelt words. "Your welcome, Clark, but you should know by now that I'd do anything for you and for our son."

"I know." He slowly leaned forward, capturing her lips in a sweet, passionate kiss, the feel of her reacting to him almost immediately set off every sense within his body that had been practically dormant for over eight years now, and he didn't want to feel anything else.

He just wanted to feel her.

He just wanted her.

As the love of her life pressed soft, sweet, passionate kisses to her lips, every single fiber in her being was being alit with magical fireworks, and it was causing all of her senses to come alive, at his simple touch.

It had been eight years.

Eight long years, and there was nothing she wanted more right now, but there was just one problem.

She slowly pulled away from him, breathing heavily from his powerful kisses. "Are you sure?"

He stared at her like she had completely lost her mind. "What are you talking about? It's been eight years, baby, I don't think I've ever wanted you more than I do right now." He started leaning towards her again, but she pressed her hand to his chest, pushing him back a little further.

"That's exactly my point. It's been eight years, Clark, I'm not the same as you remember."

At first, he didn't really understand what she exactly meant by that, but all of a sudden it dawned on him, and smiled, softly at her, as his hands rested on her stomach, gently. "It doesn't matter to me, Lo, your beautiful to me no matter what, and those scars you have now only make you more beautiful to me."

Figures, she thought to herself, she should have known that that would have been his response, especially since that had always been one of his most attractive qualities, and she only loved him more for it. "I love you, Clark."

"I love you too, baby." He quickly recaptured her lips with his, in a searing kiss, pouring all of his love—all of his feelings—all of his emotions into that one kiss, and wrapped one arm around her body, tightly, as his other one rested on her waist, squeezing it ever so slightly, allowing himself to get reacquainted with the feel of her underneath his fingertips.

She slowly trailed her fingertips up his arms before flinging them around his neck, her fingers tangling in his soft, raven black hair, as she swung her leg over his waist, straddling him, just like they had done so, so many times before, and pressed every inch of her body against his, loving the way his muscular chest felt against her.

A low moan escaped past his throat, as his hands trailed up and down her back before his fingers slipped underneath her shirt, the feel of her soft, smooth skin underneath his fingertips igniting a reaction deep inside the pit of his stomach, a feeling he hadn't felt in way, way too long.

It had been years since he had any real human contact, the slightest touch was spreading a fire deep within every single one of his veins, and he only wanted more of her—more of this.

She grinned against his lips, pulling herself even closer to him, making sure that there was absolutely no space in-between them, as she softly nibbled on his lower lip, her tongue tangling with his once he opened up to her, and very, very slowly pressed her mound against his apparent growing erection.

He growled low in his throat before ripping his mouth from hers, at the feel of her body moving so slowly against him, and trailed his hands down her body until the rested on her ass, pressing her just a little bit harder against him, as his mouth latched onto her pulse point, sucking softly.

"Clark…"

The sound of her voice whispering his name, stirred him on even more so, and he slowly kissed his way back up to her lips, kissing her passionately before pulling away, slowly, staring deeply into her lust-filled hazel orbs.

She smiled at him, as his aquamarine eyes stared directly into her very soul, and she slowly traced her fingers down his chest, seductively before lifting his shirt over his head, tossing it clear across the room.

"Lois…" He softly moaned, as soon as her fingertips ran across his chest, the touch sending a flaming, fiery sensation throughout his entire body, and his eyes slowly fluttered shut, in complete bliss when she began pressing feathery, light kisses down the side of his face to the crevasse of his neck.

The feel of her lips pressing against his skin so soft like—so gentle like, made him moan just a little bit louder, which only stirred on her ministrations, as she pushed him down to the bed, gently, her lips making a trail down his chest and stomach until they rested on the hems of his jeans.

She glanced up at him, with a wicked grin, also noticing that he was staring at her with an intensity she had never, ever seen from him before, and very, very slowly removed his jeans and boxers in one swift move before her fingers wrapped around his hardened member, squeezing him softly.

At the feel of her touching him so intimately, his head fell back against the bed, and his eyes fluttered closed, in complete and utter bliss, as soon as he felt her tongue flick out across his tip.

It was light.

It was feathery.

It only made him ten times more aroused than he already was, and he wanted so, so much more.

"Jesus, Lo…"

She grinned up at him, loving that she had this affect on him, and gently latched her lips around his tip, sucking softly before she started bobbing her head up and down on him, her tongue tracing the bulging vein that ran across the underside of his even harder member.

His hands quickly found their way to the top of her head, his fingers curling into her soft, dark strands, and gently pushed her closer to him, as he pushed his hips up, wanting to go deeper—wanting her to go faster. He mewled out, "Yes…baby…more…"

She started moving up and down faster and faster, and hollowed out her cheeks, as she sucked just a little bit harder the faster she moved up and down on him, which had him squirming beneath her, panting, breathlessly. As soon as she felt that he was seconds away from exploding, she slowed her movements bringing him back down before doing it all over again several more times before releasing him with a pop, and stood directly in front of him with a satisfied smirk plastered across her face.

He glared at her. "God, you're such a tease."

She giggled, softly. "Always have been. Always will be."

At the teasing glint lingering in her fiery, hazel eyes, he was prepared to challenge her, but whatever he was about to say got lost in translation when she started stripping her confining clothing off, piece by piece, seductively tossing them across the room, as her eyes locked onto his, unwavering.

His eyes slowly traveled up and down her body, as soon as every single piece of clothing was discarded, and in that moment, he realized what she was so nervous—so scared about, but in his honest opinion, what he saw was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen before.

Her body.

It was scarred, ever so slightly across her stomach, and her hips were much wider than before, just like he had figured they would be after bringing a beautiful life into this world.

Honestly, she was ten times more mesmerizing this way.

It was only proof that she had went through something so incredible—proof that she had given him one of the many things he wanted in life…a child.

He highly doubted that he would ever feel more contended than he did right at this particular moment.

His awe-filled aquamarine eyes meshed with her hazel ones for several seconds, their souls combining into one. "Your beautiful, Lo." Her eyes sparkled, magnificently at him, as her cheeks burned a bright red, causing a smile to grace his lips. "Your blushing."

"You always make me blush."

He grinned up at her. "I love that I still have that affect on you."

"Always."

"Good." He quickly stood up, rushing over to her, his lips crashing against hers, powerfully, as his hands gripped her thighs in his hands before lifting her off the ground, wrapping her legs around his waist. He slowly spun them around, walked back towards the bed, and very gently lowered them both down to the mattress, their eyes connecting, blissfully before he attacked her lips once again. When neither of them could breathe any longer, from their mind-blowing kisses, he kissed down the side of her face, forcing her to move her head to one side, and very, very slowly dragged his tongue down her neck until he reached the tops of her breasts, as one of his hands lightly grazed across her bare thigh, while the other one rested on her stomach, his fingers tracing further and further down to where she wanted him.

Her legs widened, unconsciously, as her hands gripped his shoulders, tightly, and her head rolled from side to side on the mattress, at the mere thought of what he was planning on doing to her body. She moaned out, "Fuck…Clark…"

He grinned against her skin, as he peppered soft, ticklish kisses to one of her breasts before latching his lips around the nipple, sucking it into a hardened bud, while one of his hands cupped the other one, squeezing it ever so softly, his fingers rolling and pinching her nipple, softly. His other hand slowly moved further down south, slowly parting her lips, his fingers soaking up her slick juices, as he slid them up and down her labia, loving the noises she was making beneath him.

At the feel of his hands and mouth on her body, her eyes slithered closed, while her breathing became heavier and heavier, every single part of her enjoying every little thing he was doing to her.

It had been several years since he last loved her like this—since he last touched her like this, and she just couldn't get enough of him.

She only wanted more.

A bubble of giggles escaped past her throat, as he grazed his lips down her stomach, slightly tickling her, which caused him to smile against her skin.

He gripped her thighs in her hands, locking them around his head, tightly, as his fingers opened her glistening folds just a little bit more, her scent consuming every fiver within his being, and very teasingly dragged his tongue up and down before slowly sliding one finger deeply inside of her.

Her legs tightened around him, pushing him even closer to her mound, and her hands found the top of his head, her fingernails scraping against his scalp. She moaned out, "Oh…god…Clark…"

He grinned against her flesh before latching his lips around her clitoris, his tongue rotating it in small circles, as two more fingers slipped deeply inside of her, moving slowly at first, but then faster and faster.

Her eyes snapped opened, as she felt the tell-tell signs of her approaching orgasm, and she knew, without a doubt, that it wouldn't take very long, especially since it had been so long since she had felt this amazing—felt this turned on—felt this blissful. She quickly reached in-between their bodies, grasping his hard member in her hand, beginning to move up and down slowly, but started moving faster and faster, causing him to gasp, loudly, and remove his mouth from her, his eyes connecting with hers, instantaneously. "I want you now, Clark."

He wanted her too, god, he wanted her more than he's ever wanted her before, and there was a small part of himself that wanted to take this slowly—to build up to their ecstasy, but he knew from just the feel of her hand wrapped around him and the look in her eyes that neither of them were going to last very long. He slowly kissed up her body until he was hovering above her, and stared deeply into her eyes, as he nudged her entrance with his tip, softly, making her moan, which sounded like magic to his ears.

She wrapped her legs high around his waist, his tip dipping into her entrance by one centimeter, causing both of them to close their eyes, pleasurably, and growl, softly at the feel of each other.

It had been so, so long since they've experienced this—since they've been this intimate with each other, and the feelings they were erupting inside of each other was only making them want more and more of each other' touch.

"I love you," they both muttered, simultaneously before he pushed his hips forward, slowly entering her until he bottomed out inside of her.

Her hands wound around his back, and her fingernails scraped down his back, at the feel of him inside of her. She moaned out, "Clark…"

He gently nudged her head to one side, smothering her neck with sloppy open-mouthed kisses, as he started moving in and out of her, smoothly, and when she clenched her muscles around him, his eyes snapped open, while his hands curled into the bed sheets. He mewled out, "Oh…god…Lois…"

She tightened her legs around his waist, pressing her hips into his harder and harder, as he started moving faster and faster within her, and as soon as she felt the coiling deep inside the pit of her stomach she quickly flipped them over, riding him harder and harder, faster and faster.

He gripped her waist in his hands, his fingers digging into her skin, as he helped her move perfectly above him before sitting up, and capturing her lips in a passionate, possessive kiss, while their tongues initiated the same movements as their lower bodies.

They both knew they were seconds away from eternal bliss, while she moved faster and harder above him, one of his hands reached in-between their bodies, finding her sweet little nub, and started rubbing it in circles hard and fast, wanting her to go over the edge with him.

She threw her head back, as she continued riding him, and growled out, "Yes…baby…right there…oh…god…"

Her words only stirred him on even more, and he started moving his hand faster and harder against her, as he pounded his hips into hers, relentlessly, their skin slapping together, loudly. He could feel her walls slickening around him, and knew she was close, just like he was, but he needed more—more of her. He quickly flipped them back over, slipped out of her, and lifted her legs over his shoulders before slamming back inside of her, deeply, his eyes snapping shut at this new pleasurable angle.

He mewled out, "Oh…fuck…yes…Lois…I'm so close…baby…"

At this particular angle, one that they had experienced so many times before, the tip of his member brushed against her sweet spot every single time he bottomed out inside of her, and it sent shivering, tingling sensations throughout her entire body. Her hands fell from his body, clenching the bed sheets into her fists, as he moved so smoothly within her.

Both of their eyes snapped open, their eyes locking on each other, as their stomachs coiled in absolute pleasure, making them arch their backs, and started moving their hips harder and harder, faster and faster until that rush of utter bliss consumed every single particle in their bodies for several seconds before they slowed their movements, riding out each other' mind-blowing orgasms.

He collapsed on top of her, his hands holding himself up, keeping most of his weight off of her, and buried his face into her neck, pressing light kisses against her collarbone, as she wrapped her arms around his slick body, both of them attempting to catch their ragged and uneven breaths.

After a few minutes, he slowly rolled off of her, turning them on their sides, and slowly began removing himself from her, but she quickly locked her arms and legs around his body, stopping his movements. "Nuh-huh. Don't move yet."

He chuckled, softly at her before brushing the sticky hair away from her beautiful face, and stared deeply into her hazel orbs. "I love you so damn much, Lois."

"I love you too, baby." She pressed her lips against his, softly, passionately, and disarmingly.

Once neither of them could catch their breaths, they pulled away from each other, and she rested her head against his sweaty chest, as he pressed his body closer to hers before they closed their eyes, the sound of each other' heartbeats luring them into a deep sleep, their bodies still intertwined as one.

* * *

The next morning, the early sun shined brightly into their bedroom, directly into her closed eyes, and she very slowly blinked them open, frowning at being woken up so early, but that frown quickly turned into a weltering smile, as they rested on the beautiful man sleeping so calmly and peacefully next to her, his hands sprawled out across her body.

It was real.

Everything had actually happened.

It wasn't just another one of her really vivid dreams, ones she's been experiencing for eight years now.

The love of her life had actually returned to her.

He had finally met his son.

They had really danced in their favorite field.

They had reconciled their love for each other, quite magically, she thought to herself.

Yesterday had literally been the best day of her life.

Not only did everything she had been wishing—praying—hoping for came true, but everything was finally where it was supposed to be, and she had a feeling that things were only going to look up for this point forward.

As much as she wanted to just let him sleep—to just let him remain in this peaceful bliss, she couldn't stop herself from leaning forward, pressing her lips against his skin before finding their way to his lips, which granted her with a soft moan before his eyes slowly fluttered open, a smile gracing his lips once they landed on her.

"Mhmm. What a way to wake up," he muttered before pulling her closer to him, his lips brushing against hers, softly and sweetly. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Good morning, handsome."

He slowly slid his fingers down her arm, across the side of her ribcage to the tops of her thighs, and started tracing small circles across them, ever so slightly. "How'd you sleep?"

She brushed the hair away from his face. "Better than ever before since I had the man I love in my arms all night long."

He grinned, widely at her. "That was really nice. It was one of the many things I've missed the most."

"One of the things?"

A slow smirk spread out across his face, as his moved his head closer to hers. "I missed that more than anything. I missed having conversations like this with you every single day and every single night, but I really missed what we did last night."

Her eyes lit up like firecrackers. "Oh yeah? Is that right?"

"Yeah." He quickly captured her lips in a soft kiss, his hand slowly tangling in her long, soft locks, while his other hand squeezed her waist, softly, but before he could intensify anything she pulled away from him, and started getting out of bed.

He frowned at her. "Where are you going?"

She chuckled, softly, at the expression that was plastered across his face. "Getting somewhat decent before our son rushes in here. You wouldn't want to traumatize your poor child, would you?"

At that particular thought, he quickly jumped out of bed, slipping on his boxers before pulling her down to the bed with him, as soon as she had slipped on her shirt.

A gurgle of laughter escaped from both of them, as he hovered about her. "Now." He pecked her lips. "Where was I?" He peppered kisses down the side of her face. "Oh, yes, I remember." He buried his face into her neck, beginning to kiss, lick and suck on her pulse point.

Her eyes fluttered closed, in absolute pleasure, at the feel of his mouth attacking her skin, and she wrapped her arms around his body, her fingernails scraping down his back, causing him to moan, softly, which only made her giggle even more.

They quickly halted their movements, staring at each other with knowing glances when they heard soft laughter coming from the room down the hall, his footsteps getting louder and louder before the closed door swung open, and their ball of energy pounced on them, like a crazed wildcat. "Mommy! Daddy!"

They both glanced at each other, their minds thinking on the same wavelength, and quickly tickled their son, as they smothered him with extravagant kisses, causing him to laugh, uncontrollably.

He squirmed, kicked and shouted until he was free from their evil attack, and pinned their hands down by their sides, smirking down at them. "Ha! Now you can't get to me!"

She challenged him with her eyes. "Is that what you think?"

He nodded.

Clark quickly slipped his hands out from underneath his son, and ruffled his hair, making him glare at him, playfully. "You're a wild thing this morning."

He nodded, again, like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. "That's because I'm really, really, really happy."

Lois freed her hands from her son' tight grip, and pinched his side, softly tickling him, making him wiggle above them. "Why are you so happy?"

He stared straight into both of their eyes. "Because daddy' home. Because I can be with both of you every morning and every night. Because I finally have my perfect family."

They both glanced at each other, from the pure honesty and emotion coming from their son, with tears in their eyes before they returned their gaze to him, smiling as wide as they could possibly manage.

They really did have the perfect family now.

Clark lifted him up, and placed him between their bodies, comfortably. "You'll never have to be without me ever again, Kal, we will always be together, You, your mommy, and I will always be a perfect fit."

Lois wrapped her arms around her family. "And, don't you forget it, little one."

He glared at her. "I'm not little!"

"Of course not," they muttered, simultaneously

Several minutes later, Kaleb glanced between his parents after the room was enveloped in deep, contended silence. "What are we doing today?"

Clark glanced at Lois with a teasing glint lingering in his eyes. "Yeah, mommy, what are we doing today?"

She glared, playfully at him before glancing down at her son. "You're going to spend a few hours with Grandpa and Grandma, while I take your daddy on a little adventure into the city."

His eyes lit up, as he practically jumped out of bed, sitting directly in front of them. "An adventure? I want to go!"

Clark shook his head from side to side. "Sorry, buddy, this is a grown-up adventure."

He pouted, sulkily. "Why not?"

Lois slowly sat up, and stared into her beautiful baby boy' eyes. "Because you can't go where we're going. I'm going to introduce your daddy to a few friends of mine."

At those particular words, a slow smile spread out across his face. "Are you taking him to the secret clubhouse?"

"Yes, we're going to tell him all about that secret clubhouse."

He leaned closer to his daddy, and whispered in his ear, "Mommy is going to show you her secret job."

"Secret job, huh?"

"She's a superhero, not like Uncle Ollie or Uncle Bruce, but she helps…a lot."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, butthead, you better go get ready, who knows, maybe Grandma has some cookies waiting for you."

It was quite obvious that those were the magic words because as soon as he heard them he was gone in a flash, only leaving behind a whirlpool of wind in his wake.

Clark chuckled, softly. "Now I understand why you, my parents, Chloe and Pete were always complaining about my abrupt entrances and exits."

She scoffed at him, as she crawled out of bed. "That doesn't even compare to your abrupt appearances and disappearances, especially now that you can fly."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Her eyes brightened, dangerously, as she walked backwards towards the bathroom. "How about you come find out, farm boy."

"That's it, you little minx!" He shot out of bed, loving how she screamed as she ran away from him, and he quickly chased her into the bathroom, sounds of them both laughing, loudly, as they got ready for the very, very long day ahead of them.

Two hours later, all three of them walked into the farmhouse, and their son practically torpedoed himself into the living room. "Grandpa! Grandma!"

Jonathon quickly picked up his grandson, and spun him around a few times before setting him back down on the ground. "Morning, champ."

"Good morning. What are we doing today?"

Martha stepped closer to him, and pinched his little nose. "I think there just might be a little surprise for you in the kitchen."

His eyes widened, as a ginormous smile graced his lips, and he quickly darted into the other direction, screaming out, "Cookies!"

They all chuckled at the one person that was the literal light of their lives before Jonathon turned his gaze on them. "Where are you two off to today?" He glanced at Lois, pointedly. "I thought you would take the day off from anything work related."

She smiled at him, knowing that Martha didn't tell him a single thing about she had planned for today since that was a conversation that was between them, and she never, ever repeated their conversations to anyone, no matter what it was about. "I'm taking Clark to Watchtower, there are some important things we need to discuss, and this gives Clark a chance to see what The Justice League is all about."

Martha cocked a brow at her son. "Thinking of joining the team?"

"I don't know yet, but it doesn't hurt to find out everything, besides I'm pretty sure I'm about to meet quite a few new people."

"That's an understatement," Jonathon said, as he chuckled. All of a sudden, his expression took on a serious one, as he glanced at his daughter. "Will you just be discussing Justice League stuff?"

She glanced at him, pointedly. "Among other things."

Martha and Jonathon glanced at each other, nervously, knowing exactly what she meant without her having to actually say the words, which Clark noticed almost immediately, and it reminded him of what he had overheard her and Kaleb talking about the day before, but didn't say anything, supposing that now was not the time or place for a conversation such as that one.

A few minutes later, they quickly uttered their goodbyes to their son, Martha and Jonathon before making their way towards Metropolis, where the Watchtower headquarters was located, both of their minds going in completely different directions.

Clark was feeling more optimistic than anything else, and he couldn't wait to learn more about The Justice League, as well as meeting more of the team that he would hopefully be working side by side with one day.

Lois, on the other hand, was thinking about what she needed to tell everyone about what her son had told her about Steve Wilkinson, but it was also consumed with thoughts of what Clark' reaction would be when he found everything she had gone through over the past eight years, and there was a large part of herself that was getting even more worried the closer and closer they got.

It needed to be done, but she couldn't help feeling apprehensive about it all.

As soon as they arrived in the main room at Watchtower, they were greeted by Kara, Bruce, Chloe and Oliver, who smirked at them. "Ah. They finally arrive…have a late-night last night?"

She glared, heatedly at him. "Don't even start with me."

He chuckled, softly. "What? Were just curious."

"Uh-huh. Well, I hate to burst your bubble arrow man, but we aren't telling you a single thing."

Kara rolled her eyes at them. 'I'm glad you guys are here."

"Where is everyone?"

Bruce stepped forward. "In the other room."

Chloe grinned, widely at her best friend. "Are you ready for this?"

"I don't know," he muttered, nervously before being dragged into the main conference room.

It definitely wasn't what he was expecting that was for sure.

The large room was scattered with several different people, but that's not what was literally blowing his mind, it was all of the high-tech technology that surrounded him on all sides.

It was incredible.

One hour later, Clark was standing next to Lois, their hands intertwined together, as he learned about how every single superhero in this room became the person they are today, but the most important thing he learned in the past hour was the role his lovely girlfriend and best friend had on this extraordinary team.

They were two of the most important assets on this team, not only because they have many resources from their jobs at The Daily Planet that has helped the team more than once, but because they also have assisted in tons of saves, as well as helping the team with literally saving the entire planet, on two different occasions.

It definitely wasn't what he was expecting to find out, but it made complete sense that they would use their skills for such a good cause—a good cause that he hoped to be a part of sooner rather than later, once he figured out everything he needed to do before revealing himself to the world.

As he listened to Bart Allen, Arthur Curry, Dinah Lance, Victor Stone, and J'onn J'onzz reveal how each of them had met Lois, he couldn't help wondering if they were being completely honest with him. For some reason, it seemed that they were all hiding something from him, even when he learned about Oliver and Bruce, he had wondered if they were being truthful with him, and that thought worried him, slightly.

After a few minutes of laughter, everyone sharing their past good times and thrilling stories, Kara figured that it was now or never, and stepped forward, sharing a knowing glance with Oliver and Bruce. "Alright. Alright. I know that I invited you all here to meet my long-lost cousin, but um, there is a pressing matter that we need to discuss."

Chloe slowly stood up, and walked towards her. "Does this have anything to deal with whatever you wanted to tell us yesterday?"

She nodded, as she glanced at every single person in the room before her eyes landed on the one person that this affected the most. "Lex Luthor was released from prison two weeks ago…"

Every single person, who had known about this already turned towards the one person who this bit of news affected in the most profound way, as thoughts of their dearest friend and family member consumed their mind, while Chloe stared off into space, her mind consumed with memories of everything that had happened.

Lois, on the other hand, wasn't even remotely aware of their expressions or the fact that Clark was squeezing her hand, like he was attempting to get her attention.

None of it mattered right now.

The only thing that mattered was the fact that he was out—that he was free.

After two years, he had finally managed to wiggle his way out of his sentence, and that meant only one thing…he would, under no circumstances, be coming after her, her son, and possibly the man, who had literally just returned to her.

The color drained from her face, and her hands trembled, involuntarily, as her entire world crashed around her.

* * *

 _ **Another long update, a two-parter, and I was able to update this sooner than I originally thought. This chapter was a thrill to write, especially since there are so many things going on with mentions of Clark's destiny, which will come into play pretty soon, the CLOIS reunion, and Lois finally knows about Lex. The next chapter will be a doozy, and unfortunately Clark will not be in that chapter at all, which is something I haven't done yet, so I really hope you enjoy the way I reveal certain things that have happened.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter forty-two!**_


	44. Chapter Forty Three

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Three:**_

* * *

 _ **November 20**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2005**_

"Ow! Come on, baby boy! You're literally driving your momma crazy right now!" Lois complained out loud, as she lightly rubbed one of her hands across her bulging stomach, while her other one rested on her lower back, attempting to stop the sharp pains that she had been experiencing for the past several hours now, and continued pacing around the living room, hoping against all hope that would ease the pain she was feeling.

The past eight months had been pretty exhausting, painful and worrisome.

She was always worrying about whether or not this unexpected pregnancy was going to be safe for either of them. They had made it this far, but she was still concerned about the fact that something could go terribly wrong, and that thought alone frightened her more than anything.

There weren't any pregnancy books on half-human children, and the only person any of them could count on was her lovely doctor, Emil Hamilton, who happened to be quite understanding about all of this Krypton stuff, as worrisome as that sounded he had proven to be trustworthy in the few months she had known him, besides her cousin wouldn't have recommended him if he wasn't an honest man.

Aside from being worried about their welfare in all of this craziness she was also experiencing more pain, which was extremely excruciating, and the exhaustion was ten times worse than a normal pregnancy, but this wasn't exactly a normal pregnancy since her child' father wasn't exactly from this world. Of course, she had enjoyed being able to bond with and carry her and Clark' child all these months, but if she was being honest with herself she just wanted him out, and she wanted him out now.

On the Brightside of things, Lex and Murphy had been secluded in that mansion of theirs for months, and she hadn't seen or heard from either of them since that night, actually no one had seen or heard from them. Not even her father, and he has been watching them like hawks for the past eight months, but there was nothing about what they were up to or what they were planning.

It probably should worry her, at least a little bit, she rationalized with herself, but the only thing on her mind was her son.

Her son.

Kaleb Joseph Lane-Kent or little Kal, as she and Chloe have been calling him for months now.

It wasn't that hard to figure out what she wanted to name him, actually she had known the first night she had found out she was pregnant. At first, she wanted to wait until Clark returned home before deciding on anything, especially since they had only discussed his first name, but she had a feeling that he wouldn't be here to help her decide, and she was definitely right about that one.

He was still gone.

He wasn't here with her.

It hurt… a lot.

It hurt more than anything else ever has before, but she knew that he needed and wanted to do this, even it meant being away from her and his family.

For eight months, she has missed him more than she ever has before.

She really, really wished that he was here, but she completely understood that he couldn't possibly be here with her, at least not right now, and all she could really do was raise their son—take care of him—love him until he returned to them.

No matter how long that took.

All of a sudden, an excruciating sharp pain spread out from her lower back to her abdomen like it had been doing all day long, but this time it was much worse than before, and she had to stop walking, her hands clutching her stomach, as she bent over, slightly.

She muttered, "Kal, you're really not making this easy for me."

Once the pain subsided, she straightened up as much as she could possibly manage, and rested her hands on her stomach. "That's more like it."

Her relief only lasted about three seconds before her entire stomach contracted, very painfully, almost causing her to collapse to the ground, but she managed to catch herself on the back of the couch before she could tumble to the ground. "Seriously, baby boy!"

Her eyes widened, almost immediately, as she felt warm, wetness trickling down her legs, and realized that her water had literally just broke. "Well, that explains everything."

She slowly made her way into the kitchen, where she left her cellphone, quickly dialed her cousin' number, and when she answered on the third ring she simply muttered, completely out of breath, "It's time, Chlo."

It was silent for what seemed like a very long time before a loud squeal came from the other line, causing her to pull the phone away from her ear, and she could hear her screeching from a mile away, "Oh my god! Are you serious? Did your water break? Is this really happening? Are you in pain? Where are you right now?"

It was quite obvious that her cousin was freaking out a hell of a lot more than she was at this moment in time. "Yes. I'm pretty positive on that front. I'm just grabbing my things now. Can you meet me at the hospital?"

"I'm leaving my house right now. I'll call Emil on my way there. Is Martha and Jonathon with you?"

She hesitated for a split second, knowing that she wasn't going to like her answer. "Um…no…"

"What? Where the hell are they?"

She sighed, heavily, as she attempted to grab what she needed. "They went out a few hours ago."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

She rolled her eyes, wishing that she could slap her cousin right upside the head right about now. "I'm going to the hospital."

It was silent for a few seconds before she spoke into the phone, quite seriously, "Lo, you can't be serious. You can't drive yourself to the freaking hospital. What if you get into an accident or end up delivering on the side of the road?" She never gave her time to answer her endless questions. "No! That's not happening! I'm heading to the farmhouse right now!"

A loud groan escaped past her lips, as another contraction hit her, suddenly, and once the pain subsided she muttered into the phone, "We don't have time for that, Chloe, he's coming and he's coming fast. Just meet me at the hospital." She quickly hung up the phone, not allowing her cousin to speak any further on the matter, and continued gathering her belongings, but was stopped short when an even more painful contraction literally knocked the wind out of her. "Kal, baby, I need you to work with me here."

Of course, he didn't do as he was instructed, and as another contraction hit her she dropped the bags she was holding, almost collapsing to the ground, but managed to hold herself up on the kitchen counter. As much as she wanted to keep attempting to get out that front door she wasn't too sure that she was going to make it, especially with the unbearable pain from the contractions. She went to reach for her cellphone to call her cousin back, but stopped immediately when she heard the familiar engine pulling up to the house, and breathed a breath of relief.

She just might make it.

Not even two minutes later, her saviors, Martha and Jonathon walked through the front door bickering at each other about something that had happened at the super market in town, but their little argument halted immediately when they witnessed their daughter holding herself up against the counter, clutching her stomach in her hands.

Martha dropped the bags in her hands onto the ground, and quickly rushed over to her. "Lois? Honey? What's wrong?"

She looked up at her, a weak smile on her face. "You have great timing."

Her eyes widened, at the implication behind her words. "Oh my god! Now?"

"Emil wasn't kidding about this part…"

She chuckled, slightly before wrapping one of her arms around her. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital, young lady."

"I think that would be a very good idea."

"Jonathon, I need you to grab the bags."

Silence.

"Jonathon…"

Silence.

They both glanced over at him, he was standing by the front door his eyes wide with panic, his mouth slightly hanging open, and a dumbfounded expression was plastered across his face.

Martha rolled her eyes at her husband. "JONATHON!"

He blinked several times, his blue eyes connecting with each of theirs before nodding, and rushing to grab the several bags that were spread out on the ground.

Lois chuckled through the immense pain. "You'd think that he was the one in labor."

Martha chuckled, as she guided them towards the front door.

Jonathon growled low in his throat. "I heard that, young lady!"

"You were supposed to!" She cringed, painfully, as another contraction spread throughout her abdomen ten times harder that the last one. "Ow!"

Martha moved a little faster. "Come on, it's going to be alright."

As soon as all three of them were inside of the truck, they quickly drove away from the farmhouse, completely unaware of the black SUV sitting along the side of the road, hidden from sight. A tall, scrawny man dropped his binoculars into his lap once they passed him with a devilish smirk plastered across his face before dialing a familiar number. "They're leaving the farmhouse now. She's definitely in labor."

"Good. Stay there and wait for them to return, that's when we'll make our move."

He frowned, slightly. "Why not do this at the hospital."

He growled, loudly into the phone. "Because this needs to be done under the radar. Just wait there until they return, and when the perfect moment arises execute the plan. I'll be expecting you, Steve and the child very, very soon."

The other line clicked in his ear, and Murphy sighed, quite heavily, at the way Lex seemed to enjoy ordering him around like a lost puppy dog, but in a way, he understood that he was the only person that could help him get the revenge he was desperately searching for.

He leaned back in his seat, and waited for that perfect moment to arise.

Thirty minutes later, Martha and Jonathon slowly guided Lois, who was currently feeling very irritable from the excruciating painful contractions she was experiencing, into the hospital, where they were all instantly greeted and crowded by Chloe, Oliver, Pete and Alicia.

It brought a slight smile to her face, especially seeing all her friends and family there to greet her during this very important milestone in her life, but the one face she never, ever expected to see tonight was Alicia, mainly because she was supposed to be miles away on the other side of the world overseeing an operation Oliver and his band of heroes were determined to bring crumbling to the ground.

A few weeks after finding out that she was pregnant and after realizing that Lex and Murphy were obviously up to something nefarious she had called her old-time friend, who had more than happy to come back to Smallville, and she had been more than supportive with everything, even though she had just started living a new life in another state.

It meant everything to her.

She smiled, weakly at her. "Alicia, what are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes. "Did you really think that I would miss the birth of my nephew?"

She was about to comment, but a body splitting contraction overcame her senses, and she cringed, painfully before almost collapsing to the ground, luckily her friends and family were there to help her stay upright.

Chloe yelled out, "We need some help over here!"

A nurse hurried over to them, assessing the situation before carefully lowering Lois down into a wheel chair. "How are you feeling, Miss Lane?"

A growl escaped past her throat, at her clam manner in this not so calm situation. "I feel like my freaking insides are going to rip apart that's how I feel. Where the hell is Emil?"

"He just called in. He'll be here in a few minutes, but for now lets just get you settled."

Once the nurse had her settled into a secluded room, due to doctor orders, the entire family fretted over her, driving her absolutely insane until Emil walked into the room, and smiled at all of the familiar faces before focusing his attention on his patient. "How are you feeling, Lois?"

She glared at him. "Oh, I'm feeling just peachy!"

He chuckled, slightly, at her irritated manner. "I'm guessing that the nurse explained to you that we can't give you any medication."

A part of herself wanted to berate the man for his very obvious comment, but couldn't manage to get a single word out from the contraction that hit her like a pile of rocks, causing her to grown, loudly, and making all her friends and family fret over her, like they had been doing for the past several minutes.

Emil narrowed his eyes, slightly at her. "How far apart are the contractions?"

Chloe stepped towards him, halting her cousin from uttering a single word, knowing that the only thing that would be coming out of her mouth was going to be a smart-ass remark. "Less than a minute, sometimes a few seconds apart."

That's all he needed to know. "It's time, Lois."

Pete and Oliver' faces turned white as can possibly be before rushing out of the room without a single word uttered to anyone. It wasn't that they didn't want to witness their lovely nephew being born, but it was the fact that neither of them was sure that they would ever recover from seeing their close friend in that particular state.

Jonathon, on the other hand, softly squeezed her hand, and kissed her forehead. "I'm going to be right outside those doors, sweetheart, hopefully by the time my grandson is here your father will be too."

She smiled at him. "Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too." He quickly walked out of the room, intending to get ahold of her father, but highly doubted that he would be here. Even when he was less than twenty miles away he couldn't attempt to be there for his child, which was very disappointing since she was a very special woman, but that's why he was here. To be there when her own father couldn't even be bothered.

Over the next several hours, all anyone in the corridors outside that hospital room could hear was Lois yelling at the top of her lungs, in complete and utter pain, screaming out how much she wanted Clark there—how much she wanted her child out of her, and throwing vulgar comments at Chloe, Alicia and most of all Emil, even if they were just trying to help until all anyone could hear was the loud, squealing cry of a child.

Lois breathed out, quite heavily, feeling completely drained after that last and final push, and even though she was feeling extremely exhausted she couldn't help but smile at the sound of her child' cry piercing throughout the entire room.

It was the best sound in the entire world.

Nine months.

For long nine months, she had dreamed of this moment—of the moment that she would finally meet her child, and now it was finally happening.

She couldn't possibly be any happier than she was in this moment.

Emil cradled the small little boy close to his chest, after cleaning him and waddling him up in a plush blue blanket, and turned towards his pain in the ass patient, who was staring at him, expectantly. "Would you like to meet your son?"

Instead of speaking, she just held out her hands, wanting her child in her arms right this second, and felt her heart melt into a million pieces as soon as he was safely cocooned in her warm embrace.

She glanced down at her baby boy, who had the thickest black hair and deepest blue eyes she had ever seen on a newborn before. "Hello, baby boy. I'm your momma. I'm so happy that your finally here." A few tears built in her eyes before slowly cascading down her cheeks. "You look just like your daddy, little Kal." She stared deeply into his eyes, which were staring up at her, curiously, and traced her fingertips down his soft cheeks. "He would be so happy to see you, actually he'd probably cry because he's a bigger baby than me, but we'll keep that just between us."

Chloe and Alicia chuckled, softly at the mother-son bonding moment, causing her to look over at them with a smile lingering on her face. "He's so beautiful."

They slowly walked towards her, and stared down at their little nephew for several seconds with bright smiles plastered across their faces. "He looks exactly like Clark."

Lois' heart clenched in unimaginable pain, at her cousin' words, and a few more tears fell down her rosy cheeks for a completely different reason. "He should be here."

She smiled, sadly. "I know, Lo, but your son is finally here after all of these months and we will make sure that little Kal knows everything about his father."

Alicia nodded. "Clark would be so extremely happy right now, and it doesn't matter that he's not here right now. He will be soon enough. He'll be just as happy as we all are once he comes home to find out that he has a very beautiful son that looks just like him."

"Thank you." She smiled at both of them before looking down at her beautiful son, who was now sleeping soundlessly on her chest.

It was the most amazing thing in the entire world.

Emil, who was watching the lovely family togetherness, silently stepped towards them. "I'm going to give you some time with your family. I'll be back later to check on you and the little one."

Lois glanced around the room, and frowned, slightly when she didn't see the one person she wanted to be with her right now. "Where's Martha?"

Chloe grinned at her. "She went to grab everyone. There are quite a few people who would like to meet the newest member to the family."

Not even five minutes later, everyone walked into the room, and surrounded her with humongous smiles lingering on their faces, as they stared down at the child in her arms.

She glanced at Jonathon, who just shook his head from side to side, letting her know that her father wouldn't be coming, which didn't really surprise her since he never really showed up when she needed him the most. She slowly held out her child towards Martha with a smile lingering on her face. "Would you like to meet your grandson?"

Martha quickly gathered him up in her arms, holding him close to her chest, and smiled down at him with tears in her eyes. "He looks just like Clark."

Jonathon grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah, he really does."

Lois and Chloe exchanged knowing glances with each other before locking eyes with the new grandparents. Months ago, when she had decided on his name, she had only told Chloe his full name, wanting the two most important people in her life to be surprised when they finally heard what she had decided upon. "I'd like you to officially meet, Kaleb Joseph Lane-Kent."

Martha' eyes shot up to hers. "You want him to have Clark' middle name?"

"I wanted him to have some part of his father since he isn't here to witness any of this."

Jonathon grabbed her hand, and squeezed it, softly. "He'll be home soon enough, sweetheart."

"I know."

The next few hours, were spent with every single person fawning over the new member of the family, each taking their turns in coddling the child until Emil forcefully made everyone leave, so that his patients could get some much-needed rest.

Martha and Jonathon were the first ones to leave, wanting to get everything arranged at the house for their grandchild, but not before giving both of them much appreciated love and attention. Alicia and Pete left shorty after them, promising that they would stop by bright and early tomorrow morning to check up on them. The two that were most hesitant to leave were Chloe and Oliver, not because they didn't want to leave her and Kaleb alone, but mainly because now that little Kal was here in the world they all feared that Lex and Murphy would make their move.

In order to rest their minds, Emil allowed Chloe to stay with her for the night while Oliver, Bart and Dinah would watch them for afar to ensure that they would all remain safe in the hospital.

There was no way they were allowing them to ruin such a happy moment in everyone's lives.

As soon as everyone had left, Chloe softly placed her nephew in his crib a few feet away from them, and sat down next to her cousin. "You should get some sleep, Lo."

She shook her head from side to side. "I don't want to close my eyes."

She frowned, slightly before she realized what was running through that mind of hers. "Your scared about what Lex and Murphy could possibly be planning, aren't you?"

"Shouldn't I be? I mean, it's been eight months since we've seen or even heard from them, which only makes me think that this is what they have been waiting for…"

Chloe grabbed her hands, and squeezed them, softly. "Even if that is true neither of us are going to allow anything to happen, hell, Oliver will make sure of that. If they try stepping foot in this hospital he will take care of it, Lo, we will protect him and you from them, but right now you need to get some sleep. I'd rather not have to deal with two cranky baby's tomorrow."

She glared at her, in a joking manner. "Ha! Ha! Very funny!" As much as she attempted to fight the tiredness she was feeling, it took less than two minutes before she was out like a light.

A few hours later, she slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling even more groggy than she did earlier, but figured that it would take her body a little while to heal from everything. She glanced over at her cousin, who was sprawled out on the chair directly next to her, sleeping just as soundlessly as her baby boy.

It was useless, she thought to herself.

It didn't matter what everyone told her about protecting them. She was terrified of what was to come, mainly because she had a feeling deep inside of her gut that things were about to get extremely complicated. When she was pregnant, it was fear of not making it through the pregnancy or losing him during that time, but now it was about what Lex and Murphy could not only do to her, but to her baby boy.

That's the last thing she wanted.

She slowly crawled out of her bed, and made her way towards the crib, where her beautiful baby boy was sleeping like he didn't have a single care in the entire world.

Just like his father, she thought to herself.

She rested her forearms on the crib, and stared down at him with tears in her eyes, whispering, "You probably won't understand a single word I'm saying, but I love you so much, baby boy, and your daddy loves you too, even though he's not here right now. One day he'll be here, and he'll love you just as much as I do, but until that happens I'm going to protect you, love and care for you for the rest of your life. You'll be safe no matter what I have to do."

The next night, Lois, Martha and Jonathon were all sitting in the living room after just putting down Kaleb for the night.

It had been a very, very long day.

Most of the day had been spent at the hospital, where Emil had to cut quite a few corners and bend more than a few rules in order to get all the testing done for Kaleb. It wasn't like they could just allow the hospital to have his information since he wasn't exactly a normal child, even if he was just an innocent child his blood would be proof enough, and that's something they couldn't allow to happen. It wasn't just to protect his secret, but it was also to protect Clark' even if he wasn't here at this point in time. They needed to protect both of them, and that's exactly what they intended on doing, besides none of them knew what Lex and Murphy' plans were. The last thing the needed was their grubby hands getting information on Kaleb, even if it was very possible that they already knew the truth—the truth most of them have spent many years trying to conceal, and it was very likely that they had already put two and two together about her son.

The rest of the day was spent at the farmhouse, where the entire family fawned over the new member to the family, each of them wanting to relish in the simple fact that something good has finally happened, aside from the danger looming over all of their heads.

Lois sighed, heavily, as she looked between the two people that had been more like parents to her in the past several months. "What do we do now?"

Martha smiled, softly. "We take care of little Kaleb."

"What about Lex and Murphy? Don't you think it's a little weird that they haven't made themselves known over the past eight months? Now that Kaleb is here what is stopping them from coming after me and my son?"

"Nothing." Jonathon stared deeply into her eyes. "It's quite obvious that they are up to something, and they were probably waiting for the moment that the little one was born, but Martha' right we need to take care of and protect that child. We will deal with anything else that happens when it comes to pass."

"I just hope that they leave us alone, but I know deep inside of my heart that that' not very likely."

Martha squeezed her hands, reassuringly. "Your probably right, but we just need to be prepared for when that happens, and right now all you should be worrying about is taking care of that child upstairs."

She smiled at both of them. "Thank you."

Jonathon frowned. "For what?"

"For being here for me and Kaleb the past several months. I might have had my friends and my father here to help me through some of it, but I don't think I would have gotten to this point if it wasn't for you two."

Martha smiled at her. "You don't need to thank us."

"Yes, I do, you never had to take me in the way you did after Clark left, but you did, and I'm very thankful to the both of you."

Jonathon shook his head from side to side. "Your part of the family, Lois, we both have always seen you as they daughter we never had, and in a way, you already are our daughter. You captured our hearts from the first night we met."

She chuckled, softly. "That feels like forever ago."

Martha grinned, widely. "That was the night I knew you were going to become a big part of our lives."

"What do you mean?"

Jonathon smiled at her. "I'm sure you already know that we knew practically everything about your little summer romance with our son before we even met."

She nodded.

Martha continued his thoughts, "When we first met you we figured that we'd be as close to you as we are to Chloe, but once we found out that you were indeed the woman of our son' dreams we knew that you were going to mean a lot more to us, and that's exactly what happened. Your everything we could wish for our son."

Their heartfelt words brought tears to her eyes, and caused her heart to fill with so much love and appreciation before she wrapped her arms around them, pulling them into a tight, embracing hug. "I love you both so much!"

"We love you too!" They spoke, simultaneously before reciprocating her affections.

It had been a very long time since any of them had a conversation as deep as this one, mainly because they had all been worried and concerned about other things, but in this moment they all knew that they would always be family, no matter what happened in the coming days.

A few hours later, Lois was leaning against the wooden oak crib that Jonathon had made himself, staring down at her son, watching him sleep so peacefully. For the past hour she's been in his room singing and whispering words of love to her baby boy.

She just couldn't help herself.

It was something that just came naturally to her.

Of course, she knew that she should probably be sleeping right about now, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from her baby boy, and honestly even if she did manage to sleep it would only bring her heartbreak and grief. Since the night that the love of her life left she has been dreaming about him every single night, her mind concocting thoughts are him returning to her and their son, just like she used to do all of those times they were apart from each other, but it was different his time because she wasn't sure when he would return, and she wasn't all that positive if she would be the same person when he did return to them.

"Well, don't you two paint a pretty picture…"

At the sound of Murphy' voice echoing from behind her, her heart stopped for a split second, and she froze, momentarily before turning towards the man she hasn't heard from or seen since that horrid night all those months ago. "M-M-Murphy…"

He grinned, widely, at her apparent nervousness. "Hello, Lois, it's been a long time."

"What are you doing here?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Has pregnancy made you completely dumb or are you just pretending to be careless…I'm here for my prize."

She frowned, slightly, at his words, but soon realized what he exactly meant, and stood protectively in front of her son' crib. "You're not going to lay a single finger on him!"

He stepped closer to her. "You would be right about that. I'm only here to retrieve the child, and take him to the man who really wants him, honestly, I could give two shits about the little monster, but you on the other hand…I have many plans for you."

She glared at him. "Neither you or Lex are going to touch either of us!"

"Is that what you think? You know, that night all those months ago I almost had you—I had almost ended your pathetic and miserable life, but due to the fact that you were pregnant with that monster' child you overpowered me. That'll never happen again. For the past eight months, we have been planning the best way to get what we want. It was so easy keeping you and your little family under our radar without any of you having a single clue about what we were really planning."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"We've been tracking your every little movement ever since that night, and your father' tactics don't work on me anymore…I know how to dodge surveillance better these days. It does help to have someone who is more powerful than the military on your side." At her confused expression, he pressed further, "You really have absolutely no idea what any of this is about, do you? The only reason I'm here instead of in that hell hole that your father tossed me into is because Lex believed that you were in the way of getting what he's wanted from the moment he met that boyfriend of yours."

She whispered, "His secret…"

He clapped his hands together, triumphantly. "Right on, Miss Lane! He was quite disappointed when Clark just vanished into thin air, we actually believed that all was lost, well, at least we did until you managed to escape from us with that pesky speed ability, just like your alien boyfriend." At her dumbfounded look, he continued, "Oh, yes, we've double tracked our facts, we know for a fact that your little play thing isn't from this world, which means that neither is your son…"

She glared, heatedly at him. "Clark' been gone for months, so you might as well just leave and move on. I have nothing that you already don't know."

"I can't exactly do that, you see, that mutant child of yours has everything Lex needs running through his veins, and you, well, you're my constellation prize for what happened all those years ago. I've been waiting a very, very long time for this moment, and as soon as Lex has everything he needs from that child of yours…your mine. I'm going to relish in relief and happiness when I feel you take your last breath…"

She gulped, loudly, feeling fear spread out throughout her entire body, but managed to keep a cool demeanor. "He will kill you. He will kill both of you."

An expression of confusion crossed over his features before realization dawned on him, and he laughed, callously, at her idle threat. "Is that what you believe? From where? Outer space? He can't stop us! I have a feeling that your boyfriend is very far away, and I highly doubt that he'll be back anytime soon, which of course makes this so much easier for us…you'll both be dead by the end of the night."

"He will kill both of you!"

"I guess we'll find out." He stalked closer towards her, intending to make her comply whether it was willingly or forcefully. "How about you just make this as easy as possible. It'll be better for you in the end."

Honestly, she was completely backed into a corner with nowhere to go and no idea what she should do, but that changed very quickly when she spotted a figure appear in the doorway from the corner of her eye, and smirked, vigorously at him. "That's never going to happen. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you…"

He frowned, slightly. "What is that supposed to mean?"

All of a sudden, he heard a gun cock, loudly behind him, and quickly twirled around to come face to face with Jonathon Kent, who was pointing a shotgun directly at his chest. "Because I'm the one with the gun."

A cynical chuckle escaped past his grimy lips. "You wouldn't dare fire that gun next to your grandson' crib."

He stepped closer to him, causing Murphy to take several steps back away from him, and circled around the room, his eyes never leaving his until he was standing directly in front of his family, protectively. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. I'd do anything to protect this family, even if that means waking the child up from sleep, but you on the other hand, are not taking anyone or killing anyone tonight because this is the night your rain of terror ends."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." He lunged towards Jonathon, ripping the gun from his hands, and as soon as the weapon crashed onto the ground he tackled him to the ground before pounding his fists into his face over and over again.

Even though she was feeling completely freaked out at these turn of events, she managed to grab the gun off the ground, and slammed the bud of the gun against the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground, moaning in pain. "Stay the hell away from my family!"

Jonathon quickly stood up, and walked towards her, his eyes roaming over her entire body for any injuries before he took the gun from her hands. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Are you alright?"

He was about to respond to her worried inquiry, but was caught off guard by Murphy lunging towards him, shoving him out into the hallway before tackling him to the ground.

"JONATHON!"

She followed them out into the hallway, and watched as they wrested, relentlessly before tumbling down the stairs. Without even thinking, she started heading towards the end of the hallway, but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Martha gasp, loudly from directly behind her. "I need you to stay here with Kaleb!"

She grabbed her arm, forcefully. "No! You need to stay here with your son! He doesn't have his father! He can't lose you too!"

"I won't lose you or Jonathon, either!"

"You won't." She gently picked up the gun off the floor before making her way down the long, winding stairs, ignoring her daughter' protests. As soon as she stepped foot on the ground level, she saw her husband lying on the floor, blood smeared all over his face, knocked out cold, and quickly dropped the gun before rushing to his side. "Jonathon! Jonathon! Honey, please, please wake up!"

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a shadow looming behind her, and quickly spun around only to be met with a fist to her face. The last thing she saw before passing out was Murphy grabbing the gun off the floor, as he headed upstairs towards her daughter and grandson.

Lois was literally freaking out at this point in time, normally she was able to keep a calm mannerism in situations such as this one, but it had been way too quiet for way too long, and she was starting to become extremely worried about the welfare of the two people, who she loved as her own parents.

One part of herself wanted to stay with her son, and the other part of herself wanted to check on them, but before she could decide on what she should do Murphy waltzed back into the room with a smug expression plastered across his face. "Well, now we can get down to business since those two are taken care of."

"What did you do to them?"

"You should be more concerned about other things."

She glared, fiercely at him. "I swear to god if you hurt them in any way I will kill you myself!"

"Is that right? I'd love to see that."

She stepped closer to him, her instincts taking over her entire body. "Mark my words, Murphy, I will be the one that kills you!"

He sighed, heavily. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Your lovely little protectors are perfectly fine, but you won't be if you don't grab that mutant child of yours and leave with me right this second."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

He pointed the gun directly at her head. "I'm not supposed to kill you yet, but you're really starting to piss me off! Grab the child and leave with me now or I won't hesitate in killing you right here and right now!"

An evil smirk spread out across her face. "It seems that you have forgotten that threats don't frighten me."

A loud, exasperating sigh escaped past his lips before he lowered the gun, and gripped her chin, tightly in his hands, making it impossible for her to move a single inch. "Threats didn't used to frighten you all those years ago because you literally had nothing to live for, but now you do, you have a son, a boyfriend, and a family that depends on you. So, I would suggest that you drop this charade before I lose my temper."

Great, she thought to herself, just great.

Not only did this psychopath know that she had several things to live for now, but he was intending on using that particular information against her to get exactly what he wanted.

"Come with me now."

"No."

He quickly pointed the gun at Kaleb, who was sleeping soundlessly in his crib, completely unaware of the danger that surrounded him, and her heart literally dropped to her stomach. In a panicky voice, she muttered, "You wouldn't dare touch him or me for that matter. Lex needs us both alive for the time being, and I have a feeling that if he were to find out that you killed both of us your life would be over faster than you could blink."

An angry growl escaped past his throat before he fired the gun at the wall above her son' crib, causing Kaleb to wake up screaming at the top of his lungs, his tears cascading down his cheeks like a waterfall.

She quickly grabbed him, hiding his face into the nape of her neck, as she rubbed soothing circles across his back, attempting to get him to calm down before glaring, heatedly at him. "What the hell is your problem!"

"My problem is you and your damn stubbornness! Now that you understand how serious I am, you're going to walk out that front door without a single hassle, is that understood?"

Honestly, she had no idea what she should do at this particular moment. One part of herself wanted to fight him with everything she has in order to protect her child, but the other part of herself knew that if she didn't do as she was ordered than he would kill them both, without thinking, hell with the consequences.

There was no way in hell she was going to allow anything to happen to her baby boy or her family for that matter.

As soon as she had decided that she should just leave with him, she saw the one person she had come to trust, love and appreciate over the past several months, even if there first official thoughts on each other weren't that appealing. She smirked at Murphy. "You can go straight to hell!"

Before he could utter one single word, he heard a loud, masculine voice echoing from directly behind him. "Step away from the woman and child."

He slowly turned around, expecting to be coming face to face to some random ordinary guy, but was met with a tall, muscular man dressed in green leather with a pair of thick black glasses covering the top part of his face. "What the hell…"

Green Arrow stepped towards him. "I will only say this one more time…step away from them right this second."

"What the hell are you supposed to be? Robin hood?"

"They call me Green Arrow." He quickly pulled out his tranquilizer gun, and shot a dart directly into his chest, causing him to collapse onto the ground, unconscious. He quickly ripped off his glasses, and stepped towards them, his eyes roaming over every inch of them before pulling her into his embrace. "Are you alright?"

After a few moments, she pulled away from him, nodding. "You have impeccable timing, Ollie."

"Chloe had a bad feeling about leaving you unprotected tonight, so I came over here to make sure that everything was alright, and that's when I found a man a few miles away from the house—"

"What man?" She interrupted him.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I overheard him talking to someone over the phone about waiting for Murphy to return with the subjects. I took a wild guess that it was you and Kaleb."

"Lex…" She whispered.

"Yeah. That would be my best guess. Anyways, I raced up here once I saw Martha and Jonathon on the ground."

Her eyes practically bugged out of her head. "Oh my god! Are they alright?"

"Lois, they're fine. Bart is taking them somewhere safe and—"

"And, I'm here to take you somewhere safe." They both turned towards Alicia, who literally just transported into the room, interrupting his sentence.

She glanced between the two of them before her eyes locked with his brown ones. "How much did you overhear?"

"Not much, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what they want from you and Kaleb. You shouldn't worry about that right now. Just let Alicia take you somewhere safe."

She was about to leave with her, but stopped dead in her tracks. "What about Murphy?"

He smiled. "I'll take care of him. I think it's time we gave a little message to the man in charge."

Of course, she knew that Oliver was more than capable of taking care of himself, but she couldn't help feeling a little worried about the situation. "Just be careful."

"I always am." He quickly hauled Murphy' unconscious body over his shoulder, and walked out of the room without another word.

Alicia walked towards them. "I've already packed some stuff for the both of you."

"Just get us the hell out of here."

Not even ten seconds later, they were standing in the middle of the living room of Oliver' apartment in Metropolis, where Chloe, Pete, Martha and Jonathon were waiting for them, and they all rushed over to them.

As soon as she saw Martha and Jonathon, she carefully handed Kaleb over to Chloe before rushing into their arms, practically knocking them off their feet. "Oh my god! Are you guys alright? I thought he was going to kill both of you!"

Jonathon was the first to pull away from her, and smiled, gently at her. "We're tougher than we look."

"That's not funny." She carefully gauged the wounds that were very apparent across there faces, and instantly felt guilty for everything that has happened over the past year. One part of herself wished that she never would have brought this down upon all of them, but she would never, ever regret falling in love with Clark and moving to Smallville.

But…

She couldn't help feeling like all of this was her fault. Martha saw the expression on her face, knowing exactly what was going through that mind of hers, and gripped her face in her hands. "Don't you dare think that way, young lady! None of this is your fault, do you understand me?"

She nodded. "When Oliver told me, Bart took you somewhere safe I thought he meant the hospital. Both of you need to get these wounds looked at."

Jonathon smiled, softly at her. "Emil has already been and gone, Lois, besides Chloe thought it was best if we stayed here instead of going to the hospital."

She turned towards her cousin, who swiftly handed Kaleb back into his mother's arms. "We figured that they wouldn't be safe there or anywhere for that matter, so I called Emil, and he took care of everything. What the hell happened?"

She glanced down at her son, who was till sleeping as soundly as he was before Murphy shot that gun, literally frightening both her and her son to no end. "Let me lay Kaleb down, and I'll explain everything."

After making sure that her son was safe, sound and happy in his crib that Chloe and Oliver had insisted on having for reasons like this one alone, she walked back into the living room, where her family and friends were waiting for some answers. "Well, we were definitely right about both of them knowing about Clark and Kaleb. They figured that part of eight months ago…"

"When you super sped away," Martha muttered, out loud.

"Yeah, but that's not our biggest problem."

Pete frowned at his friend. "What do you mean?"

"When Lex first released Murphy from that prison my father dropped him into, their plan was to just get me out of the way in order to find out the truth about Clark, but when he disappeared, and I vanished right before their eyes they figured out everything, including the fact that my son isn't exactly normal. That's why they waited until he was born to make themselves known."

Chloe groaned, loudly. "Would you stop talking in circles! What the hell do they want?"

She glanced at every single one of them, worriedly. "Their overall endgame is our deaths, but Lex wants something from my son before they can do that."

"What do you mean?" Alicia interjected.

"This is all about Clark' secret." At the sound of Oliver' voice echoing from behind them, they are turned around, surprised to see him this soon after confronting Lex and Murphy.

Chloe rushed over to her boyfriend, panic lingering in her eyes and voice. "Did Lex tell you that?"

"Tell them, Lois."

"We all knew that once Lex found out where Clark originated from that he wouldn't stop there, well, since Clark isn't anywhere Lex can find him he plans on using my son instead. He wants to know every little thing that makes them tick—"

"You mean run tests on him?" Pete interrupted her.

She nodded. "I don't know what he's looking for or what he plans to do with that information, but it can't be anything good."

Chloe scowled, angrily before staring into her boyfriend' eyes. "What happened at the mansion?"

"Nothing. All three of them just pretended like they weren't doing anything wrong. It's like they feel this is the right thing to do or something."

"Three of them?"

"Yeah. The man I found on the road is Steve Wilkinson, a handyman for Lex Luthor himself. He's been working for him since he before he even moved to Smallville. I'm pretty sure that he worked for Lionel before that."

"Well, it's no wonder that he's just insane as the rest of them." Alicia piped in.

He nodded before locking eyes with his dearest friend. "We might not know what their endgame is, but I do know something for sure…you and Kaleb need to get the hell out of here."

She stared at him, blankly. "And go where?"

"Anywhere but here. You need to get out of Smallville before they attempt to come after you and Kaleb again. I can't keep you safe, and protect my team at the same time."

Before she could utter one single word, Chloe stared at him, quizzically. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed, heavily. "Aside from the fact that they fully intend on getting what they want, which entails both you and Kaleb dead, they also know about my alter ego, and are very determined to figure out everything. If they found out about me then I won't only be trying to protect all of you, but Bart and Dinah as well." He locked eyes with Lois. "This is just the beginning, Lois, you need to get yourself and your son out of here and fast. They won't stop until they have both of you in their grasp."

She shook her head, vehemently. "No! I'm not going to run away! I've dealt with Murphy once before, and running never did anybody any good."

Oliver slammed his hands down on the table, startling every single person in the room. "There is more at stake here! You're not just dealing with Murphy. Lex is more powerful than any of us could have possibly imagined. I can't protect either of you, properly if Lex and his little servants are also working on uncovering my every secret." He stepped closer towards her, and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Lois, please, you have become somebody that I care a lot about, and I care about the welfare of my nephew just as much. This is the only way I can protect every single one of you. We will figure out a way to stop them, but I can't do that with you here."

Martha knew just from the expression on her face that that wasn't going to be enough to stop her from arguing about whether she should leave or not, and turned her towards her, squeezing her hands, softly. "Oliver is right, sweetheart, you and Kaleb need to leave as soon as possible. You have to protect that child with everything you have, you know that if Clark was here with us right now he would be telling you the exact same thing. When he comes home he needs to have both you and his son here. Honey, if you stay both of you could die, and I will not lose either of you to these monsters."

Those words coming from the one and only person, who could make her understand things more clearly, stuck her heart like nothing ever has before, and she knew that she was right. Not only did she need to protect herself and her son, but she needed to protect her friends and family, and more importantly she needed to be safe and sound when Clark did return to them.

He wouldn't want it any other way.

The only problem she was having with this entire situation was the fact that her father and her friends had no idea what was going on, aside from the fact that her father couldn't even bother to show up for his grandson' birth he was doing everything in his power to protect her, and he deserved to know exactly what they were planning. "What about my father? Wes and Cass? I need to tell them everything that's going on."

Chloe stepped forward. "We'll tell them everything, but you need to leave right now."

"Where the hell am I supposed to go?"

"I think you know, Lo."

And just like that a light went off in her brain. "Oh my god! Chloe you're a freaking genius! He is literally the only other person that knows Murphy more than we do! We could use this to our advantage, and take down them son of a bitches for good!"

Chloe grinned at her cousin' enthusiasm, while everyone else just stared at them like they were completely insane. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Lois glanced at Oliver, who had that confused, dumbfounded expression plastered across his face. "Chloe will explain everything, but I just need you to trust that I know exactly what I'm doing."

He nodded.

Alicia quickly intervened, coming up with a brilliant idea, as she listened to the conversations between her friends, and knew without a doubt that she was the only person that could do this without a single problem. "So, you know where you're going then?" At her nod, she continued, "Good, because I'm coming with you."

Everyone glanced at her completely and utterly surprised. "No. You should stay here and help Ollie with everything."

"And who's going to help you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's quite obvious that this mysterious guy will be helping you, while everyone here figures out the best way to take down Lex and Murphy. I'm the only person that can help you. Do you know anyone else who could possibly transport back and forth in the blink of an eye?" When she didn't respond, she continued, "I'll be able to transfer messages between all of us easily. I'm not letting you do this alone, besides I still owe you for all those times you've saved my ass."

She chuckled, slightly at her last comment before growing serious again. "You don't have to do this, you know, we can find another way to talk to each other."

"And do what? Find a meeting spot? You know that Lex is going to be watching every single one of us, if we leave Kansas he'll just follow us, and everything will be over. I'm not losing my two-favorite people." Without giving anybody a chance to undermine her plan she vanished in the blink of an eye.

Once Alicia had everything packed into her car and Lois had her son safely tucked into her arms, ready to leave Kansas for who knows how long, she locked eyes with every single person in the room, as they all stared at her with a mix of emotions. "I still think this is a horrible idea."

Pete smiled at her. "It's better this way and you know it, Lane."

She quickly hugged him, and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to miss you, Ross."

He pulled away from her. "I'm only a phone call away, you know."

Chloe practically leaped into her arms, hugging her, fiercely. "I love you, cuz! Please tell Mr. Darkside that I miss him and that when I see him again I'm going to kick his ass to kingdom come and back."

She chuckled at her. She was the only person in the entire room that knew who she planned on going to for protection and for his help in this very tricky situation. "I'll give him the message."

Oliver gave her a quick hug. "We'll be watching Lex and Murphy on our end. Don't worry about anything Alicia will let you know if anything important arises. Just promise me that you'll be careful on your side of things, please, try not to get into any trouble, legs."

"I promise." She turned towards Jonathon and Martha, who were both in tears, even though Jonathon tried his hardest not to show it. "I'm going to miss you guys the most."

Jonathon gave her a tight hug, and kissed his grandson' head. "Don't worry, Lois, we'll talk all of the time. You can't get rid of us that easy."

"Like I'd ever want to."

Martha piped in, "Besides, we can't have our grandson not knowing us."

"I don't plan on being gone that long."

She smiled at her before giving her a quick hug, and kissing little Kaleb' cheek. "You be good for your momma. Please stay safe, Lois, we'll all sleep better that way, and hopefully this will all be over sooner rather than later."

"I promise." She hesitated for a split second. "If Clark comes home—"

"You'll be our first call, sweetheart."

She smiled at every single one of them before walking out the front door with Alicia directly next to her, and as soon as they were driving down the highway, out of Kansas, Alicia turned towards her, questioningly. "Where are we going?"

She glanced over at her. "Gotham City."

"Who is in Gotham City?"

"An old friend." It had been several years since she had last seen him or even spoke to him, and they hadn't parted on the best of terms, but he was literally the only other person than knew and understood her past with Murphy, besides he was the only man she knew that could protect them and help them at the same time.

* * *

Lex paced back and forth directly in front of the living room couch, where both Steve Wilkinson and Murphy were sprawled out, nursing their mild wounds from the attack by none other than his old nemesis…Oliver Queen.

It wasn't that difficult to figure out who the man in the green tights was, mainly because of particular phrases Murphy had heard before passing out, and as intriguing as that little detail was, it wasn't what had him climbing the walls at this particular moment.

It was the fact that Lois and her mutant child had escaped from his grasp.

It had absolutely nothing to deal with the fact that his two henchmen were incompetent, or the fact that Miss Lane had surrounded herself with other mutants, and people like The Green Arrow. It was the fact that he had lost his chance—lost his chance because he knew without a doubt that both of them were gone.

There was no way that they would stay in Kansas, especially after everything that had happened tonight, and now he needed to regroup—he needed to figure out a way to find her and her son as soon as possible.

He stopped pacing, and turned towards Murphy, who seemed to have all of the answers this evening, and stared at him with a steely gaze. "I need you to tell me absolutely everything that happened tonight, and don't skip over any pertinent details."

After he explained everything, for about the millionth time, a very slow smile spread out across his face, which surprised and shocked both of them before he turned his attention towards Steve. "It's quite obvious that they are both long gone by now, and I highly doubt we'll be able to track them down very easily, at least not with her new friends helping her, but there is a way we can find them."

He frowned. "How do you expect that to happen?"

"We just need to get a little bird on our side."

Murphy scoffed, not able to believe the words coming out of his mouth. "Have you lost your mind? Every single person that she knows is on her side, hell, she even has vigilantes on her side. There's no way in hell we're going to be able to manage that."

He smirked, "There is only one person that probably despises Lois just as much as the rest of us, actually maybe a little bit more since Lois is the only person standing in the way of getting to the man she loves…Clark Kent."

"An ex-girlfriend? Are you serious? How the hell is that supposed to help us?"

"This isn't just some ordinary ex-girlfriend. It's Lana Lang. The girl that used to be his entire world."

"An ex-girlfriend? Are you fucking serious?"

Lex growled, impatiently at Murphy, and quickly lowered down to him, their faces inches apart. "None of this would be happening if you would have just done your damn job properly, so I suggest you shut the fuck up before I dispose of you." Once he had both of their unwavering attention, he continued, "Now, all we have to do is get her on our side of things, and after a little bit of time we'll have everything we need to find Lois and her mutant child." He locked eyes with Steve. "Find her and bring her to me."

Murphy stared at him with a blank expression, as soon as he had left the room. "Alright. It's obvious that you know something I don't about this girl. How is she supposed to be the key to everything?"

"It's easy. She's always been jealous over the fact that Clark chose Lois over her. All we have to do is tell her everything she's been wanting to know since the moment she fell in love with that farm boy, and after adverting some certain truths from her perception she'll be putty in my hands."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know that girl better than she knows herself."

* * *

 _ **ONE WEEK LATER…**_

Lois and Alicia slowly brought the car to a stop directly in front of the biggest mansion in Gotham City, which not only seemed like a beacon in the city, but was also surrounded by the most beautiful scenery either of them had ever seen before, including the shrubbery.

As they got out of the car, Alicia couldn't stop herself from looking around the place in awe, even though it was completely shrouded in darkness she could still see all the architectural details that was put into building this incredible masterpiece of a home. Once Lois had Kaleb cradled in her arms, she looked at her, expectantly. "Who the hell is this guy, and how is it possible that his mansion is ten times more magnificent than Lex freaking Luthor'? I mean, is he super rich or something?"

She chuckled at her friend' enthusiasm and confusion. "He's ten times wealthier than Lex." It had been several years since she last seen him, and he had lived in a different house, well before it burned down to the ground, but it seemed that he was able to overcome that quite successfully after they parted ways. She roamed her eyes over the entire place, skeptically, and shrugged her shoulders, like she really didn't care about the importance of that particular fact. "You should have seen his other house. It was bigger."

Alicia' eyes barely managed to stay in her head, at her friend' words, but more importantly she was completely and utterly shocked at how complacent she was behaving about this entire situation.

They slowly walked up to the main doors, which were completely black with the most amazing embroidery carved into the undefinable wood.

It was completely and utterly amazing.

Alicia knocked on the wooden door, loudly, and they waited roughly about one minute before a very tall, handsome, dark-haired, muscular man opened the door with a bored expression plastered across his face.

He was the most beautiful man Alicia had ever seen in her entire life.

His eyes widened, slightly, and his facial expression turned to one of shock when he realized who was standing on his doorstep, not only because he hadn't seen her in years or that they hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, but mainly because she was carrying an infant in her arms.

It was something he never thought he would ever see in his entire life.

In a deep voice, he muttered, "Lois?"

She smiled, weakly at him since she wasn't all that sure what his reaction would be to see her after all this time. "Long time no see, Bruce."

"What are you doing here?"

She glanced down at her son before locking eyes with him. "I need your help."

His eyes widened, spectacularly like that was the last thing he ever expected to hear coming from her mouth, and glanced down at the child in her arms and the blonde woman next to her before widening the door for them to enter.

Once they entered the living room, Lois glanced at everything before turning towards him. "Well, it seems like you've been doing pretty well for yourself."

He just stared at her, bewilderingly.

"Oh, right." She gestured between Alicia and him. "Bruce, this is Alicia Baker, a friend of mine, and this my dear friend is Bruce Wayne."

Her heart literally stopped beating for a split second before it started beating again. "I know exactly who this is, um, hello…"

He just nodded at her before narrowing his eyes at the woman he hadn't spoken to in way too long. "Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on. We haven't spoken in years, not since—"

"Not since you and my father trapped Murphy in that hell hole." She interrupted him, not giving him a chance to bring that particular subject up, even though that was the whole reason she was here, of course she understood that they needed to discuss it, but she wasn't sure she was ready to rehash all of that…with him.

He glanced over at Alicia, worriedly before returning his gaze to her. That night all those years ago, she had vowed to never tell a single soul about what had happened, but here she was talking about freely like it wasn't the one and only thing that had ruined her life.

When she noticed the expression on his face, she rolled her eyes to the sky. "It's fine, buckaroo, she knows everything, actually pretty much everyone I know knows about that, but that's not the most important thing right now. We need your help…"

A frown took over his features. "What do you need? If I remember correctly, the last time we were in the same vicinity you told me that you never wanted to see me again."

She glared at him, heatedly. "We're not talking about that, and you know exactly why I said those particular words to you. I was pissed off at everyone back then, hell, I didn't even speak to Chloe for six months after that."

His eyebrows rose at that. "How is that blonde, spunky, annoying child doing?"

"Well, she definitely wants to kick your ass for not picking up a damn phone."

"That works both ways, you know."

"Whatever! None of this important. I need your help and you are literally the one and only person I can trust with any of this."

Every single fiber in his being went on red alert, at the steely glance in her eyes, the seriousness in the tone of her voice, and the way her words struck a cord within him, which is something that hasn't happened in quite a long time.

Something was wrong.

Something very bad had happened.

It didn't matter if it had been years since they last talked or if they had parted on bad terms.

She was like the sister he never wanted, and he would be damned if he allowed anything bad to happen to her or anyone else she was close to.

"What's going on?"

Before she could utter one word, Alfred Pennyworth walked through the corridor, intending to speak with Bruce about some pertinent Batman duties, but came to an abrupt halt when he saw the woman, who had practically tortured Bruce to no end as a child. "Lois? Is that you?" His eyes fell the child in her arms. "Is that a baby?"

She smiled, softly at the older man. "Alfred! I am so happy to see you, but um, I'm kind of in need of some assistance."

He bowed, slightly. "What services are required of me, Miss Lane?"

A groan escaped past her throat. "Don't call me that." At his nod, she continued, "I was hoping that you could help me find a safe and comfortable spot for my son to sleep in for the night."

He was thoughtful for a few seconds. "I think I can scrounge something up for the little one."

She started to follow him down the corridor, but stopped in her tracks, and turned towards Bruce, who was staring at her with a very confused expression from the bombshell she had literally just dropped. "Maybe you two should become more acquainted with each other…you'll be spending lots of time together."

She turned back around with a devilish smile plastered across her face, of course she knew that absolutely nothing would happen between those two, mainly because of his thoughts on women, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with them, especially knowing how attractive Alicia found her adoptive brother to be.

After settling her sleeping son into the makeshift crib, Alfred had made himself, she made her way back downstairs, while he went his separate way allowing them to be alone, and that's where she found Bruce and Alicia sitting on the couch, uncomfortably in complete silence.

She rolled her eyes before plopping down on the recliner across from them, and eyed them both, cryptically. "When I said get to know each other I didn't mean sit here twiddling your damn thumbs the whole time."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Will you please explain to me what the hell is going on? You show up on my doorstep with a baby in your hands. What the hell is that all about? I thought you said that you never wanted to have children?"

"I was fourteen, Bruce, I'm pretty sure there is not a single teenager out there that wants to have children at that age, but that isn't what's important here."

"Oh, I think it's damn important! How about you start with how the hell you have a child in the first place." At the slow smirk spreading out across her features, he added, "Serious answers only, please."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It's a long story."

"I've got all night."

"Fine! Basically, I ran away from home roughly about two years after our last encounter, met a guy, fell in love, and out popped a child."

"Why does it seem like it's more complicated than that?"

"Because it is," Alicia muttered underneath her breath.

Lois glared at her. "You're not helping."

"What? He's gotta know the whole story, and I do mean the whole story before we tell him anything about what's really going on here."

Bruce nodded at the beautiful girl, and turned towards the woman who had been a pain in his ass for years. "She's right. I need to know everything."

She sighed, heavily before telling him the very, very long story about how she met Clark Kent, fell in love with him, and how she ended up pregnant with his child, without telling him anything about his origins, which was way more difficult than she originally perceived it would be.

Once she was finished telling her story, a slow, contagious smile appeared on his face, which was something that happened every once in a blue moon. "What the hell are you smiling about?"

"It's just that I never thought that the hard headed, independent Lois Lane would ever fall in love, and with a farm boy at that."

She groaned at him. "Are you being serious right now?"

His smile dropped, at the seriousness of her tone of voice. "Okay. Okay. I understand how little Kaleb was brought into this world, but what I don't understand is why Mr. Loverboy isn't here with you now or why you never asked him for help, he kind of seems like an underprivileged, immature asshole if he can't even be bothered to help the woman he claims to love."

Alicia' mouth dropped open, at the audacity of his words, especially when it came to the topic of the love of her life, and glanced at a fuming Lois before whispering, "Oh no. This isn't going to end well."

He glanced at her with a weird expression before looking at an anger-filled Lois, who had an expression plastered across her face, one he had never seen on her before, and instantly knew that he had most definitely said the wrong thing.

"You don't know anything about the man that he is! Don't you dare scrutinize a man that you don't even know! I can't believe you even had the audacity to say those words to me! You know nothing about him, hell, you don't even know me anymore!"

"Whose fault is that?"

Now she was livid. "Are you fucking serious? Why do you keep bringing that up? I was just a child—a child, who was being threatened for months before anyone figured anything out, hell, you believed my own father over me all because I was just a child, and I didn't know what I was talking about! Chloe even tried getting through to you, but you just blew us off like we meant nothing to you!"

"Hey! That isn't fair, and you know it!"

Tears built in her eyes, as all the emotions she felt all those years ago came rushing back up to the surface. "You could have stopped it all, but instead Chloe and I dealt with him for a whole year before you or my father did anything about the situation!"

At her words, the guilt he has felt for all these years seeped deep down into his bones, and he dropped his head. It had been one of the worst parts of his life, not because this man had been hurting two people he cared about, but because he had chosen to not believe them when they confronted him, and that was the whole reason he hadn't contacted her since that night. She was right, he could have helped them, but he didn't, and he hated himself for that every single day.

"I'm sorry, Lo, I know I've never actually said the words to you, but I'm really, really sorry about everything that happened. I've never forgiven myself for that, and I never will."

"Well, sorry isn't going to cut it." She quickly stood up, and started pacing back and forth, unable to control her anger any longer. This was the last thing she wanted to be discussing right now, but she should have known that this would happen since they had never, ever talked about how much he had broken her heart.

"Have you forgiven your father?"

She stopped in her tracks, and turned towards him with fire in her eyes, as he stood up, slowly walking towards her. "Is that what you want? My forgiveness? Because you're not going to get it, and neither is my father! I might have accepted the fact that I was stuck with him, but I've never forgiven him, and neither has Chloe."

"I'm sorry, Lo, I really am."

"Of course, you are. Everyone is sorry for everything that happened. Not being able to stop any of this from happening. Not believing me or Chloe when we were literally crying out to you. Not being able to stop the hurt and betrayal we both felt for months after that, except you weren't there for that, were you?"

"You told me to leave!"

She stalked towards him, standing mere inches away from him, as she stared, fiercely into his eyes. "Did you ever think that I was just telling you what I thought I wanted?"

"What did you want?"

A few tears fell down her cheeks before she looked towards the ground, unable to look at him, as she uttered the words she had thought of for months after he had left. "I just wanted my brother to make it all better."

He couldn't believe the words that were coming from her mouth, not because they were unbelievable, but because it made him feel shittier than he already did. "I'm sorry, Lo, I should have been there for you."

"Stop saying that!" She glared up at him, fiercely before she started pounding into his chest with her fists. "Why couldn't you have been the bigger man? Why couldn't have you just taken care of me like you always used to? Why couldn't you have just believed me? Why couldn't you have saved me?"

He quickly grabbed her arms, pinning them against his chest to stop her from hurting herself. "Lois! You need to calm down! Please!" He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his body, as she screamed, and cried until they both collapsed to the ground.

After several minutes, he whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry, Lo, please, I need you to believe that I never meant to let anything bad happen to you."

Alicia, who had been sitting on the couch very silently during this entire exchange, had absolutely no idea that things were this bad between them, especially since she had seemed excited to see him again, but figured that they had never talked about what happened with Murphy all those years ago, and it was bound to resurface at some point.

Lois pulled away from him, and wiped away her tears before looking into his eyes. "I'm sorry for going off on you like that."

He smiled at her. "It's alright, Lo, I kind of deserved it. I've been a real ass to you the past few years."

"Kind of?"

"Okay. I really deserved it. I'm sorry for everything, but mainly I'm sorry for pushing you and Chloe out of my life."

"I know. I'm sure you'll make it up to us one way or another."

"I'm sure your right."

As soon as they both stood up, they glanced over at Alicia, who was smiling at them, reassuringly, and it made them both feel guilty about the spectacle they both had just made in front of her.

Lois walked over to her, and sat down next to her. "I probably should have warned you about that happening before we even started driving here."

She smiled at her. "It's alright, Lo, I know how bad things were back then, and you have no reason to be sorry for what just happened. It's obvious that you two are very close, and this needed to happen before either of you could move forward." She glanced over at Bruce, who was sitting on the recliner across from them, and smiled, knowingly at him. "But, you could have told me that your adoptive brother was a lot like Clark before we came here."

"Sorry?"

Bruce frowned at both of them. "What is she talking about? What are you talking about?"

Lois grinned at him. "Well, before you rudely insulted the love of my life, I was planning on telling you that you two are more a like than you'd like to believe."

"I'm still confused."

Alicia intervened. "I couldn't help, but notice during your confrontation that you hold the weight of the world on your shoulders just like Clark does, and I know for a fact that only people or shall I say heroes do that, especially when everything around them is crumbling down. I put two and two together. You're not only someone who could help us with everything, but you're also the vigilante running around the streets of this lovely city." She locked eyes with her friend. "I understand why you and Chloe were so secretive about him now."

He glanced at Lois with an inquisitive gaze, and once she mouthed that it was alright he turned back towards Alicia, narrowing his eyes at her. "What does that have to do with this Clark Kent character?"

"Well, he happens to be in the same business as you, you know, saving civilians from the greater enemy."

His eyes shot to Lois, surprisingly. "I thought you never wanted to be with someone with my qualities, I mean, that is exactly what you told me when you found out about my extracurricular activities."

She glared at him. "Things change, besides he's nothing like you either."

Now he was completely and utterly confused. "So, he's like me, but isn't? Neither of you are making any sense."

"Your both vigilantes, per say the only difference between you two is the fact that your human and he's not."

His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "I'm sorry, but did you just say that your boyfriend and the father of your child isn't human?"

She nodded.

All of a sudden, he started chuckling from this bombshell, which only confused her more and more by the second. "That wasn't the reaction I was expecting."

"Honestly, Lo, I'm not surprised. It figures that no ordinary man would be able to sweep you off your feet. It would literally take an extraterrestrial to do that."

"Shut up!"

"So, Kaleb? He's what? Half human? Half alien?" At her nod, he pressed further, "I understand the secrecy of all of this, but what I don't understand is why he isn't here with you now, I mean, if everything your telling me is the truth then where the hell is he when you need him the most?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "He's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean by gone?" He had a very bad feeling deep inside of his gut, and he really, really hoped that he was wrong about this, especially since he understood exactly how that felt, in more ways than one.

Alicia took one look at her friend, realizing almost instantly that she wouldn't be able to say the words without breaking down, completely, and they had way more important things to discuss and worry about at this moment in time. "He left to train with his biological father before she found out she was pregnant. He doesn't know anything about any of this, and he's not going to know until he returns. None of us know when that will be."

"Training for what?"

Lois managed to calm her emotions, and stared straight into his eyes. "Training to become the hero we all know and believe he can be. You know what that's like, don't you, Bruce?"

There was no way he was going near that with a ten-foot pole. They had literally just gotten out of a heated argument, and he definitely wasn't going to argue with her about that, not again. "Alright. I understand why he can't exactly be here right now, but um, that still brings me to the question…what are you doing here with my nephew, no less?"

She took a deep, deep breath. "He's back…"

"Who's back?"

"Murphy…"

He quickly shot out of his chair, as soon as she had uttered his name, and thought about everything that had happened since she arrived here. It was obvious that she was already nerved when she arrived, and his accusations about Clark had sent her over the rails. One part of himself wanted to believe that their entire argument was circled around the fact that he was back, but he knew better than that, he knew that that would have happened one way or another, and he was glad that it did. He wouldn't have been able to help her through this unless they had discussed everything that had happened before. "What do you mean he's back?"

"He's back out in the real world, walking around like nothing ever happened, well not exactly, he wants both me and Chloe dead for everything that happened, but he also wants my son dead because of who his father is or rather what his father is."

He started pacing back and forth. "That's not possible, Lois, your father and I dropped him in a place so remote—so secluded there is no way he could have escaped from that god forsaken island."

"Are you saying you don't believe me?"

"No!" He quickly yelled out from the accusatory words she had just spoken to him. He might have made that mistake once before, but he had learned since then, and he definitely wouldn't be making that mistake again. "No, Lois, I believe you. I just don't understand how he could have escaped."

"Well, he didn't exactly escape on his own…"

He immediately stopped pacing, and turned towards her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She stood up, and took a few steps towards him. "His new bestie, Lex Luthor, enlisted the help of one of his employees to break him out."

"I'm sorry, but did you just say that Lex Luthor is the reason he's walking around freely again? Why the hell would that bald-headed, snot nosed brat do that? Is he insane?"

Alicia snapped her head towards him. "Wait a minute. You know him?"

"We went to Excelsior High together."

Lois scoffed. "Of course, you went to the same rich kid school as them."

He frowned, at her choice of words. "Them?"

"Oliver Queen, someone else who came into my life a few months ago." At the screwed-up expression on his face, she continued, "I'm guessing you two know each other."

"You could say that. What kind of people are you surrounding yourself with, kid?"

She glared at him. "First of all, don't call me that. I'm not a kid anymore. Secondly, why the hell didn't you warn me about Lex and all of his craziness?"

"Well, he never came up in conversation, and he was just a spoiled brat when I knew him."

Alicia sighed, heavily. "Well, now he's a full-blown psychopath."

He glanced at Lois before closing the space between then, grabbed her hands, and pulled her down to the couch with him. "I need you to tell me everything."

And she did.

She told him everything that has happened from the moment she moved to Smallville to the moment she decided to come to him for help and protection.

As soon as she finished speaking, she stared at him, expectantly. "Do you now understand why I'm here—why I need your help?"

"I understand, Lois, I know we might have ended things pretty badly last time we dealt with Murphy, but I promise you I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, Kaleb or Alicia. Your safe with me."

She smiled at him. "We need more than protection."

He frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"

Alicia piped in. "We have Oliver and his band of heroes working on the issue on their side of things, but we need you to do some digging of your own."

"What do you need me to do?"

Lois squeezed his hands. "I need you to find something—anything that could stop both Lex and Murphy for good. I won't be on the run for the rest of my life. My child needs to grow up knowing that he is safe. I have a family now, Bruce, and I intend on being with them."

That was completely understandable, he thought to himself, but their plan did raise a few questions, one in particular. "How is this going to work? I mean, how are we all going to work together without being in the same vicinity?"

Alicia smiled, knowingly at him. "That's where I come in."

"I'm sorry, but you're just a girl. What the hell are you going to be able to do that we can't?"

In the blink of an eye, she vanished into a cloud of green smoke, two seconds later she appeared in front of him with a stack of papers, and dropped them into his lap. He glanced down at them for a few seconds, recognizing them immediately, and narrowed his eyes at the strange girl. "How the hell did you get these?"

"From your locked office in the middle of town." She slowly stepped away from him. "I have some abilities of my own. I can be more helpful than you believe."

"Obviously."

Lois stared at him for a few seconds. "Will you help us?"

He responded without hesitating. "Yes, Lois, I'll help you. We'll take them both down, and I'll get you back to your family. I promise, Lo, I'm not going to let anything happen to you or that little one upstairs."

She smiled at him.

"I'm guessing that means your both going to need a room to stay in?"

They both nodded.

After getting their rooms situated with Alfred, and saying goodnight to both Alicia and Bruce, Lois stood over her son' crib, watching him as he slept like nothing was wrong in this world.

If only that was true, she thought to herself.

She knew and understood that this was only a temporary fix, and eventually she would get her life back to the way it was before Lex and Murphy ruined everything, but until that day happened she would do anything and everything to protect her child.

It was nice knowing that she had so many people on her side.

Sooner rather than later she would be back where she belonged…with her family.

* * *

 _ **I honestly can't believe it has taken me this long to update this story, but I've been having some major computer problems, luckily, I was able to figure it all out, and I'm finally able to start updating this story once again.**_

 _ **Finally, I've revealed some key elements to Lois' past and to what has happened since the night Clark left for his training, but don't worry this is only the first chapter of this journey the next chapter will conclude everything that happened in Clark' absence. As for my version of Bruce' character, he isn't exactly as dark as he is portrayed in the movies, so I'm hoping that doesn't upset any of you. The whole point of Lois and Bruce' confrontation/argument was to reveal a little more about her past with Murphy, to show how strong their bond really is, and what they really mean to each other.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed Chapter Forty Three!**_


	45. Chapter Forty Four

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Four:**_

* * *

Miles and miles away from the humble home of one Bruce Wayne, Chloe, Oliver, Pete, Martha and Jonathon were all sitting in the living room of the farmhouse, attempting to figure out what the hell they were going to do about Lex and Murphy and how they were going to accomplish anything, in order to get Lois and Kaleb home where they belonged.

It wasn't going very well.

Every single one of them had information about each of them, but there was nothing they could use to bring either of them down for good.

It was frustrating as all hell.

Chloe sighed, heavily. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see what we hear from Alicia whenever she does show up."

Oliver growled low in his throat. "I still hate that Lois went to Bruce for help."

She rolled her eyes at him. "He's the only other person that knows everything about Murphy. He's the only lead we got."

He glared at her. "I still don't like the guy, especially after everything he's done to you and Lois."

"Do you think I'm not still pissed about that because I am, and I'm pretty sure that they hashed it out as soon as she arrived at his house. None of us have ever talked about that since it happened, and as much as I hate bringing him into all of this again, he is literally the only other person that can help us."

"Doesn't mean I have to accept it."

"Get over it. Who knows, maybe one day when all of this is over you two will be the best of friends."

A loud, cynical chuckle escaped past his lips. "That'll never happen."

Pete quickly interrupted the two of them. "So, what do we do now? It's not like we can just go about our normal lives."

"That's exactly what we have to do," Jonathon piped in.

"I'm not sure if that would be the brightest of ideas…"

They all turned around at the familiar voice echoing from behind them to find Lana Lang standing between the foyer with a worried expression plastered across her face, and it was quite obvious that she was stressing about something—something very serious.

Martha quickly walked towards her. "Lana, what are you doing here?"

"I know I haven't been around in a long time, mainly because I was attempting to keep my distance from Lois and Clark, but we have bigger problems now, and I need your help."

Pete narrowed his eyes at her. "Were you listening to our conversation?"

Her eyes widened, immensely, and she quickly stepped towards all of them. "No…Yes…I mean, not exactly, it's just that, um, I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but, I, um, might be of some help in this particular situation."

Oliver cocked a brow at her. "You? Be of help? How are you supposed to help us? Your just an ex-girlfriend of my friend' boyfriend, and you honestly have no idea what any of this is about."

She glared at him. "You'd be wrong, green tights man."

His entire face went completely blank, at her implicating words.

Jonathon quickly stepped towards her. "Lana, how do you know about Oliver?"

"Lex and Murphy told me…"

Pete stared at her, blankly. "How the hell does Lex or Murphy know about any of this?"

She glanced at Oliver. "Murphy overheard Lois say your name before he was completely knocked unconscious. You really should invest in more powerful tranquilizer darts."

"Yeah. I'll look into it."

Chloe rolled her eyes at every single person in the room. "You're all asking the wrong questions." She narrowed her eyes at her friend. "How the hell did you get involved in all of this? What do you know about any of this? Why are you talking to Lex and Murphy? Are you working for them?"

She looked down to the ground before glancing at her friend. "Not exactly, honestly, I'm quite confused about all of this. It's a very long, winding and crazy story."

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, you better start speaking. Stop dancing in circles. What the hell do you have to do with any of this?"

"Chloe! Stop it right now!" Martha scolded her.

She turned towards her. "She could be working for the enemy! I'm not going to allow anything else bad happen to the people I care about!"

Jonathon slowly rested his hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm her down a little bit. "We can at least hear her out."

Every single person in the room stared at Lana, expectantly. "Start explaining."

She took a deep breath. "Last week, I was at The Talon when a large man confronted me, and practically dragged me to Lex' mansion. That's where I met Murphy. He kept going on and on about something that Lois had done to him, while Lex seemed to just want something from her. They eventually told me everything and—"

"What do you mean they told you everything?" Chloe interrupted her, as she stepped closer to her, cautiously.

"I know everything about Clark, where he comes from, his powers, and I also know everything that happened between you, Lois and Murphy when you were younger."

"Oh, this is just great!" Pete and Oliver muttered, simultaneously.

Chloe scoffed. "You mean, they told you everything from their point of view, which means you really don't know a single thing that's happening right now."

She glared at her, fiercely. "So, Clark isn't an alien from another planet? You and Lois didn't get mixed up with Murphy when you were younger? Lois didn't give birth to a baby boy? They didn't disappear after Murphy confronted them a week ago?" At her abundant silence, she pressed further, "What I don't understand is why Clark just disappeared or why you and Lois screwed over Murphy to the point he wants revenge."

And just like that her calm demeanor was gone. "We didn't do anything to that scumbag!"

"You left him on an island, Chloe…"

"Because he spent one year threatening, beating and torturing us before my uncle and adoptive cousin could do anything about it!" She stepped closer to her. "See? You don't know everything. All you know is what they told you, which happens to be a pile of lies. You played right into their game, Lana, they never told you all of this because they felt you deserved to know they told because they plan on using you against all of us, and you literally just fell into their trap."

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?"

"You weren't…" Oliver muttered out loud.

She frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

Pete walked closer to his friend. "Lana, did they explain to you why they wanted you to know all of this?"

"Yeah. After convincing me that Lois had really done something horrible to them, they told me that they needed my help finding her and her son, Kaleb."

Chloe groaned, loudly. "Oh great! This is just fucking wonderful! Why didn't you come to us sooner about all of this, you know, like right after it happened?"

She glared at her. "Maybe because I've been held captive inside of the mansion this entire time. They tried to make it seem like I was there willingly, but it was obvious that I was their prisoner."

Jonathon frowned at her words. "They wouldn't have let you go unless they knew you were going to help them…"

Oliver growled low in his throat, protectively. "Is that why you're here? To get information about their whereabouts? You're working for them, aren't you?"

"No!" She shouted, loudly before taking a deep breath. "Look, I know that this is all really confusing, hell I'm probably more freaked out than the rest of you are, but I needed to figure out a way to get out of that place, and the only way to do that was to pretend I was on their side. I'm not going to help them, of course, but that's why I'm here. I don't know what I should do, and I figured that one of you would have a good idea to help me get out of this insane plan of theirs."

Chloe finally managed to calm her animosity down. It was quite obvious that her friend was just as terrified as they all were, maybe even more since she was literally just dragged into this whole mess, but that could work to their advantage, the question was…would she be willing to go along with her plan?

"I know exactly what we should do, but it's not exactly a good plan."

"I'll do anything to get out of this."

"That's the problem…I kind of need you be a part of all of this."

She frowned. "What?"

"Look, I need you to help them—I need you to pretend that you're on their side, but in reality, you're going to be helping us by telling us every single thing they talk about."

Oliver grinned, widely. "An inside man. We would always be one step ahead of them."

Martha couldn't believe what she was hearing right now, and quickly intervened. "What? Have you two lost your mind? We can't put her in the limelight like that! It's only going to get her killed!"

Jonathon nodded his head in agreement.

Pete shook his head from side to side. "It just might work though. Think about it, they will tell her everything because they think she's with them, but instead she'll be working with us revealing all their dirty little secrets. Besides, Oliver, Bart and Dinah would never allow anything to happen to her." He glanced at Oliver. "Isn't that right?"

He nodded. "You'd be protected at all times. This is exactly what we need to get any information on them."

Jonathon stood his ground. "Absolutely not! I'm not allowing any of you to put her in danger like this! This has to be the stupidest and most idiotic idea any of you have ever thought of! We all want Lois and Kaleb back home, but we can't risk her life because of it!"

Lana listened to their endless bickering for several more minutes before she screamed out, "That's enough!" Once everyone's attention was on her, she continued, "Just stop arguing about it. This is my choice, and my choice alone. It's quite obvious that I haven't been the greatest friend to any of you, especially to Lois and Clark, mainly because I was jealous of their relationship, but I've had months to sort out my feelings, and I have honestly moved on from Clark. I want him to be happy with Lois and their child. I'm literally the only person that can accomplish this without Lex and Murphy becoming suspicious. I don't just want to do this for me, but I want to do this for them. They deserve to be home where they belong."

Martha shook her head from side to side. "Honey, you don't have to do this. We can find another way."

She smiled at her. "I do need to do this. I owe this to all of you, but more importantly I owe this to Lois more than anybody else. I've been a complete bitch to her ever since she moved to town, but it's not just for penance, it's for Lois and Kaleb…they deserve to be home."

Chloe smiled, softly at her before growing serious. "You do realize that this plan is going to be very dangerous. You have to be careful around them, especially Lex. They are precarious, crazy and very manipulative."

"I'm starting to gather that. Where do we start?"

A slow grin spread out across her face. "This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

 _ **TWO YEARS LATER…**_

Several miles away from civilization, in the deepest part of the woods, a tall, well-built, blonde woman stood in the midst of thousands of trees a few feet away from her deep maroon spaceship with an unwavering, concentrated gaze, as she tried her damnest to understand everything that was happening in the world around her.

It was a very weird place, she thought to herself, and the humans walking around were even more complex.

It had been one, excruciating long week since she emerged from her spaceship, and all she was feeling was complete and utter confusion.

All she remembered before arriving here was being on her home planet, Krypton, her father Zor-El had sent her to this small, rudimentary, but beautiful planet called Earth on a mission to search for her long, lost cousin…Kal-El, son of Jor-El and Laura in order to help him through his training—training that would not only transform him into an impeccable being, but also help him hone the gifts that she has already mastered since arriving on this planet.

But…

There was only one problem…

She couldn't find him.

Not here.

Not anywhere.

According to her father and her Kryptonian bracelet, he shouldn't be older than three years old, which seemed like it would be easier to locate him, but the longer she was unsuccessful the more impossible it became for her to fulfil her destiny, and it was very imperative that she found him and fast.

An expression on resolution crossed over her beautiful features before she shot up into the sky, creating a whirlwind of dirt and dust in her wake, and once she was floating, perfectly in the upper atmosphere she glanced down at the vast majority of Earth.

He was supposed to be here to a small-town called Smallville, in the dead center of the state named Kansas, but he was literally nowhere to be found, which only complicated things further and further.

She glanced down at her bracelet with the immaculate symbol of her house on it, once again, and as soon as it flashed, brightly with a picture of her cousin, Kal-El, she looked back down on Earth, thousands and thousands of explanations on why she couldn't find him on this small planet ringing nonstop in her mind.

Figuring that she was just looking in all the wrong places, she quickly flew back down to Earth to search and find her baby cousin, not only because it was part of her destiny, but because she needed to help him fulfill his.

* * *

"Ahhhhhh!" Kaleb screamed loudly, as he giggled, relentlessly, while his mommy chased him around the entire mansion.

"Get back here you littler bugger!"

"Nooooo!"

Lois continued chasing her half naked son around the living room and kitchen, attempting to dodge all the furniture since he was small enough to get around everything a lot smoother than she could, and for a two-year old he was quite faster than her, well, faster than a normal human being, but he wasn't exactly ordinary.

For well over twenty minutes now they had been doing this, and a small part of herself was beginning to get really frustrated with her trouble maker of a son since all she wanted to do get him into the freaking bath tub, but the other part of herself was feeling more and more amused than anything else, especially since the sound of his laughter only made her giggle right along with him.

The past two years had been absolutely amazing with him, mainly because she had spent all of that time watching him grow from the little infant he was to the energy-filled toddler he was now, but it wasn't just his physical changes that amazed her it was his mental ones too. He was so much more intelligent than she perceived he would be at this age, especially since he was already speaking and thinking so clearly, way more advanced that any other human child, but she figured that had a lot to deal with his Kryptonian genes.

Honestly, she couldn't be any happier than she was when she spent time with him, except for the fact that she wished that they both could be home instead of living in a city neither of them belonged in. Of course, she enjoyed being with her adoptive brother and best friend, but this isn't where she really wanted to be…she wanted to be in Smallville with her family—with her friends, and Kaleb deserved to grow up in the same environment his father had.

But…

That wasn't something she could give to him, at least not yet, and even though she was feeling frustrated with everything she had to believe that one day soon they would both be back where they belonged. Aside from that, everything involving her son was absolutely great, except for the fact that Clark still hadn't returned from his training.

It was completely and utterly frustrating, especially since he couldn't be here to help her through this or to watch their son grow, and as the days went by she only became sadder and sadder at that fact, but when she looked at her son, who was like an exact replica of him kept her going—kept giving her hope that one day he would return to them.

Another thing that kept her going, aside from her lovable son, was the fact that Lex and Murphy hadn't found them, which meant that they were safe, and she intended on keeping it that way, but if she was being honest with herself she just wanted all of this to be over.

She wanted to be home.

She wanted her son to be home.

She wanted things to go back to normal.

The only problem they were having was that it was becoming more and more impossible to solve this major problem, especially since they knew how to cover their tracks very, very well.

It was starting to seem hopeless for them, but no matter how hard things became she would one day be able to go home with her son, and maybe just maybe he could finally grow up like a half normal human being.

After several more minutes of chasing him around the house, she stopped running, feeling completely out of breath from this little work out, and turned towards Bruce and Alicia with an annoyed expression plastered across her face, who were sitting on the couch, laughing, good heartedly. "Are you two going to help at all or are you just going to sit there and do nothing?"

Bruce grinned, widely at her obvious annoyance. "I think I'll just sit here and watch you fail at capturing the little angel."

She scoffed, loudly. "Angel? Yeah right. More like little monster."

Alicia laughed even harder than she was. "He is an angel."

"Yeah, of course he is to his favorite uncle and aunt."

All of a sudden, Alicia stopped laughing when a particular thought occurred to her, and she grinned like a Cheshire cat. "You do realize that you're getting your butt kicked by a two-year old, right?"

"A very special two-year old, who just happens to have abilities."

"Except that he doesn't…" Bruce corrected her with a bright smile lingering on his face.

She glared at both of them. "You two are no help."

"We're just here to watch the very amusing show of mother and son."

Alicia nodded, humorously.

"Whatever!" She quickly turned her back on them, unable to believe them at this point, and went on the never-ending search for her son. She spotted him squatting behind an old-fashioned reclining chair, and very quietly snuck up on the other side of the chair before popping out in front of him, causing him to fall back on his butt. "Boo!" She attacked him with her hands, tickling him and smothering his entire face with kisses before scooping him up into her arms. "Gotcha, little squirt!"

He giggled, loudly. "Momma, you are too slow!"

"Well, you're a fast-little bugger!"

"Faster than you!"

She poked his nose, making him giggle even more. "That you are, mister."

When she walked back into the living room, Kaleb squirmed from her arms, and rushed towards his uncle with a ginormous smile. "Uncle Bru!"

Bruce quickly swooped him up into his arms, and swung him around a few times before resting him on his hip. "It looks like your momma finally caught you."

"It took a long time. She is too slow."

"Don't I know it."

She glared at him. "Hey! I'm right here, you know."

He smirked at her. "I know."

Ignoring that obvious barb, she glanced around the room, and noticed that her best friend was missing. "Where's Alicia?"

"I'm right here." She made her presence known before glancing between the two of them. "Chloe just called. They have something they want to discuss with me, but didn't really say what it was about. She was a little more ominous than usual."

Bruce stepped closer to her. "Did she say anything else?"

She shook her head from side to side. "Not really, except that she needed me there as soon as possible."

Lois sighed, heavily. "Hopefully they will have good news."

"Yeah. I'll be back soon."

As soon as she disappeared, Kaleb laughed, unrepentantly. "Auntie Lica went poof!"

They chuckled at him before Bruce handed him over to her, and when she started walking away from him he grabbed her arm, turning her back around towards him. "Lois…"

"What?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just want to get Kaleb in the bath."

He cocked his brow at her. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Believe what you want, Bruce."

He tightened his hand around her arm, not allowing her to walk away from him, and stared straight into her emotion-filled hazel eyes. "Just say it, Lois."

"Say what?"

"Anything. Everything. Something. You can't keep everything your feeling inside forever, you know, it's been weeks since you've even mentioned the situation."

She took a long, suffering deep breath. "What am I supposed to say about it? We're failing. We've been failing for quite some time now, Bruce, it's been two years and we have absolutely nothing. Not a single thing that could help me or my son. I just want to go home. I love you, I really do, and I've enjoyed every moment we've spent together, but I miss my family, Bruce, I miss my life. I just want it back."

He slowly wiped away the tear that fell down her cheek. "I know, Lo, I know you want to go home. I know that you want your life back, but we have to be smart about this, and I won't make any mistakes—I won't do this half-heartedly because you and Kaleb will just get hurt in the end. One day you'll be back where you belong."

"Yeah, I know. That's what everyone keeps telling me, but I'm starting to lose hope that this will ever end."

In a serious tone, he said, "Don't you dare lose hope, Lois, I promise you I'll fix this. I'll get you and Kaleb home."

She just nodded, and walked away with her son clinging onto her. Of course, he didn't understand a single thing they were discussing, but he did understand that his mommy was upset about something, and he didn't like it one bit.

Bruce watched her walk away, solemnly, feeling his heart break for her since he completely understood what she wanted, but he couldn't give it to her, at least not yet. He quickly raced down to his Bat Cave, where Alfred was typing different mechanisms into one of the many computers they had. "Are we getting any close into cracking that file?"

He shook his head from side to side. "Not yet. Lex made this very, very complex, but I'm almost there I just have to get through these last few firewalls."

"Hopefully there will be something in there that we can use against him."

He stopped typing, and grinned up at him. "Getting tired of your houseguests already?"

His face remained stoic. "I could never get tired of them. If I'm being honest, my life has been ten times better since they've been here, but I know what Lois really wants, and I intend to make that happen for her."

Alfred went back to his task, while Bruce thought about the past two years.

It was the truth.

He had become a better and completely different person since the night she showed up on his doorstep with little Kaleb and Alicia.

It wasn't just great having them around, it was amazing, actually it's been the happiest he's been in a very, very long time, but he knew where Lois really wanted to be…home, and he was determined to give her exactly what she wanted so desperately.

* * *

Alicia rematerialized in the back alley, directly behind The Talon, which was currently underneath the ownership of Martha Kent and Lana Lang, and after checking her surroundings, carefully, making sure that no one had seen her she started walking towards the main doors of the establishment.

Normally, they would either meet at the farmhouse or Oliver and Chloe' apartment in Metropolis, but for some reason Chloe wanted her to meet her here before they went to the farmhouse. It wasn't an odd request, but it wasn't normally what they did since she started going back and forth between states, and she just figured that she had really good reasons for this.

All of a sudden, she bumped into a tall, muscular man, mainly because she was too lost in her thoughts instead of paying attention to where she was walking. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying…" She quickly trailed off when she realized exactly who she had literally just bumped into, and her entire facial expression and tone of voice transformed in the blink of an eye, as she stared at the one man she has been attempting to dodge for two years now. "Lex."

He smirked, at the way her entire composure changed once she realized exactly who he was. "Well, if it isn't Alicia Baker. It's been a long time. Were you expecting to bump into someone else?"

"Yeah. Next time, I'll pay more attention, wouldn't want to have another run-in like this again."

He placed his hands over his chest, dramatically. "That hurts my feelings."

She smirked at him. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go wash this unbearable stench off me."

A soft chuckle escaped past his lips, not because it was funny, but because he knew that he made her nervous for some reason, and he was really looking forward to figuring out why, especially since he had only seen her a few times over that past three years.

It was odd that she kept coming back to this small-town, he thought to himself.

"Now, what have I done to you that deserves such wonting hostility?"

"No reason. I just don't like you."

She attempted walking around him, but he blocked her way, and grinned down at her. "Not so fast. I think it's about time we catch up on a few things, don't you think?"

"No thanks." She tried to go around him, but he blocked her way again. "Are you going to let me pass?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I don't think so. You know, I think it's kind of funny that you always find your way back to this pathetic small-town, I mean, the only two real friends you have are gone and have been for quite some time now, so why do you keep coming back?"

"I have more friends than you'd like to believe."

"Oh, I know."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Have you been watching me?"

"No, of course not, but I do hear things, and I'm a very observational person. I've seen you in town more than a few times already."

More like an irrational, crazy psychopath, she thought to herself.

"So, what brings you back, I mean, weren't you just here less than a month ago…"

She remained passive, not wanting to let him know the real reasons she was here and wanted to keep a cool head since he did make her very nervous. "That is none of your business, Luthor, now if you'll excuse me I need to get inside."

He didn't let her pass when she tried to escape past him once again. "Ah yes, your little friend is in there, actually she's been waiting for you for quite some time now."

She glared at him. "Are you following her too?"

"Would you stop asking me that. I'm not a stalker, but Miss Sullivan and I did have some pressing matters to discuss."

"Like what?"

He smirked. "I'm very glad you asked that question. How about a truth for a truth? I'll tell you all about our conversation if you explain to me what you're really doing here."

"Yeah. No thanks. I think I'll take my chances with Chloe, at least I know she won't be lying through her teeth."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

She grinned, cynically. "Yes, Lex, I'm calling you a liar, but I'm sure you get that a lot." She started to walk around him, once again, but he gripped her arm tightly in his hand. "I know you're lying to me, Miss Baker, and I really don't like liars. You have ulterior motives just like those friends of yours. I'd watch your back if I were you."

She ripped her arm from his grasp. "Are you threatening me?"

"You would take it that way, wouldn't you? I'm simply giving you a piece of advice. Chloe Sullivan and your other friends aren't what they claim to be."

As soon as she disappeared from sight, he beckoned Steve Wilkinson out of the car, which was parked directly in front of him. "Follow her. She's up to something, and I want to know what it is. I don't care how long it takes, find out everything you can, and don't come back until you have something for me."

He nodded and walked away.

Lex didn't really know what that transporting meteor freak was up to, but he did know that she was lying straight through her teeth, and he'd be damned if he allowed her to ruin anything for him. It was quite obvious that she was a part of all of this, especially since every time she was here she was always with Chloe and her vigilante friends. One way or another he would find out the truth, but he had a feeling that he already knew. She had always been close to Clark and Lois, so it wouldn't be surprising if she were working with them, but whatever it was she was up to he would find out, and deal with her just like he plans to deal with all the others as soon as he gets what he wants.

Alicia walked into The Talon, feeling more than a little worried at the moment, as his words rang in her head over and over again, and she scanned her eyes across the room until she spotted Chloe sitting on a chair, next to the service counter.

Chloe spotted her rushing over to her, and quickly stood up. "What the hell took you so long? I've been here for over an hour! What part of as soon as possible did you not…" She trailed off when she noticed how completely freaked her friend seemed. "What's wrong?"

She glanced around the room, cautiously before moving closer to her. "I just had the weirdest conversation with Lex."

She groaned, softly. "He's obviously making his rounds today."

"He mentioned that he talked to you. What did he want?"

"Oh, you know, the usual, he was once again threatening that it didn't matter what we did to stop him, and that one way or another he would find Lois and Kaleb."

"I think that's the least of our problems right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm pretty sure that he has figured out my role in all of this or at least is starting to, I mean, we haven't exactly been conspicuous about it. He knows that I've been coming and going over the past two years."

"Of course, he's figured it out. That's just what we need right now. I guess we'll have to be more careful from here on out."

She frowned at her, slightly. "Why did you want me to meet you here, anyways?"

She grabbed a pile of papers off the counter, and waved them in the air. "I needed to pick up something from Lana' apartment upstairs, but now I'm starting to wonder if that was such a good idea or not since Lex made it his mission to threaten both of us."

"Do you think he's figured it all out?"

"I'd be surprised if he hasn't, come on, lets get out of here." They quickly left, taking all of the backroads, just in case Lex' paranoia got the best of him, and roughly twenty minutes later they pulled up to the farmhouse, where she was bombarded by Martha, Jonathon, Oliver, Lana and Pete, who were all very happy to see her, even though they had just seen her less than three weeks ago.

Over the next hour, Alicia told them everything they wanted to know about Lois and Kaleb, including the little bath mishap she witnessed earlier, which, of course made all of their days, and showed them the most recent pictures and videos of the little quirt.

Martha sighed, as she glanced down at all the pictures spread out across the kitchen table. "He's growing up so fast."

She nodded. "He's also turning into a little bit of a trouble maker."

Jonathon chuckled. "I believe it. Clark was always getting into trouble at that age. I'm pretty sure I fixed every piece of furniture in this house several times before he learned to be more careful with his abilities."

That brought a small smile to her face before it turned serious. "Luckily, he hasn't developed any of his father' unique abilities yet. That would be like shining a bright, red neon sign directing Lex and Murphy towards their location." She locked eyes with Chloe. "Speaking of, do you have anything for me?"

She shook her head from side to side. "We're still trying to hack into several of his files, but it's not looking so great right now. How are things going on your side of things?"

"Not so good." She sighed, heavily. "Bruce and I are working non-stop on this, but we all know how paranoid Lex can be about his business deals."

Lana groaned, loudly. "Tell me about it. For two years, I've listened to him rattle on and on about all of his business deals, and the ones he is currently working on are just simply inhumane."

"Is he still going after the meteor infected?'

She nodded. "It's obvious that his labs and test subjects have everything to deal with Kaleb, but I don't know what he is exactly doing with them since he doesn't tell me everything, just things specifically about Lois and Kaleb, which hasn't really gotten us anywhere."

Oliver intervened. "My team and I are still working on locating the locations of his 33.3 labs, but I'm positive that whatever he's doing it isn't good."

Alicia nodded her head in agreement. "So, if we haven't found anything we can use against him or Murphy, then what was the importance of me being here today?"

Pete stepped towards her. "We have a little problem, and it could be potentially dangerous for Kaleb…"

"What's going on?"

"Well, a few days ago, me and Lana were at the park in Metropolis, you know enjoying the beautiful weather with Jacob and Jessica in their strollers when a blonde woman flew down from the skies, and started picking the children up, like she was looking for someone before moving onto the next child."

Alicia couldn't believe her ears. "What does this woman want? How could she be a danger to Kaleb?"

"I was incredibly worried about the children' welfare, especially since I now have two of my own, so I confronted her like an idiot, and let's just say that it didn't go over very well, but I did manage to get some information out of her…she's looking for a child named Kal-El…"

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head, at this revelation. "Are you telling me that this woman is searching for Clark? Why?"

Lana stepped towards her. "After that happened, I started doing some research, and just yesterday I found her spaceship in the middle of the woods—"

"I'm sorry, but did you just say spaceship?" Alicia interrupted her.

She nodded. "I don't know too much about this woman, other than the fact that she's from Krypton, and is searching for Clark, but get this, after doing a little investigative work I realized that she doesn't want to hurt him. It seems like she's just really adamant about finding him, but none of us know why."

This was all very sudden and very confusing, she thought to herself before a rational thought occurred to her. "Why is she looking for him now, I mean Krypton imploded before Clark even arrived on Earth, so where has she been all of this time?"

Lana smiled, slightly. "I have a theory about that. I'm pretty sure that she was sent here around the same time that Clark was, but for some reason she remained encased in her spaceship, but it gets even weirder, these attacks started exactly one week after that dam broke—"

"You mean, when Lex allowed one of his caged-up freaks to escape, which I had to eliminate by the way." Oliver interrupted her.

Alicia glared at him. "Easy on the freak term." Once he mouthed 'sorry' to her, she replayed everything they had explained to her about this mysterious woman for several seconds before what they were trying to tell her finally hit her like a jackhammer. "Oh my god! If this Kryptonian woman finds Kaleb in Gotham City then we could all have bigger problems than we already have right now."

Pete nodded. "Which is why we're sending Lana with you. She's the only person who knows about this woman, and I'm pretty sure you're going to need the extra help, especially if this woman does find them."

She glanced at Lana before locking eyes with Chloe. "You are joking, right?" When her faced remained passive, she started pacing back and forth, in a panicked manner. "Do you have any idea what she is going to do to me when I walk into that mansion with the love of her life' ex-girlfriend?"

Oliver snickered. "I think I have a pretty good idea."

She glared, heatedly at him. "You're all trying to give me an early death, aren't you?"

Lana spoke, in a shaky voice, "Do you think she still hates me for everything I did?"

"That is the least of our worries. She'll be more pissed about the fact that you've been involved in this practically since the moment she left town, and she'll be even more pissed that I didn't tell her about it."

Martha sighed, softly. "We all agreed that it would be better that way."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know, but she's still going to kill me and Bruce for keeping her in the dark about this."

Jonathon smiled, softly at her. "She might be a little upset at first, but she'll understand why we did what we did once you explain everything to her."

That was very unlikely, she thought to herself.

She glanced at Lana. "What about Lex? Isn't he going to wonder why, where and how you just randomly disappeared?"

"Well, I don't plan on being gone very long, only to help take care of this Kryptonian woman situation, but Chloe has a plan just in case I'm gone longer than expected."

Chloe spoke up, "I have a cover story for her, and I have all the proof on paper to back it up, just in case he becomes curious, but I'm hoping that it won't be necessary." She grabbed the pile of papers on the kitchen table, and handed them to Alicia. "You'll need to show these to her. She'll be too pissed to believe either of you, but these should help with that."

She scoffed. "Yeah, but it definitely won't stop her from hating me, now will it?"

"Sorry, I can't help in that department."

"That's just great."

After Lana had everything she needed, and had kissed Pete goodbye they vanished in the blink of an eye.

"How pissed do you think she's going to be?"

Oliver laughed at Pete' question. "I think it's best to say that she'll be more than just pissed about this."

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. "It'll take awhile before she gets over this one."

Martha shook her head from side to side. "Come on, guys, give her some credit. She has a big heart. She'll understand that we only did this in the best interest of her and Kaleb."

"Martha' right," Jonathon added.

Pete smiled, wistfully. "Let's hope your right or we'll all have the wrath of one very pissed off momma Lane."

They all cringed, inwardly. That was the last thing any of them wanted, but they all had a little hope that she would understand, at least that's what they kept telling themselves, even though every single one of them knew her reaction wasn't going to be that thrilling for anyone, especially Bruce and Alicia.

* * *

Steve Wilkinson practically jumped out of the car before it even came to a complete stop, and immediately started rushing inside the mansion, his mind running haywire at everything he had learned within the few hours he was gone. Honestly, he was having a hard time believing everything he had overheard, especially the details about Lana Lang' loyalty to them.

Lex and Murphy looked up, stopping their conversation when the doors to his office slammed open, to find a completely out of breath Steve making his way towards them, and they were both surprised that he was back from his mission so soon.

Lex slowly stood up, and walked towards him. "I'm guessing that you've got some information for me since your back already?"

He nodded before taking a deep breath. "It's so much worse than we previously believed."

"Alicia is working with them, isn't she?"

"Yes, sir, but I also found out something much more troubling than that…"

"What is it?"

"It's Lana. She was at the farmhouse with them, and it seems that she's been working with them this entire time."

Murphy' eyes widened before a cruel expression crossed over his stony features. "That bitch! I should have know that she would stab us in the damn back! They know everything we have told her!"

Lex took in this information, coolly. "I'll admit that I wasn't expecting this, but I'm not entirely surprised she switched sides. She probably went to the farmhouse as soon as she left this mansion."

Murphy frowned. "Are you saying that she's been their inside man from the beginning?"

He nodded.

"I'm going to kill the bitch!"

Lex turned towards him with a dead serious expression. "Murphy, you need to relax. She'll get what's coming to her for betraying us, but right now we have more pressing matters to worry about." He turned towards Steve. "Where is Lana now?"

"Miles away from here by now. She left with that teleporting freak to go protect the mutant child from some alien, who's searching for his father."

Murphy' eyes lit up, at that bit of information. "Do you know where they are?"

A slow, demeaning smile graced his lips. "I know exactly where they are."

This was very exciting news, Lex thought to himself.

"Where are they?"

"They are staying with a man named Bruce in Gotham City, sir."

That little bit of information sparked something deep inside of him, something he hasn't felt for a very long time, and it was all starting to make a lot more sense. Figures that she would barricade herself around someone like him, especially since she had a special knack for surrounding herself around vigilantes, and he knew for a fact that he was the man running around the streets dressed as a bat. "So, she's staying with the infamous Bruce Wayne. That is very interesting…"

Murphy snapped his head towards him. "Did you just say Bruce Wayne? Are you telling me that she's been with him this entire time?"

He rose his brow at him. "Do you know him?"

"You could say that. He helped General Sam Lane trap me on that island."

That bit of information infuriated Lex to an absolute high degree. "Why the hell didn't you mention this before?"

"Because her father is the one that actually arranged it all. All Bruce did was stop me from killing them, and I do remember how much our dear Miss Lane hated him for ignoring her and Chloe' cries for help, so I figured that she would want nothing to do with him."

He growled, low in his throat. "You're such an idiot! Of course, she would go to him! He is literally the only other person that knew about you!" He took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself. "What was their relationship like back then?"

"You mean before I got involved?" At his nod, he continued, "They were like brother and sister, even though they aren't related in any capacity."

Lex glared, heatedly at him. "Murphy, you're lucky I need you because if I didn't then you'd be dead right about now!" He turned back towards Steve. "Anything else?"

He nodded. "They still have absolutely no idea what we're planning for them since we didn't tell Lana anything about that, but they are getting close to breaking down a few of your encrypted files."

He waved his hand, dismissively, like that wasn't very important to him. "They won't find anything. I'm more careful than that. What about this woman you mentioned? The one that is going after the child?"

"From what I can gather, she's from the same planet as Clark. She was released when that dam broke, and she's very adamant about finding him, but they fear that she will mistake the child for his father."

He grinned, evilly. "That means they'll be too occupied with our little visitor, which works for us because they won't see us coming." He clapped his hands together. "Pack your bags, boys, were going to New Jersey."

* * *

Kaleb giggled, excitedly, as his uncle Bruce and mommy sat directly across from him playing his favorite game in the entire universe, a game where the superhero, also known as The Green Arrow saved the frightened woman and defeated the villain.

Bruce and Lois glanced at each other, knowingly before continuing to play his little game, the exact same one he conned them into playing almost every single day.

If only he knew how real this game really was for them or the mere fact that many of his family members were superheroes themselves, Lois thought to herself. There was a part of herself that knew one day she would have to tell him the truth about superheroes and villains, not only because two of his uncles were saviors themselves, but because one day he would realize that he wasn't anything like the people surrounding him, and the other part of herself didn't want to tell him anything because she wanted him to remain this way for as long as possible.

It wasn't realistic, but she just wanted him to be happy and remain feeling the way a child should for as long as possible, and she knew once he did find out everything when he was older he would carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, just like his father has his entire life.

Kaleb giggled like a maniac when his uncle Bruce defeated his mommy, who was playing the villain, but his smile fell almost instantaneously when he watched his aunt Alicia appear behind them with a strange dark-haired woman.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy meeting new people, but he knew that his mommy and uncle Bruce were very protective over who spent time with him, even if he didn't understand the reasons behind it. "Who are you?"

Lois frowned, at her son' words before following his gaze, to find Alicia standing next to a woman she never, ever thought she would see again, and quickly shot up to her feet with a confused expression plastered across her face. "Alicia? What the hell is she doing here?"

Bruce slowly stood up, a heavy feeling forming in the pit of his stomach, at the sight of Lana Lang standing in his living room. He had never met her before now, but he knew from the look on his adoptive sister' face and from the expression plastered on his friend' face that that was the woman, who had been working with them without Lois' knowledge.

Over the past two years, it had taken everything inside of him not to tell her about her involvement in all of this, actually, there were many times where he almost cracked underneath the pressure of keeping such a colossal secret from her, but Alicia had continuously reminded him that it was better this way. He wasn't too sure about that now, especially from the way her entire composure had changed in a matter of seconds, and it wasn't a good change either.

This wasn't going to be good, he thought to himself.

Alicia slowly walked towards her with an uneasy expression plastered across her face. "Lois, I need you to listen to me, okay?"

She cocked her brows at her. "Listen to you? I'm going to ask you one more time…what is she doing here?"

Lana slowly stepped towards her, cautiously. "I'm here to help…"

"You're here to help? That's rich coming from you since you attempted to get in between Clark and I' relationship!"

"That was three years ago, Lois, haven't you moved past that by now? I know that I have."

She laughed, coldly. "Have you? I find that very hard to believe since you're here right now. Why else would you be here other than to get close to my son, you know, another attempt to win back Clark' affections. Well, I hate to break it to you, but Clark is gone, and he has been for a very long time."

"This has nothing to do with Clark, but it has everything to do with your son. I'm trying to help you here."

Kaleb, who was feeling very, very confused at this moment in time, pulled on his mommy's shirt, causing her to glance down at him. "Momma, who is that lady?"

"Nobody, Kal, I need you to go to your room."

He glanced over at the dark-haired woman, briefly before walking towards the stairs, but instead of going to his room like he was told he sat at the bottom of the stairs, and listened to everything that was happening in the other room. Normally, he listened to his mommy' instructions, but he could tell that she was very upset, and he didn't like that at all.

Once her son was gone, she glanced between Alicia and Lana before her heated gaze landed on the woman, who she hadn't thought about in quite a long time. "How are you supposed to help, hell, I haven't seen you in three years. How could you possibly help me?"

Alicia moved closer to her. "I'll explain everything to you, but I need you to know that we all did this in the best interest of you and Kaleb."

She narrowed her eyes at her. "What did you do?" When she noticed that Lana was about to open her mouth she glared at her. "Uh-huh. I don't think so. I want to hear this from Alicia. You are the sole reason Clark doubted my feelings for him. I don't trust you."

She just nodded, completely understanding her resolve towards her.

Alicia glanced at Brice for a split second, which didn't go unnoticed by Lois before she locked eyes with her. "First of all, Lana really is here to help us, and I will explain everything to you, but I need you to remain calm about it."

Every fiber in her being wanted to berate that comment since she wasn't known for remaining calm in situations like this, but stopped herself when she felt Bruce' hand squeezing her shoulder, softly, and stayed silent…for the time being.

She sighed, heavily. "The first thing you should know is that she knows everything about Clark, your son, what's been going on with Lex and your past with Murphy…"

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, at this revelation, and there was no way she was remaining calm or staying silent after hearing that shocking and surprising news. "Why the hell would you tell her about any of that?"

Lana quickly stepped closer to her. "They didn't tell me anything. Lex and Murphy were the ones that told me."

"That's not possible. We were never friends, hell we weren't even acquaintances, so why would they tell you anything?"

"Which is exactly why they told me. They needed someone who they believed hated you as much as they did, in order to get information about your whereabouts, and they figured that I was their best shot."

She took several steps back away from her. "Are you working with them?"

"Yes and no…"

Her fire-filled eyes turned towards her friend. "Why the hell did you bring her here?"

"Because she's the only person that can help us right now, and she isn't working for them she's working with us. She's our inside man. It was the only way we could get information on Lex and Murphy. It was the only way we could make sure that you and Kaleb could go back home."

She scoffed at that. "I can see how well that's been working out." All of a sudden, a thought occurred to her, one that she hoped wasn't true, but she needed to know…everything. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Two years…"

That's what she thought, and as much as she wanted to believe that there was more behind this—that her friends and family had their reasons for this she couldn't help feeling betrayed, but mostly she was pissed about the fact that they had been lying to her this entire time. "Are you telling me that you've known everything since I left Kansas?"

She nodded.

She locked eyes with Alicia. "You've known about this for two years? And the thought never occurred to you that you should tell me about it? Don't you think that that piece of information was quite vital for me to know?"

"We all thought it would be better this way."

"Better for who? How is any of this better? You've been keeping things—hiding things from me for two years, Alicia, you should have told me about this the second it happened, but instead you remained silent about everything!"

"If I would have told you would you have accepted it? Would you have been okay with it?"

"Probably not, but I would have had time to get used to it. Finding out now, two whole years later is so much worse than telling me right from the start, but you didn't think about that, did you? Honestly, I don't know what to think about any of this or any of you for that matter!"

Lana moved any closer to her. "I know you're upset right now, but there are more important things we need to be discussing right now."

She glared, heatedly at her. "No! Don't you dare take another step towards me! I didn't trust you back then and I certainly don't trust you now!"

Bruce, who had been eerily silent during this entire heated argument, finally spoke up, "Lois, I need you to listen to me, okay? We only did this for you and Kaleb' benefit. You need to believe me when I say that."

Every single nerve inside of her body went rigid, causing all the hairs on her skin to stand up on end, at his choice of words, and slowly turned around towards him, a deep, burning fire lingering in her eyes. "You knew about this?" When he nodded, she took several steps away from him until the back of her legs bumped against the couch. "No. Not you. I can't believe that you of all people would keep something like this from me. You promised me that you would tell me everything that involved the safety of my son. For two years she's been working for you, and you never told me. What the hell is wrong with you? How could you do this to me? After everything we've been through—after everything I've forgiven you for. How could you of all people do this to me?"

His eyes pleaded with her to understand his reasonings for lying to her. "I'm sorry, Lo, but I've wanted to tell you many times before—"

"What stopped you?" She interrupted him.

"I was reminded that it was better that you didn't know anything. We only did this in the best interest of you and Kaleb."

"Stop saying that! How was keeping something so important from me helping me and my son?"

He took a deep breath, trying to find the best way to calm her down, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to at this point. She was too pissed off. "The first night you showed up on my doorstep you were so scared—so frightened. You never said the words, but I could see it in your eyes, and when Lana went to Chloe for help we all knew that your focus needed to solely be on protecting Kaleb, not worrying about other things—things that we wanted to protect you from. You didn't need to know about Lana' involvement. It would have only made things worse, especially since you weren't in any state to handle it."

At first, she was pissed, but now she was just straight up livid from his words. "Wouldn't be able to handle it? Are you being serious right now? From the moment I walked back into your life I've been doing everything to protect my son! I've been helping both of you find a way to bring down Lex and Murphy! I've been doing everything I can to get my son home where he belongs, and you honestly believe that I couldn't handle knowing that she was working with us? If anything, I would have been more reassured than anything else. Knowing that she was working with us to help me and my son isn't something you keep from me, Bruce, it's something you tell me."

"I'm sorry, Lo."

"We thought it would be better this way," Alicia intervened.

She glared at her. "Well, you thought wrong."

Bruce reached out for her, attempting to get her to calm down just a little bit, but she quickly sidestepped him, and set her flaming gaze on him. "Don't! Don't you dare touch me right now! I trusted you! I trusted every single one of you, and all you've been doing is lying to me from the very beginning!"

"Lois, it's not like that, and you know it! Please! You have to believe me when I tell you that."

"Believe you? How the hell am I supposed to do that when all you've been doing is lying to me?"

"Lois, Please—"

"No! I've heard enough! I can't even look at you right now!" She quickly turned away from him, and walked away, ignoring every single one of their protests.

Alicia sighed, heavily. "That went well."

Lana plopped down onto the couch. "I knew that she would probably be pissed about this, and if she didn't hate me before she definitely hates me now. I think it was a mistake to come here."

Alicia sat down next to her. "It wasn't a mistake, Lana, we need your help, and I don't think she hates you I just think she's very upset and confused right now."

"Upset? Confused? Are you kidding me?" They both glanced over at him, surprised at the tone of voice he was using towards them. "She's more than upset or pissed. She's livid right now, hell, I've never seen her like this before." He glared at Alicia. "What the hell were you thinking bringing her here? You had to have known that she would react like this."

She glared at him. "Well, you weren't any help either, were you? Why the hell did you stay silent the entire time? You could have helped out!"

"And done what? I didn't even know Lana was coming! Maybe if you would have picked up a damn phone and told me what was going on then I would have been able to prepare her just a little bit!"

"Would that have really helped?"

"I don't know, but you should have listened to me when I told you we should tell her everything, and now I might have just lost the best relationship I've ever had because you refused to listen to me!" He locked eyes with Lana. "Why the hell are you here? It obviously has nothing to do with Lex or Murphy, or you wouldn't be here right now."

She took a deep breath. "There's a Kryptonian woman searching for Clark, and we were afraid that she would mistake Kaleb for his father. I'm here to help. That's it."

He groaned, loudly. "Is it just me or does it seem like most Kryptonians are plain crazy. I'm starting to realize that Clark is the only normal one."

Lana rose her brows at him. "From what I've been told you've never met him, so how would you know?"

"She does talk about him, you know."

She slowly stood up. "I should go talk to her."

Bruce looked at her like she was completely insane. "That would probably be the worst thing you could do right now. You might not know her very well, but I do, and if you go out there right now you're just going to make things worse."

"I don't really have a choice, do I? We need to talk about everything, including the way I behaved when she first moved to Smallville, besides I'm the only one that can explain this Kryptonian woman to her."

Alicia sighed, softly. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Probably not, but she deserves to know the truth. We've been lying to her for way too long."

Once she left the room, Alicia glanced at Bruce with a worried expression. "How likely is it that Lana walks back into this house alive?"

"Not very likely."

Lois was sitting on a bench in the middle of the beautiful garden, thinking about everything that had just happened, and even though she was still pissed off about it, hell, she was more than pissed right now, she couldn't help feeling like she might have overreacted just a tad bit. Deep inside she knew that they all had their reasons from keeping this from her, but she couldn't move past the fact that they had lied to her for two years. Why couldn't they have just been honest with her?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Momma? Are you okay?"

She looked up to find her beautiful baby boy standing a few feet away from her, and quickly opened her arms to him, which he quickly climbed into. "I'm fine, baby."

He rested his head on her shoulder, and twirled his fingers through her hair, just like he always did every single time they sat like this. "Momma? Why were you so mad at Uncle Bru, Auntie Lica and that lady?"

At his words, she quickly pulled him directly in front of her, and stared deeply into his blue eyes. "Were you listening to our conversation, Kal?"

He nodded. "I knew you were sad, and I wanted to know why. Why are you mad at them?"

She took a deep breath. "Honey, I wished you would have just listened to me instead of eavesdropping on our very grown up conversation. The things you overheard they are things that you aren't going to be able to understand right now, but I promise one day I'll tell you everything you want to know."

He tilted his head to one side, questioningly. "Those men. The ones that you, Uncle Bru and Auntie Lica talked about. Are they the reason I can't be with my other family?"

Tears built in her eyes from his words. "Yes, baby, but it's nothing you need to worry about right now. I promise one day you'll meet your grandma, grandpa, your aunt and your uncles for real one day."

He frowned at her words, "What about my dadda?"

Of course, he would start to have questions about everything right now, not just because he overhead several things he shouldn't even know about, but because he was becoming more and more curious as the days went by. He knew that he had other family since he talked to them on the phone all of the time, and he also knew that his father couldn't be with them right now, but he didn't understand why that was. One part of herself wanted to tell him everything, but she knew that he was way too young to truly and honestly understand any of this, and the other part of herself knew that if she was to tell him all it would do was confuse him even more than he already was. He was a very intelligent child. He knew that bad men are the reason they are living this way—that he had other family—that his daddy was gone, and she hated that this was how he was being raised.

It wasn't the way she pictured it.

She wanted him to grow up on that farm, just like his father had.

She wanted him to feel happy and safe at all times.

But…She couldn't give that to him, not with the threat looming over their heads, and even if they managed to solve all of this within the next couple of months he would remember feeling confused about everything.

She moved away some stray hairs from his face. "Honey, we've talked about this before your dadda can't be with us right now, but I promise one day you'll meet him."

"You promise?"

"I promise?"

"Who's that lady?"

She was about to respond when the woman herself beat her to the punch. "I'm an old friend of your dadda'." She stepped closer to them. "Hello, Kaleb, it is very nice to finally meet you."

He glanced at his mommy for permission to talk to this woman, and when she nodded he walked towards the strange girl. "Finally?"

"I've known about you for a very long time."

"Why have I not met you before?"

"Because I've been with your other family."

"Are you my momma' friend?"

She glanced at Lois, who was just watching them, silently before she glanced back down at the little boy. "Not yet, but I'm hoping that one day we can be."

"Kaleb!" He slowly walked over to his momma. "I need to talk to Lana about grown up stuff. Can you please go inside or go to your clubhouse?" As soon as he was out of sight, she looked over at Lana. "What do you want? It's obvious that you didn't come out here to talk to Kaleb."

She slowly and very cautiously sat down next to her on the bench. "I wanted to explain everything to you. Bruce and Alicia thought it was a bad idea, but I figured that I'd give it a shot."

"They were probably right." She stared at her for a few seconds, taking in her composure, the way she looked and acted, and thought about the tone of her voice. "Your different, I mean your not exactly as I remembered."

A soft smile appeared on her face. "Well, I've changed, Lois, we both have. It's been three years since we last saw each other or even spoke. We've both had plenty of time to grow."

"It seems that we've both been living similar lives for the past two years now. You know everything about my life, and no offense to you, but I never planned on telling you anything."

"Trust me, two years ago I never thought that I would ever see you or Clark again, but now I'd do anything and everything to keep you and Kaleb safe."

"Why? We don't owe you anything, and we didn't exactly have the greatest of relationships before all of this."

"Well, I was a bitch back then."

A loud, unexpected laugh escaped past her lips, at those particular words coming from her mouth, and she quickly covered her mouth, attempting to stop herself from laughing, but it was nearly impossible to stop. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh, but you kind of were."

"I've changed a lot, Lois, I was already different before Lex and Murphy dragged me into this."

She stared at her, questioningly. "How did that happen by the way?"

She sighed, softly. "I don't know if you've met Steve Wilkinson or not, but he dragged me to the mansion, and that's where Lex and Murphy tried to get me to join their side. They told me all of this horrible stuff about you, and I believed them until Chloe informed me that it was all lies, well most of it was lies." She locked eyes with her. "I'm sorry for everything Murphy has done to you and Chloe."

"And I'm sorry that you got dragged into all of this. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

"If I am being honest, this is the first time I feel like I'm doing something worthy of my life. Helping you and Kaleb hasn't been a burden on me it's been the complete opposite. It's transformed me into someone I can love, you know, it's helped me become a better person, but it also led me to the amazing life I have now."

"What do you mean?"

"I met the love of my life one year ago, well reconnected with him I guess, and now we have two beautiful children, Jessica and Jacob. They are six months old."

That was very surprising to hear, not because she thought this woman didn't deserve to be happy, but because she never really pictured her having kids, actually she hadn't thought about her at all until today. "Who's the lucky guy?"

She grinned, widely and knowingly at her. "Pete Ross."

She just about fell out of the seat, at those particular words. Pete and Lana? She never would have thought those two would have ended up together. "Are you serious?" At her nod, she added, "Well, I definitely didn't see that one coming."

"Yeah. Tell me about it. I was just as surprised as you are when I realized I had feelings for him, and so was he, but we've never been happier than we are right now." After a few seconds of silence between them she glanced over at her. "Lois? Can I ask you something?" At her nod, she continued, "Do you still hate me for everything I did when you first moved to Smallville?"

Lois hesitated for a split second, as she thought about everything that had happened then and everything that had transpired since those days before looking directly into her eyes. "I never hated you, Lana, I didn't exactly like you very much, especially since you attempted to tear Clark and I apart, but I never hated you."

"I can admit that that wasn't my best moment, but honestly, I believe that I was already starting to move on from him then. I guess I was just holding onto the past, you know, and now, well, now I know that you two are literally perfect for each other, besides I don't think I could have handled his uniqueness, not like you can."

For a moment, she had completely forgotten that she even knew that about him, but quickly remembered the exact reason they were sitting here right now, and as much as she liked knowing they had someone else on their side she couldn't help wishing that it wouldn't have happened in the first place. "How did you react to that bombshell?"

"I wasn't exactly surprised by it, but I definitely wasn't expecting it either. When we were together, hell, even when we were just friends I knew that there was something different about him. I guess I understand him a little better now, not as well as you, obviously, but I understand why he always seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders."

"Bruce does the same thing."

"So, does Oliver."

"It seems like that's the calling card for all superheroes."

"That or they all just enjoy brooding all the damn time."

"Especially Clark." They said, simultaneously, which caused them both to laugh, hysterically. For the first time ever it wasn't weird, awkward or uncomfortable between them. It was more like two people growing more comfortable with each other—beginning to trust each other. They were nowhere close to becoming friends, but there was a definite shift in their relationship.

A good one.

Once Lois calmed down from her mirth, she glanced over at her. "I'm glad we talked about all of this."

She nodded before growing serious with her. "Me too, but it's not why I came out here to talk to you. I didn't travel this far to mend broken fences. I came to warn you and help you."

She frowned at her. "Warn me about what?"

"A threat that could possibly put your son in even more danger than he's already in…"

Every single fiber in her being turned ice cold, at those particular words. "Lex and Murphy?"

"They are the least of our problems right now. We need to be more worried about a Kryptonian woman flying around Kansas searching for a child named Kal-El."

She literally shot up out of her seat, like it had scorned her. "What? There is someone from Krypton looking for Clark? How is she a danger to my son?"

"Lois, she believes that Clark is still a child, and as soon as she realizes that he isn't in Kansas she will continue looking for him, eventually she'll make her way here. I'm afraid that when she sees Kaleb—"

"She'll think he's Clark." She interrupted her before grabbing her arm, tightly. "Lana, I need you to tell me everything."

And she did.

When she finished speaking, Lois started pacing back and forth, unable to believe that this was happening right now. "What are we going to do? It's hard enough keeping Lex and Murphy off our trail. How the hell am I supposed to stop a Kryptonian from finding him?"

"I don't know, but that's why I'm here. I want to help you, Lois."

Instead of responding to her, she just grabbed her arm, and pulled her inside of the mansion, determined to figure out a way to protect her son from this new threat.

As soon as Bruce and Alicia saw them. They both stood up from the couch, glancing at her, worriedly, and took a few steps towards them before Bruce spoke up, "You seem calmer…"

She glared at him. "I'm still pissed at all of you, but we have more pressing matters to deal with."

"The Kryptonian woman."

"Well? Do you have any bright ideas? I haven't spent the last two years protecting my son just for him to be taken from me by some crazy Krypto freak!"

Bruce sighed. "Lo, I don't think there's anything we can do, but prepare ourselves for when she does show. I've protected both of you this long. I won't allow anything to happen to him."

"Neither will I. You might not have known about my involvement in all of this until today, but I'm not going to allow her to lay a single finger on him, I promise."

She smiled at all of them.

It was very reassuring having so many people on her side, even someone she never thought that would be, but no matter what happened they would all be prepared when this woman showed her face.

* * *

 _ **ONE WEEK LATER…**_

Lois, Bruce, Alicia and Lana were all standing near a park, several miles away from the mansion, watching Kaleb, who was literally the happiest child in the entire world, as he ran around in circles a few feet away from them like a crazy maniac.

It was quite amusing, but their happiness ended shortly when all their minds thought about the reason they were all out here, and as much as Lois disliked this idea she knew that it was the only way to deal with it once and for all. They all needed to move forward with the more dangerous problem, and Lana needed to get back home to her family.

Lois glanced at her son before locking eyes with Bruce. "This is a horrible idea, I mean I understand that this needs to be done, but did we have to involve my son? He's in enough danger as it is."

He smiled, softly at her. "I know, Lo, but you've just got to trust this plan and me."

"We're not going to let anything happen to him," Alicia added.

Of course, she knew that, but that didn't mean she was looking forward to what was inevitably about to happen. Roughly about two days ago, this mysterious Kryptonian woman appeared a few towns over, causing havoc in other parks, and that's precisely when Bruce came up with this brilliant plan. She wasn't really looking forward to it, not because she didn't trust him, actually she trusted him with her life, but because she was terrified that this was all going to go wrong, and that was the last thing she wanted.

She sighed, heavily. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

Lana smiled, reassuringly at her. "None of us like this plan, but it's the only way to draw her out. Don't worry, I personally won't let anything happen to that little bugger."

She just chuckled at her.

Over the past week, they had talked a lot about the past and she had spent a little time bonding with Kaleb, who just adored her to pieces, which didn't really surprise her since all she talked to him about was his other family, including his uncle Pete and her two children Jessica and Jacob.

It was nice having a new, friendly person here, not just for her son, but also for herself. When she had first moved to Smallville, they had spent those few months despising each other, and even though they weren't exactly friends they were something in between acquaintances and friends. Which was definitely a good start, even if neither of them knew what it would eventually turn into.

All of a sudden, she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard screaming coming from the playground, and watched in amazement and fear, as a blonde woman flew down from the skies, landing on the ground, which caused a loud vibration to echo underneath their feet before she started searching for the child she was looking for.

"It's time." Bruce told them all before quickly disappearing from their sights, mentally preparing himself for the fight that he knew he was about to have.

Alicia and Lana stood directly next to Lois, while her son quickly ran up to her with fear lingering in his eyes, and clutched his entire body around her legs. "Who is that, momma?"

"I don't know, baby."

After watching everything that this woman was capable of, once again, Lana glanced over at Lois. "Bruce is supposed to go up against her?"

Alicia nodded, nervously. "I don't remember Clark ever being that powerful."

"Well, I'm guessing that this woman is at her full potential, and the worst part is she can fly."

"Clark couldn't do that."

She shook her head from side to side. "No, he couldn't, well not exactly. He floated a few times, but this woman seems more powerful than he ever was."

Alicia glanced over at her. "When you say full potential, do you think she did the training that Clark is doing?"

"I don't know, but from the looks of it I would say yes."

Lana sighed, heavily. "This isn't going to be good."

The Kryptonian woman lowered the last child to the ground, feeling more and more irritated at the moment since she still couldn't find her cousin, and was about to move onto the next playground in this city when she noticed him cowering behind a tall, beautiful woman' legs.

It was him.

Kal-El.

She knew instantly, not because he was the only child left in this god forsaken park, but because she could sense his abilities radiating off of him, even if it wasn't as powerful as it should be. The only problem was that he was surrounded by three women, who seemed to be protecting him from her, which was absolutely ridiculous since she wasn't going to hurt the poor child, but they were standing in her way, and she'd be damned if she allowed them to get in the way of fulfilling her destiny, even if that meant hurting them to get to the child. She flew up into the sky before landing directly in front of them, and glanced down at the little boy. "Kal-El."

Kaleb stared, wide-eyed at her, knowing that name since his momma had told him his father' real name, and quickly tightened his arms around her legs. "Momma? Why is she calling me that?"

She rubbed her hand up and down his back, reassuringly. "Shhh. Baby, it's alright, she's just confused."

She glared at the blonde woman. "You have something of mine."

Lois managed to remain calm, and glared right back at this woman. "He isn't yours to take. Your confused, but I know who you're really looking for. This little boy isn't him. Your looking for his father. I can tell you where you can find him, just leave my son alone."

After listening to this strange human' words, a part of her wanted to believe her since it was very possible, but chose not to instead. "Lies. The child I'm looking for is his age. I can feel his strength. This is Kal-El."

Alicia stepped towards her, cautiously, but stopped dead in her tracks when she turned her piercing gaze on her. "She's telling the truth. This little boy isn't Kal-El. His name is Kaleb. The man your searching for isn't here, but we can tell you where he is."

Lana stepped forward. "If your really from Krypton then you can tell just by looking at this child that he isn't nearly as powerful as a full Kryptonian. That's because he's only half, the other half is human, and this is his mother."

A part of herself wanted to believe that these three humans were telling the truth, especially since she could feel that his abilities weren't as strong as they should be, but the other part of herself wouldn't listen to reason, and no matter she needed to fulfill her destiny and she needed to help her cousin fulfill his. "Enough! I've heard enough! If you won't give me my cousin than I'll just have to take him from you."

They were all left speechless and confused, at the revelation she just revealed, but before she could take one single step towards them Bruce appeared out of nowhere, tackling this woman to the ground, and pinned her to the ground, using all the strength that he could possibly muster. "You're not touching my nephew!"

She growled, angrily at him, and pushed him off of her, causing him to fly five feet into the air before he landed on the ground, harshly directly in front of the people he was trying to protect. "Get out of here!" He quickly shot up to his feet, and charged after her, once again tackling her to the ground, using every single piece of strength that he had to keep her away from the people he cared about with all of his heart.

Lois quickly picked up Kaleb, who tightened his arms and legs around her body, wanting to be as close to her as possible before Alicia grabbed both her and Lana' arms, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Several feet away, hidden in between a mix of trees and bushes, Lex, Murphy and Steve watched everything that had just happened with their own eyes, and as soon as Lois and Kaleb disappeared Steve muttered, "Well, that was unexpected."

Murphy rolled his eyes at him before turning towards Lex. "What do we do now?"

An evil grin spread out across his face. "We take what is ours."

Several minutes later, Bruce was feeling incredibly groggy, beaten and worn down since this Kryptonian woman was seriously kicking his ass to kingdom come and back, but under no circumstances would he allow this women to come near his nephew or the people he cared about.

For two years he had protected them, and there was no way this women was ruining that for them, whether she was a distant family member or not.

After being pushed, shoved and kicked to the ground for about the millionth time, he grew angrier and angrier at this woman, and charged towards her, over and over again until he finally managed to lead her down a very steep hill, away from civilians, which is exactly what he had been attempting to do this entire time.

She attempted to stand up, but collapsed back down to the ground when every single nerve inside of her body ached with an unimaginable pain, and realized that the pain was becoming worse and worse the closer this man got.

He smirked down at her, as he revealed the large fragment of Kryptonite, which had been encased in lead until he could lead her away from all the prying eyes. "You are one tough cookie, but you're not strong enough for this."

Kryptonite, she thought to herself. She had learned the hard way what those radioactive pieces of her home world did to her when she came across a field of it back in Smallville, and it had been just as painful as this was. She glanced up at the man with venom burning in her eyes. "This won't stop me."

He moved even closer to her until she was cringing in pain. "No, but it does give me time to talk some sense into that crazy mind of yours."

A part of herself wanted to fight through the pain she was currently feeling, but the other part of herself knew that it would be almost impossible. She glared at him. "He is my family! I need to protect him! I need to help him reach his destiny!"

"You're going after the wrong person, lady, this Kal-El character you're searching for isn't a child anymore. He's a grown man, who's already training to reach his full potential—to fulfill his destiny, but that little boy isn't him. It's his son, Kaleb Joseph Lane-Kent."

She shook her head from side to side. "That's not possible. We were supposed to have landed in the same field, but by the time I emerged he was gone." She glared, heatedly at him. "You and your little human friends took him!"

He knelt down in front of her, bringing the Kryptonite dangerously close to her, which made the pain feel so much more intense. "Your wrong. You can't sit there and tell me that you didn't notice the way he clung onto my friend, Lois Lane, his mother. A child who was kidnapped wouldn't do that." He pulled out his cellphone, and showed her a picture of Kaleb and Lois a few weeks after they arrived on his doorstep. "You see that? I've known that child since he was one week old. That woman is his mother. She carried him for nine months before giving birth to him. That little boy is your cousin, but not the one you're looking for. Kal-El is gone, and has been for almost three years now."

It wasn't possible, she thought to herself, but the facts were staring her straight in the face, and even though there was still a small part of herself that wanted to deny it all she knew that he was telling her the truth.

That little boy wasn't Kal-El.

But…

He was still family.

He was her cousin' son.

The only thing that didn't make any sense to her was how so much time had passed before she emerged from her spaceship. "I don't understand. We were on the same trajectory path. How could this have happened?"

He stood up, and took a few steps back since she seemed to be understanding him. "My friends and I have a theory about that. When you magically appeared roughly about two weeks ago, a dam had broke in Smallville, Kansas, and we believe that somehow your spacecraft has been there this entire time."

"Where is Kal-El then? I have to find him. I have to help him fulfill his destiny."

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but Kal-El or as we like to call him Clark Kent is already fulfilling his destiny. He's been in this ice castle training for quite some time now."

All the things her aunt and Uncle had told her before she left Krypton came rushing back to her. "The Fortress…Jor-El actually did it…" After several minutes of silence, she groaned in pain from the Kryptonite he was still holding, and glanced up at him. "Will you get that thing away from me?"

"That depends…are you going to play nice?"

She nodded.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he slowly put away the Kryptonite, and as soon as he closed the lead case she stood up on her feet, like she wasn't feeling pain a few seconds ago. "I'm Kara, by the way, Kara Zor-El."

"Bruce. Bruce Wayne. We will have to find you a different last name. Wouldn't want the wrong people hearing that name, no offense, but it sounds very alien."

She frowned at him, slightly. "Why would I have to do that?"

He groaned, loudly. "I'm going to tell you something that might come as a surprise to you, but humans, we don't really understand things that are unexplainable."

"I don't understand."

"Basically, no one on this planet will understand you since you're, well not human, and if the wrong people found out about you they would try dissecting you like a frog."

That didn't sound pleasant. Not at all. "But not all humans, right?"

"Right. We'll explain this more in depth to you once we get back to the mansion."

She started walking with him, but stopped in her tracks and glanced, worriedly at him. "There won't be any Kryptonite there, right?"

He chuckled, softly. "No. I definitely can't have that with my half Kryptonian nephew living there, besides I'm positive that you won't try anything."

They just smiled at each other for several seconds before quickly looking away from each other when this weird feeling stirred in the pit of their stomachs, and started walking in complete and utter silence. Kara wasn't sure what she was feeling, and she wasn't sure if she liked it either.

It was weird.

Bruce, on the other hand, didn't fully understand why he was getting those particular feelings, especially for a woman he doesn't even know, but mainly because he hadn't felt this way in a very long time, and he wasn't sure he was agreeing with it either.

Thirty minutes later, Bruce and Kara walked into the mansion, where everyone was sitting in the living room, obviously talking about the situation at hand before they saw them, and glanced, warily between the two of them.

Two days ago, when they had come up with this horrible plan, they all had figured that Bruce' interrogation tactics wouldn't work on her, but obviously they were wrong, and thankfully they were because none of them were prepared for what would happen if she had of ignored everything he explained to her.

Alicia stood up, and walked towards them. "Well, it seems that things went alright."

Lana couldn't stop herself from laughing. "I guess that's one way to put it. She really kicked your ass."

He glared at both of them.

Kara frowned at them before glancing at him, realizing that he had bruises and lacerations covering the majority of his face. "I'm sorry about that. We should probably get you cleaned up."

His facial expression softened when he looked at her. "I'm fine."

Lois glanced between the two of them, questioningly since they seemed to be acting a little strange, and their soft mannerisms towards each other confused her until she watched them smile, tenderly at each other.

It was something she never thought would happen with her adoptive brother, but it was happening, and honestly, she couldn't believe it. They seemed to like each other, in a more than platonic way, but she could tell almost instantly that neither of them understood what they were feeling, which is why she decided to keep her mouth shut about it, even though she knew everyone in the room could feel the tension between them.

She slowly stood up. "I'm guessing that you explained everything to her." At his nod, she continued, "Well, then I think it's time you do some explaining. Like how the hell you came from the same planet as Clark?"

"My father sent me here to protect him, but somehow I was encased in my spaceship for all of that time. I guess I've been spending the past two weeks on a useless mission, and since I know that Kal-El is safe and headed towards his destiny I can return to Krypton."

Every single person in the room, glanced at each other, worriedly and heartbroken before Lois stepped closer towards her. "Um, I don't think that's going to be possible."

"Why not?"

"Krypton was destroyed right after Clark' biological parents sent him here, and I'm guessing it happened right after you left as well."

She shook her head, vehemently. "That's not possible."

Alicia sighed, softly. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth."

As her mind attempted to digest everything they were explaining to her, she collapsed onto the couch, and felt her heart break into a million pieces. "The whole planet is gone?" They nodded, sadly at her. "Who survived? I need to find them."

Lana stepped closer to her. "No one. You and Clark are the only survivors that we know of."

Her shoulders dropped. "I can't believe it. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, you could help us with—"

"Alicia!" Lois quickly stopped her from finishing that sentence.

Kara looked between them, questioningly. "Help you with what?"

Lois waved her hand, dismissively. "It doesn't matter right now. What does matter is you. I'd kind of like to get to know the woman who is related to the man I love."

She smiled, softly. "You're Lois Lane, right?" At her nod, she continued, "Bruce told me a little bit about you."

"I wouldn't listen to a single word he says."

"Hey!"

She chuckled at them, noticing that they seemed to be really, really close. "Don't worry, it was all about you and Kaleb."

She was about to press further when she heard the frightened and panicked voice of her son, who had been locked up in his room ever since they got back, feeling more confused than he has ever felt in his entire life. "M-m-momma?"

"Hey, baby, come here."

He shook his head, slightly. "W-w-why is she here?"

A reassuring smile graced her lips, as she looked at her terrified son, and gently held out her arms to him. "It's alright, Kal, she isn't going to hurt you. Come here."

He slowly walked towards her, his eyes never leaving the strange woman until his momma swooped him up into his arms. "Kal, baby, I want you to meet you cousin…" She stopped mid-sentence, and looked at the woman. "I'm sorry. I never asked you your name."

"Kara. Kara Zor-El."

She smirked at her. "How about we just stick with Kara." She looked back at her son. "This is your dadda' cousin, which makes her your cousin too."

His eyes went wide before he glanced over at her. "You know my dadda?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you do what you did?"

"I was just confused. I didn't mean to frighten you." He just stared at her, like that explanation wasn't enough for him. "I know that I scared you, but I would like to get to know you."

When he didn't say anything, Lois nudged her son a little. "Do you want to show her around? Maybe take her to your room?"

He quickly tightened his arms and legs around her before he hid his face in the base of her neck, and she slowly started rubbing her hand up and down his back. "I think it'll just take a little bit of time."

She nodded.

Bruce stepped towards her. "We should probably get a room made up for you."

She glanced over at him with a soft smile. "And we should probably clean you up while we're at it."

He simply rolled his eyes at her before leading her away from the living room.

As soon as they disappeared up the stairs, everyone started chuckling at how awkward they seemed to be around each other. "I give it one month before they realize what is happening."

Lois shook her head from side to side at her friend. "Oh, trust me they already know, but it'll be months before either of them do anything about it, especially Bruce."

They all chuckled, knowing that she was right, but their mirth died almost instantaneously when they heard a familiar voice echoing from directly behind them. "Well, if this isn't a picture-perfect family then I don't know what is."

Every single one of them turned around towards the last man they ever expected to see here, instantly realizing that he wasn't alone, and Lois took several steps back away from them, as she clutched her son closer to her chest. "Lex…"

* * *

 _ **Well, this was supposed to be the final chapter concluding everything that happened in the past, but when I was editing it I realized that it had to be split into a different chapter. The next chapter will be the concluding chapter to this particular section, and we can get back to the story.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter Forty-Four!**_


	46. Chapter Forty Five

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Five:**_

 _ **WARNING: This chapter has some gruesome scenes, not to obscene, but if you're offended in any way I'm sorry, but you've been warned.**_

* * *

Every single one of them turned around towards the last man they ever expected to see here, instantly realizing that he wasn't alone, and Lois took several steps back away from them, as she clutched her son closer to her chest. "Lex…"

Lex smiled a crooked grin, at the way she backed away from them before his eyes fell to the child in her arms, who was clutching onto her with all of his might, as his wide, terrified eyes were glued to him. "Hello, Lois, it's been quite a long time. I have many plans for you and your son, so stay right where you are." He glanced over at Lana, who was standing next to them, protectively. "Lana. Lana. Lana. You disappoint me, I mean I thought we had an understanding, but obviously I was wrong about that. What am I going to do with you now?"

She glared, heatedly at him. "I was never on your side, Lex, you're a crazy psychopath. I would never, ever work for you!"

Murphy growled, angrily at her before glancing at Lex. "Can we kill her yet? She's really starting to piss me off!"

"Oh, up yours, Murphy! You're even crazier than Lex, and even more twisted in the head!"

His anger grew to an absolute high level, and he started marching towards her, intending to end her life right here and right now, but Lex quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him from taking another step towards her. "Not yet. We'll deal with her later, but right now we have more important things to focus on." His eyes landed on Lois, who was glaring at him with hateful eyes. "Now, don't you think it's time we just get this over with. Come with me right now, and none of your friends will die."

She took a few more steps back away from him. "That's never going to happen! How the hell did you find us?"

He smirked at her before glancing at Alicia out of the corner of his eyes. "Your dear friend here led me right to your location, of course she didn't know that I was having her followed, but alas I got what I wanted. Now, where is that lovely brother of yours?"

Alicia stepped towards him. "He's not here."

"You're lying to me!"

She took another step towards him, attempting to get him to focus all of his attention on her, so someone could do something to get them out of this, but stopped dead in her tracks when he whipped out a gun, pointing it directly at her head. "Don't take another step! You either tell me where he is, or I end your life!"

Lois glared at him. "That's your motto for everything, isn't it? You couldn't get to Clark, so you threatened to kill me, and when that didn't work you made it your mission to go after my baby. Now you're threatening my friends because they're protecting me from you!"

He pointed the gun towards her, making her clutch her son tighter to her body. "You really think they can stop me? They are just in they way, you see, if I was to kill every single one of them you wouldn't have any other choice then to come with me, so just drop this charade already. Leave with me right this second and everyone you love will live."

Lana and Alicia glanced at each other, strategically, mentally creating a plan in their minds that they hoped would work to stop him.

Alicia stepped closer to him, making him turn towards her with the gun pointed directly at her chest. "You wont touch them."

He smirked at her. "Is that right?"

"Yeah. You'll be dead before you make a move against them."

"Is that a threat?"

"Damn straight it is."

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Lana slowly picking up an iron poker next to the fireplace before edging her way towards him. "You're good, but you're not that good." He quickly spun around towards the woman he trusted for two years, and fired his gun, which caused every single person in the room to gasp, loudly, but before the bullet could hit her Alicia magically appeared in front of her, the bullet piercing straight through her chest.

"Auntie Lica!" Kaleb screamed, loudly before hiding his face into the crook of his mommy' neck, his sobs wrecking his entire body.

Upstairs, Bruce was leaning up against the bathroom counter, while Kara cleaned up his lacerations, much to his dismay. After showing her around the house a little bit and guiding her to a clean room she all but demanded that he allowed her to fix him up.

He sighed, softly. "This isn't necessary, you know, I've had worse battle scars than these."

She pressed the cloth to his forehead, making him wince, slightly. "I don't doubt that, but I'm responsible for this, so could you please just shut up and let me help you." Once she felt that he was rationing much better than he did several minutes ago she pulled away from him. "There, you look almost half decent again."

An expression of complete surprise and shock crossed over his features. "Are you saying that I looked decent before?"

Her eyes went as wide as saucers. "I wouldn't go that far."

He started moving towards the door, wanting to get as far away from this uncomfortable situation—from the feelings this woman was stirring deep inside of him as he could get, but she quickly pushed him back against the counter, which caused him to frown at her. "What the hell woman!"

She ignored him, and closed her eyes before tilting her head, slightly, listening to the sounds her super hearing had just picked up from downstairs. "Someone's here."

"What? Who's here?"

After listening for a few more seconds she opened her eyes, locking them with his. "A man named Lex."

His heart literally dropped into his stomach before he rushed down the corridor, and once he reached the top of the stairs he stopped in his tracks, listening to everything that was happening with Kara standing right beside him.

All of a sudden, there was a loud gunshot, and they both heard Kaleb scream out Alicia' name. In that moment, everything disappeared from him, as he realized that the one person he promised to protect was literally dying right now, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, which broke his heart completely. Out of his peripheral vision, he noticed that Kara was beginning to rush past him, but quickly grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving another inch before pinning her against the wall, which rewarded him with a heated glare, and moved his face closer to hers, whispering, "You can't go down there half-cocked."

"We can't just let this happen. We have to stop them."

"We will." He pulled her down the hall towards his bedroom, where he happened to have a secret passageway to his Batcave. There was no way in hell he was allowing this to happen inside of his house, he might not have been able to save Alicia, but he'd be damned if he let anything happen to the people he cared about.

Back downstairs, Alicia collapsed against Lana, who caught her before lowering them both down to the ground with her head resting in her lap. "Alicia! Why did you do that?"

"I-I was protecting y-you…"

"Shhh. It's alright. It's going to be alright. You're going to be okay."

She coughed up blood, knowing full well that her fight was over, and grabbed her hand, squeezing it, softly, as she stared deeply into her eyes. "L-L-Lana, I'm sorry-sorry for everything. I-I wish we had a better relationship, but-but I need you to promise me something. I need-need you to protect them…"

She shook her head from side to side with tears streaming down her face. "No! Alicia! You can't die right now! We all still need you! Please!"

"Protect them…" She managed a soft smile before her heart stopped beating inside of her chest.

Lois stared down at them with tears streaming down her cheeks, as she watched one of her closest friends die. "No! Alicia!"

Murphy chuckled, loudly at the turn of events. "Well, that's one down."

Lana glared at him, heatedly. "You're an asshole!"

Once she managed to calm her nerves and emotions, Lois locked her eyes onto the man responsible for all of this, and glared, fiercely at him. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

"It's not my fault she stepped into the line of fire, besides you know that she would have died eventually from this god damn charade of yours, but now that you understand my terms we can move on from this, and leave right now."

She took several steps away from him. "We're not going anywhere with you! I'd rather die than give you want you want!"

"Don't tempt me."

"I'll kill you myself!" Lana quickly stood up, and charged towards him, but was grabbed from behind by Steve Wilkinson, who pinned her against his chest, making it impossible for her to move. "I don't think so."

"Let me go!"

Lex stalked towards her, and gripped her chin in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "This is all your fault, Lana, if you would have just been loyal then none of this would be happening right now. Your friend wouldn't be dead. You'd be living a high and glorious life right about now, but you betrayed me. You'll pay for that."

"I don't care what you do to me, but leave them alone!"

"That's not going to happen." He glanced back over at Lois. "Now, give me the child."

She took another step away from him. "No!"

"You want to do this the hard way? That's fine, but I'm pretty sure he's going to enjoy this very much."

Murphy took his signal from Lex before he quickly started walking towards the woman that had been a pain in his ass for a very, very long time, and smirked, devilishly at her when she kept backing away from him. "You can run, but you can't hide, love."

As soon as he reached her, he slapped her across the face, hard, causing her to collapse onto the couch, and literally ripped the child from her arms, who squirmed and kicked him before screaming out, "Momma! No!"

"Shut up!"

Lois quickly stood back up, ignoring the pain she was feeling right now, and started moving closer to him with determination set in her eyes. "Don't you dare hurt him!" Before she could get close enough to grab her son, he wrapped one of his hands around her throat, squeezing, slightly, while he handed the temperamental child over to Lex.

Kaleb kicked and slapped this man with all of his might, attempting to get away from him. "Momma! Momma!"

Lois stared at her baby boy, who was staring back at her with a terrified expression plastered across his face. "Shhh, baby, it's going to be alright."

Murphy quickly kicked out her legs from underneath her, causing her to fall to the ground, her head slamming against the hardwood floor before he crawled on top of her, and squeezed her neck, a little bit tighter. "Let me go!"

"You can struggle all you want, Lois, you're not going anywhere."

She glared up at him. "You'll never get away with this!"

"Watch me!"

The sound of a loud gunshot made both of them turn towards Lex, who was glaring at both of them. "That's enough! You know the plan, Murphy, get her up!"

He slowly lifted her off the ground, and slithered behind her, holding her against his chest with his hands wrapped tightly around her body. "Remind you of old times?"

"You're disgusting!" She glanced at her baby boy, who had tears streaming down his cheeks, as he looked at her, and she locked eyes with Lex. "Please! Please, don't hurt him! He's just a child, take me, but leave him out of this!"

"You know that I cant do that. I want him a hell of a lot more than I want you, but Murphy seems pretty adamant about getting his revenge from you."

"What do you want to do with her?"

He turned towards Steve, and smirked at the way Lana was continuously struggling against him before aiming the gun directly at her head. "She's a lose end, and I really don't like lose ends. It's time we eliminate her."

Lois squirmed and kicked Murphy, completely freaking out when she realized that he was about to kill her, but stopped struggling when she noticed Kara standing a few feet away, hidden behind a bannister, and instantly knew that everything was going to be alright.

About damn time, she thought to herself.

"No! Wait! Don't kill her!"

He slowly turned towards her with an inquisitive gaze. "Well, isn't this a crazy twist, I mean, you're little teleporting friend I understand, but her, all she's been to you is a pain in the ass, so why are you trying to protect her?"

"I'm not. It's called a distraction tactic."

He frowned at her words before there was a loud, swooshing sound directly behind him, and he quickly spun around to find Steve laying on the ground, knocked out.

Lana smirked at him. "You didn't think it would be this easy, did you?"

Before he could respond, he heard another swooshing sound from the other side of him, and swirled back around to find Murphy also knocked out on the ground, while Lois stalked towards him with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "It's over, Lex, both of your henchmen are done for. Give me back my damn son."

"Who the hell is here?"

She smirked at him. "A friend."

Lana slowly walked around him until she was standing next to her. "It's over, Lex."

He glared at both of them. "Who the hell is here?"

"Let go of the child right now."

A deep, booming voice echoed from directly behind him, and he turned around to find none other than Batman standing there. "Well, if it isn't Bruce fucking Wayne, it's about damn time you showed up. I was starting to wonder if you were even here at all."

"Let him go."

Before he could utter a single word, Kaleb gripped his arms, tightly, and bit his hand, hard, causing him to drop him onto the floor. "Momma!" He screamed out, as he ran towards her, and practically jumped into her open arms, his little body wrapping around hers.

She clutched him to her chest, hugging him, fiercely. "It's alright, baby, momma' here."

An angry growl escaped past his throat before he started walking towards them, but was stopped dead in his tracks when a tornado of wind surrounded him, causing him to collapse to the ground, holding his throat, as it became harder and harder to breath.

Once the wind stopped whipping around him, he opened his eyes to find Lois, Lana and Bruce standing behind a tall, blonde woman with a fierce gaze lingering in her eyes, and chuckled, loudly. "I should have known that it was you. Figures that she would have brought you to her side since she has a knack for recruiting superpowered freaks, but you're more than that, aren't you? Your another one of them. An alien."

"That's none of your business, human, you'll be dead soon." She started walking towards him, but was stopped by Bruce grabbing her arm once again. "Get off of me!"

He tightened his grip. "We don't kill. That's not who we are."

She stared at him like he was completely insane. "He just killed your friend, attempted to kill another one of your friends, and tried taking the two most important people in your life away from you. How can you just stand there and do nothing!"

"I'm not." He stepped closer to Lex. "It's over, Lex, your done with this little game. Every single one of you will go down for this."

"This is far from over." He glanced at Lois. "I'll be back for you and the child."

Kara quickly sped over to him, tapped him on the back of the head, and watched him fall to the ground with a satisfied expression plastered across her face.

Bruce stared at her for a few seconds before sighing, heavily. "Was that really necessary?"

"What? He's annoying. Someone had to shut him up."

Lana couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Kara, you're freaking awesome!"

Lois smiled at them before her eyes fell down to Alicia, who was laying lifeless on the floor, and immediately felt the tears streaming down her cheeks once again from the unbearable heartbreak she was feeling right now. "Bruce, can you please take Kaleb out of here?"

Kaleb clung onto her like his life depended on it, and screamed out, "No! Momma! I wanna stay!"

She stared deeply into his eyes. "Kal, baby, it's alright. I'm not going anywhere, I'll be right here, but I need you to go with your uncle, alright?"

He nodded with tears in his eyes before reaching towards his uncle, who quickly took him away from the living room, wishing that he hadn't witnessed any of that, and knew without a doubt that he would have even more questions than he already did.

Once they were gone, Lois collapsed next to her fallen friend, and touched her freezing hands, her heart breaking deep inside of her chest. "I'm so sorry. I never should have dragged you into this. You were living a good, happy life, and you'd probably be married with three children if I hadn't of involved you in this, but now, now you're just gone."

Lana knelt down next to her, and placed her hands on her shoulders. "This isn't your fault, Lois, it's mine. I'm the one that got her killed."

"What are you talking about? You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't pull that trigger. Lex did. You didn't uproot her entire life. I did."

"I'm the one that actually believed I could stop him. I should have known that it wouldn't work, and now she's dead because of me."

"No, she's not. She was protecting you. She was protecting every single one of us."

Kara felt her heart breaking for the two women, as they grieved over the loss of their friend, and even though she barely knew this woman she felt a twinge of pain in her heart from her untimely death. "I should have stopped them as soon as I heard them enter this house, but I waited too long, and now she's dead because of that."

"She's gone because of me." They all turned towards Bruce, who was leaning against the bannister with a dreadful expression plastered across his face. "Lois, you didn't know that this would happen when you brought her into all of this. Lana, it isn't your fault that she decided to protect you. Kara, the only reason you didn't charge after them was because I stopped you. It's my fault. I promised that I would protect her, and instead I allowed her to die. I almost lost both you and Kaleb from my stupidity."

Lois slowly stood up, and walked towards him. "No one blames you, Bruce."

"Well, you should."

"Stop it!" They all looked at Lana, curiously. "This isn't what she would have wanted. She wouldn't want us to fight about this. We all know that she wouldn't blame any of us." She glanced over at their attackers unconscious bodies. "We should be calling the authorities."

Kara smiled, slightly. "It's already been done."

Lana frowned at her. "What do you mean it's already done?"

Bruce stepped towards them. "I had Alfred call them before we even came down here."

Lois narrowed her eyes at him, slightly before taking a few steps towards him. "Do we really have enough evidence to bring them down?"

He nodded. "Every single one of us saw what happened here, and we all know their motives. It should be enough to lock them away for a few years at least."

"A few years? He killed Alicia! He should be going away for life!"

He took a deep breath. "Lois, you know that he has the best lawyers in the entire world. They will find a way to get him the shortest sentence possible."

"So, they are basically getting away with murder?"

"Sadly, yes."

There was a part of herself that was really pissed off at the fact that all three of them would get away with murdering her best friend, but the other part of herself understood what this really meant, and she couldn't be any happier about that.

It was over.

She could go home.

She could finally be with her family again.

Kaleb could go home.

He could live a somewhat normal life.

They both could move on from this horrible part of their lives.

She smiled, as wide as possible before practically jumping into his arms, and whispered in his ear, "Thank you, Bruce, you don't know how much this means to me."

He hugged her back, tightly, and whispered back, "I promised you that I'd get you back home to where you belong."

Lana couldn't believe that this was happening, honestly, she was starting to think that this nightmare would never end, but now that it has she couldn't be anymore excited for Lois and Kaleb.

They would be able to go home to their families—to their friends.

"Is this really happening? Are they really going away for this?"

He sighed, softly. "Not for as long as we'd all like, but I'll keep working on ways to keep them there for the rest of their lives. They deserve to rot for everything they have done."

They all smiled at each other.

One hour later, Bruce, Lois, Lana and Kara were standing on the front steps, watching with amusement and happiness, as all three of them were carted away into the back of a police car.

It was an amazing and beautiful sight, Lois thought to herself.

During that time, they had spoken to detective after detective, giving them each of their statements, which was very helpful, but the main detective warned them that they might need to come to his trial in order for the charges to stick before arresting all three of them on the spot.

Once they were out of their sights, Lana turned towards Bruce. "I'm so glad that we can all go back home, but what about Alicia? We have to have a memorial service for her."

He smiled down at her. "It's already taken care of. I'll be in Smallville a few days after all three of you get there, and I'll set up everything for her. She deserves the best."

Kara grinned at all of them. "I should get going…"

Lois quickly turned towards her in a panic, but remembered everything that had happened before all of this. "Right. You probably want to find Clark."

"Um, no, Clark needs to finish his training, and I wouldn't want to disrupt that."

Lana frowned at her. "Then where are you going?"

She smiled at both of them. "Smallville. Someone needs to tell your family and friends about what happened, and I'll also give them the good news."

"Will you be staying with us or are you planning on leaving?"

"Lois, you and Kaleb are my family now. I'm not going anywhere. I'll see you real soon." She vanished in the blink of eye, intending to find everyone, and give them the excellent news.

Bruce glanced at Lois with a ginormous smile. "Well? What are you still doing here? I believe you have some packing to do, and I'm pretty sure you're very excited to get back home."

"Thank you." She quickly made her way up to her son' room, who was sitting on his bed, quite sulkily, as he thought about everything that had just happened or rather attempted understanding it all, but as soon as he saw her, all thoughts vanished very quickly, and he rushed into her arms. "Momma!"

Once they were sitting on the bed, she stared down at his beautiful face. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine."

She looked at him, seriously. "Kal, do you understand what happened today?"

He shook his head from side to side.

"Those men were very, very bad people, and they wanted to hurt us, but it's all going to be alright now."

His eyes fell, slightly. "They hurt Auntie Lica…"

Tears built in her eyes, as she nodded.

"I-I-Is she gone?"

"Yes, baby."

The tears came rushing to his beautiful baby blue eyes before they cascaded down his cheeks. "I don't want her gone. I want her here."

She quickly wrapped her arms around him, consoling him in every way she possibly could. "I know, baby, so do I. Your Auntie loved you very much, you know that, right?"

He nodded before whimpering, "I loved her too."

They sat like that for several more minutes before he slowly pulled away from her. "Are they gone?"

"Yes. Now we can go home."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers, like he couldn't believe the words that had just came out of her mouth. "Home? To my other family?"

"Is that something you would want to do?"

He practically jumped off her lap, and started jumping around like a crazed monkey. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

She chuckled at her over joyous son. "Well, how about you help me pack a few things, and then we can leave."

Those words caused him to stop jumping, and he stared at her with a serious expression. "Is Uncle Bru coming too?"

"No, but he'll be joining us really soon, and he will visit you all of the time."

That brought a huge smile to his face, which she completely understood since he loved knowing that he would still be with a family member, who had helped raise him was something that made this just a little bit easier for him, especially since he has only talked to them on the phone and seen pictures of them, and even though she knew that this would be a little difficult for him she knew that he would connect with them.

It just might take a little bit of time.

Time, she thought to herself, they had all the time in the world now, and she was forever thankful for that.

She couldn't wait to be back home with her friends and family, after two years of wishing—praying—dreaming that it would happen it finally was, and she couldn't be any happier about that.

* * *

 _ **ONE WEEK LATER…**_

Lois, Lana and Kaleb, who was passed out in the back seat, slowly pulled up to a complete stop directly in front of the all too familiar yellow farmhouse, and honestly, she couldn't determine the range of emotion she was feeling at this moment in time. It was like a mix of every single emotion out there hitting her at the exact same time, and she wasn't sure whether she should run inside, like she really wanted to or sit here, contemplating what was going through her mind.

It was weird.

Lana glanced over at Lois, who had been staring out into space for over five minutes now, and figured that she was feeling all kinds of things right now. On the ride down here, she had blabbered nonstop to both her and Kaleb about this place and how excited she was to finally be coming back, but now that she was actually here it was like she wasn't sure what she should do, which was completely understandable.

"Lois? Are you alright?"

At the sound of her voice, she managed to shake herself out of her stupor, and glanced over at her with a shy smile. "I'm fine, but I guess I'm just a little nervous about this."

"You don't need to be nervous. Everyone is very excited to see you, and they will understand if you're a little insecure at first. You've been through a lot, hell, you've had to do things that you didn't want to just to protect your son, but that's all over now. You can finally relax and just live in the moment again."

"You're right. I just need to relax." She glanced into the back seat, where her son was sleeping, soundlessly. "I really hate to wake him up, but I know he's very excited about finally meeting everyone."

She rested her hand atop hers. "Don't worry about him. I'll bring him inside. You just go inside and see your family."

She nodded before taking a deep, deep breath, and very slowly got out of the car, beginning her tread up those old creaky stairs. Once she made it to the screen door, she hesitated, slightly, thinking about all of the possibilities of what could happen when she walked through that door, but reminded herself that these were her family—her friends, and that as soon as she saw them again it was all going to be alright.

As soon as she walked through the door, she came to a complete stop when she saw every single person she loved—every single person she had missed with her entire heart standing there, waiting for her, and tears immediately fell from her eyes, at the mere sight of them.

Chloe' entire body froze when she saw her cousin standing there with tears streaming down her cheeks, and couldn't stop the tears from falling down her own cheeks. "LOIS! She yelled before rushing towards her, and practically knocked her off the ground, as she wrapped her arms around her body. "Oh, god, cuz! I've missed you so much!"

Lois quickly tightened her arms around one of the most important people in her life, and squeezed, tightly. "I've missed you too, Chlo."

When they pulled away from each other, she immediately noticed Oliver quickly walking towards them before he practically ripped her from her cousin, and hugged her, fiercely, slightly lifting her feet off the ground, as he swung her from side to side. "Hello, legs, it's so good to see your face."

She hugged him back, just as fiercely, and chuckled against his chest. "It's good to see you too, Ollie."

"My turn." She turned around to find her best friend waiting for her, and leaped into his open arms. "Oh, Pete, I've missed you too."

He squeezed her as tight as he could possibly manage. "I've missed you more than you can imagine."

When she pulled away from him, she set her eyes on the two people, who literally meant everything to her, and couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. "Mom…Dad…"

They grinned, widely at her before Jonathon said, "Get your ass over here."

Without hesitating, she rushed into their arms, almost causing all three of them to tumble to the ground, and felt more and more tears fall down her cheeks, as they wrapped their arms around her, holding her as close to them as they could manage. "I've missed you guys so much!"

Martha smiled at her. "We've missed you too, sweetheart, you called me mom…"

"That's exactly what you are to me. These past two years have been awful without you by my side, and every time I thought about this moment I wanted both of you to know that I've always seen you as my real parents."

Jonathon choked back his tears, attempting to be a man about his emotions, but couldn't help feeling the way he felt right at this moment. "Lois, you've been our daughter since the moment you walked back into Clark' life. I'm so glad your home."

"Me too."

Chloe smiled at them, relishing in the fact that her cousin was finally home before she clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Now, where is my adorable nephew?"

"He's right here." They all glanced towards the door, where Lana was standing with a very sleepy, but curious little boy in her arms. "Someone was a little stubborn. He didn't want to wake up."

Kaleb glanced at every single person in the room, knowing who they were from the pictures he has seen, and even though he was very excited about meeting them all for the first time he couldn't help feeling a bit nervous right now. He locked eyes with Lois, and stretched out his little arms towards her. "Momma…"

She quickly walked over to them, swooping him up into her arms, and rocked him from side to side, as he hid his face in the crook of her neck before whispering in his ear, "Kal, are you ready to meet your family?"

"What if they don't like me?"

"Of course, they'll like you, actually they will love you because you're you, and there's not a single person in the world that wouldn't like you. Your too adorable."

He pulled away from her, slightly. "You promise?"

"I promise." She slowly walked towards Martha and Jonathon, smiling at them, softly. "Kaleb, I want you to meet your Grandma and Grandpa."

He glanced between the two of them, shyly. "Hi."

Martha grinned at his shyness. It reminded her of the way Clark behaved when he was that age, especially when he met people for the first time, and even though she had known how much he resembled Clark she couldn't help being taken back from how similar they really looked. "Hello, Kaleb, I've waited a very long time to see you again. You're so beautiful, just like your daddy was at your age."

He smiled, softly at her. "Momma says I look like dadda."

"You do, sweetheart."

Jonathon grinned at the little boy. He was so much like Clark, but in many ways, he was more like Lois. They way he listened to every single word that was being said to him—his facial expressions—the way he conversed, and definitely the way he seemed interested in everything that was being said to him. He might look a lot like his son, and maybe just maybe has some of his personality like his shyness, but anyone could tell that most of his traits were from his mother, which, in his opinion was a wonderful thing.

"You're a lot like your mommy too."

His eyes widened. "I am?"

"Yes, buddy, you might look like your daddy, but you've got a big heart and great mind just like your mommy."

He grinned, as wide as possible, like that was the best news he has ever heard in his entire life, and in the eyes of his grandparents it was completely and utterly adorable.

Over the next several minutes, Lois introduced Kaleb to the rest of his aunts and uncles, loving how open he was being with each of them, and relished in the fact that she could finally give this to him.

A family that he could love and depend on.

It was amazing.

Once he seemed comfortable with all of them, Jonathon and Martha started telling him stories about his daddy, and every once in a while, someone else would jump in and tell their own story about him, which made him the happiest child in the entire world.

Jonathon smiled at the little boy, who was chattering away with everyone, loving that he finally had the chance to bond with him. "Hey, buddy, I have some pictures of your daddy. Do you want to see them?"

He nodded, excitedly with a twinkle in his eyes, and quickly reached his arms towards him, which was quite surprising since the only two people he allowed to hold him was Lois and Lana.

He quickly picked him up, loving the feel of having a child in his arms again, and made his way into the living room, where he started showing him picture after picture from one of their older photo albums.

Lois stood back, watching from a distance, as her baby boy bonded with his grandfather, and was in complete awe at the way he seemed to connect with him from the very first time he spoke to him. Figures, she thought to herself, that he would be more comfortable around him since she had felt the same exact way when she had met him for the first time.

Over the next several hours, Kaleb bonded with each and every single one of his family members, connecting with all of them in his own special way, and it was obvious that this is exactly what he needed.

He needed a family.

He needed more love than she could give him.

He needed balance in his life, and now he had it.

She had never seen him this happy before, and it filled her heart with hope—hope that things were going to finally start looking up for him, especially since the first two years of his life were filled with confusion, but she had a feeling deep inside of her gut that things could only look up from here.

* * *

 _ **TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER…**_

Bruce slowly collapsed onto the couch, feeling extremely exhausted from the very long night he had, and softly closed his eyes, attempting to rest his mind for just a little bit. Batman definitely had a busy night, saving more people than he has in a very long time, and it was actually quite degrading on him. After The Joker' disappearance, things in Gotham City had relatively calmed down, but the past few months had been a little insane. It was like the criminals were upping their game, and as much as he had enjoyed being able to relax a little he was incredibly thankful that lately he didn't have to be inside this empty house too much.

For two years he had been surrounded by people he cared about—people he loved with all of his heart, but for almost three years now it had been eerily silent, and he didn't care for it all that much. It was weird, he thought to himself. For years he had enjoyed being alone, but all of that changed when Lois showed up on his doorstep, and even though he visited them as much as possible it wasn't the same.

A part of herself wished that they were all still with him, like they had been before, but the other part of himself was very happy that she was finally living her own life, and he knew that she was much happier where she was.

Alfred slowly walked into the room, noticing how exhausted Bruce seemed to be, and as much as he wanted to leave him alone for the night, he couldn't, this was something that he needed to know.

Bruce sensed his presence, and sighed, softly. "Alfred, I really don't want to hear about another civilian attack right now. I just need to relax for a few hours before I'm back at it."

"Gotham is safe for now, but there is something that I need to tell you…"

"What is it?'

"It's about Lex—"

"What about them?" He quickly interrupted him, as he peeled his eyes open.

"The detective called an hour or so ago. All three of them have a court date in a week."

"Yes. I know that. The judge is going to contemplate whether they should get paroled or not, but it's not going to happen."

Alfred took a deep breath, hating to ruin this moment for him, but it needed to be done. "Except that it is. The detective is positive that the judge will release them all for good behavior."

"What?" He quickly stood up, and started pacing back and forth. "Is he positive? Just a few months ago he told me that it wouldn't be possible—that they would serve out their full five-year sentence."

"Things changed. The judge will release them, which means—"

"Which means that they'll be going back to Smallville." He interrupted him.

It was a problem.

It was a major problem.

As much as he hated not being with the people he loved, he would never want to be in the same situation they were in over two years ago.

But…

That's exactly what was going to happen.

They needed to know, and they needed to know now.

"What should we do?"

"Get the chopper ready."

He really hated that this was happening again, especially since none of them believed this would happen so soon, but it was, and he needed to get to Smallville as soon as possible.

* * *

Lois and Kara were sitting on the front porch, in complete silence, as they watched little Kaleb, who was now four years old, running around the yard with Shelby, his laughter sounding like music to their ears. They hadn't seen him this excited in quite a long time, and that was all because he had finally gotten his wish…a puppy. After begging for almost one whole year she finally caved, and now he was the happy owner of one very annoying golden retriever.

Aside from that, the past two years have been absolutely amazing for every single one of them.

Lois and Kaleb were currently living at the farmhouse with Martha and Jonathon, who were more than delighted to have them here, and as much as she enjoyed being with them she was ready to move into their own place, which would hopefully be happening very soon. Jonathon was the one that came up with the idea to build a house a few miles away from here, and Kaleb was all for it since he was able to help build it.

Years ago, she had wanted to live in Metropolis, but after everything that has happened she wasn't too keen on that idea anymore; besides she would rather stay closer to her family and she wanted to keep her son right where he was. There was no way she was going to tear hm away from his family again, not only because he had lived his first two years of life without them, but because he was happy to have such a large family, especially his grandparents.

He loved them with all of this heart.

He also had formed astounding connections with his aunts; Chloe, Lana and Kara, who he started calling his aunt not even two months after they moved back, and he had even stronger bonds with his uncles; Oliver and Pete, especially Oliver since they seemed to click like two lost souls.

It was funny, she thought to herself, whenever his uncle Ollie came into the room his entire world lit up, and he spent all of his time and attention on that one person. It was like nothing else mattered to him.

She was also pretty happy with her life right now, not only because she was close to her family and friends, but also because she was now working at The Daily Planet. After earning her college degree, she had put in an application, and gotten an interview with the editor, Perry White right away since she had connections. Her cousin, and old friend, Jimmy Olsen were more than happy to vouch for her, and even though she had started at the bottom of the barrel she was now a full-fledged reporter right alongside her cousin.

Her dream was finally coming true.

When she had first moved here, all three of them had dreamed of working together, and now it was happening.

Kara, on the other hand, had a very difficult time acclimating to this strange world, but now she was doing almost as well as everyone else. A little over one year ago, she had decided to join Oliver' band of heroes, which he was now calling The Justice League, and they even had a few more members now. Aside from working with an amazing team, she was also doing her own saves now under her alter ego, Supergirl, which Chloe and herself had dubbed her when they wrote her first debuting article.

Lana and Pete were also doing pretty well for themselves. Aside from the fact that all three of them were like best friends, they were happier than ever before, especially since they had gotten married a few months ago, and had bought a house, where they were raising their two children, who were both three years old now.

Kaleb had become very, very protective over his younger cousins, and always found an opportunity to take care of them himself, even though he was still quite young himself, but he also managed to demand that he was smart and caring enough to care for them, which none of them argued against since it was nothing but the truth.

Chloe and Oliver were doing ten times better than anyone else since they were getting married in less than a month, but honestly, they were beginning to drive her insane, mainly because they have been glued to the hip for several months now.

Of course, she was incredibly happy for them, just like she was happy when Pete and Lana tied the knot, but she couldn't help wanting to escape from all of this happy, lovey-dovey, sappy crap for a little bit. It was hard seeing all her friends, hell, even seeing Martha and Jonathon so happily in love, not because she didn't want them all to be happy, but because she couldn't be happy too.

Clark was still gone, and that was the only thing that kept her depressed these days, but having her son, who also had millions and millions questions about his daddy, near her kept her going—made her believe—gave her hope.

Her father was a completely different story. He was still living here in Kansas, actually he showed his face more times than she could count in the past two years, and it had everything to do with her rambunctious child. He absolutely adored his grandson, even knowing everything he did about him.

One year ago, Kaleb had accidentally showed him his super hearing ability, which, of course didn't go over very well when she explained everything to him, but now it seemed that he was completely alright with the fact that his daughter had fallen in love with an intergalactic traveler, and given birth to a half-human child.

Things has definitely shifted in their relationship.

There was a small part of herself that was still angry with him, but the bigger part of herself knew that holding hatred for someone only ruined a person, and she didn't want to leave that kind of impression on her son. As much as she loved her father, he would never, ever compare to the way she felt about Jonathon, who she has always seen as a father figure in her life. He was her father in more ways than her biological one would ever be.

"Hello! Earth to Lois! Hello!"

She was quickly pulled away from her thoughts, at the sound of Kara' voice, and glanced over at her, realizing that she had been attempting to get her attention for quite some time before she smiled, apologetically. "Sorry. I was doing it again, wasn't I?"

"What were you thinking about this time?"

"Everything. I just can't believe how amazing the past two years have been."

"It has, hasn't it?" She grinned, widely at the woman she saw as her own sister. "When I first came to Earth, I never thought that I would enjoy being here as much as I do now, and that's all because of you."

"Oh, come on, you know that I'm not the only person responsible for how well you've been doing. All our friends have helped a little too." She smirked at her. "Besides, I have a feeling that a certain goofy photographer helped a lot too."

"Jimmy has been great, but um, we kind of broke up last week…"

Her heard snapped towards her. "What? Why the hell didn't you tell me this before? What happened?"

"He couldn't exactly deal with my uniqueness."

"You mean your abilities."

She nodded.

"That's alright. I'm sure the right man will find you." She wriggled her eyebrows, suggestively at her. "Who knows. Maybe you've already met him…"

She glared, heatedly at her, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed, and under no circumstances would she be hearing anymore about that obnoxious man, even though she saw him more than she would like to. "Nuh-huh. Don't even go there. That will never happen."

"Alright. If you say so."

"I do say so. Just drop it. Please."

"Okay. Fine. I won't mention it again." She was lying, of course. It was obvious to anyone that what they have been denying for over two years now was inevitably going to happen. They were literally perfect for each other.

Kaleb came running up to them with Shelby right by his side, and smiled, brightly at them. "Mommy! Auntie Kar! Did you see what Shelby did?"

"Yes." They spoke, simultaneously, even though neither of them had a clue what he was talking about.

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of a helicopter approaching before dirt, dust and sand started flying in every which direction, causing them to cover their faces, as it landed in the middle of the driveway. Once everything stopped whipping around them, they all stared at it, wondering who the hell would even think about doing something like that.

Kara used her X-Ray vision, only to realize that it was none other than Bruce Wayne, and groaned, loudly. "Great. Just great."

Lois snickered at her, knowing exactly who was inside that helicopter, not because of her intuition, but because of the noises the woman next to her was making. Only one person could make her this irritable in the matter of seconds. "Well, look at that, it seems like the fates are crying down on you two lovebirds."

She glared at her. "Not another word. It's just a coincidence."

"Uh-huh. Says the woman that doesn't believe in coincidences."

"Shut up!"

This whole situation was quite hilarious, she thought to herself, whenever they were in the same vicinity as each other it was like firecrackers going off, honestly, she just wished they would stop playing this game and just admit how they feel about each other, but she knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

As soon as Kaleb saw his uncle step off the helicopter, he rushed towards him, a little faster than normal, and yelled out, "Uncle Bruce!"

He quickly swooped his nephew into his arms, and swung him around a few times before resting him on his hip. "Hey, squirt! How's my favorite nephew doing?"

"Good! Mommy finally bought me a dog! Her name is Shelby!"

"She cracked, huh?"

He nodded, enthusiastically. "I knew she would."

"Of course, you did."

Kaleb stared into his uncle' eyes. "How long are you staying?"

That was the question of the century, he thought to himself.

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll get to spend lots of time together."

"Good." He squirmed to get out of his arms, and ran towards his clubhouse, where he spent most of his time with Shelby hot on his trail.

Bruce chuckled at the pure energy that child had before making his way towards the two women standing on the front porch, waiting for him, and once he locked eyes with Kara his face fell into an unreadable expression. "Kara."

He had hoped that these feelings he had for her would disappear, but it seemed that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, actually it was like his feelings were getting more stronger, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Bruce."

Lois glanced between the two of them, attempting to stop herself from giggling at the way they acted around each other, but it was utterly useless since they made it so difficult not to tease them about this whole situation. "Hey, Bruce, you know it's funny, we were just talking about you, and then boom, here you are. What a coincidence."

"What were you talking about?"

"Nothing!" Kara yelled, as she glared at Lois for good measure before glancing back at him. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Someone' grumpy today."

She smirked at him. "Well, it happens when an obnoxious, annoying and self-assured man shows up weeks before he's supposed to."

He rose his brows, at her words, a teasing glint lingering in his eyes. "Ah. I see that we're starting this right away then."

"Wouldn't want it any other way."

Lois couldn't stop herself from laughing, at the spectacle these two made. "Oh, come on, can't you two just kiss and make up already? This is getting really tiresome."

"Shut up!" They uttered, simultaneously.

At the glares she was receiving from both of them, she rose her hands in surrender. "Alright. Fine. I'll behave, but Kara does have a point…you do realize that the wedding is in three weeks not one, right?"

"Yes, captain obvious, I know when the damn wedding is. That's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you?"

"Let's just get everyone here first."

One hour later, everyone was standing in the living room, staring at Bruce, expectantly, as he paced back and forth, attempting to figure out the best way to say what he needed to.

Lois huffed, loudly. "What the hell are you waiting for? You literally dragged everyone here. What is so damn important that you had to fly all the way down here?"

He stopped pacing. "It's about Lex. All three of them have their parole court date in one week…"

Chloe groaned, loudly at him. "Did you seriously pull me away from my wedding preparations to tell us something that we already know? We know that, Bruce, but we also know that it isn't going to happen."

"Except that it will happen."

"What?"

He locked eyes with Lois. "Once they get paroled they will be making their way here…"

Every single person in the room started freaking out about this entire situation, and continuously asked him question after question, attempting to get to the bottom of this, while Lois just stood there, motionless, her mind thinking up ideas of what she should do.

One part of herself wanted to just leave, in order to protect her baby boy from those monsters, but the other part of herself didn't want to leave everything she has built here behind, especially since everything was going great, and she knew that no matter where they went they wouldn't be safe.

It didn't matter what they did it was inevitable.

They would find them.

Honestly, she was just tired of running from her problems, and in that moment, decided that she would fight for the life she created here.

They wouldn't ruin her life…again.

"Hello! Lois! Are you listening to me? Earth to Lois!"

She glanced towards her cousin, who was yelling at her. "What?"

"Are you listening to me? You need to get out of here before they find you again!"

"No. I'm not going anywhere."

Oliver stared at her, like she was completely insane. "What are you talking about? You need to leave as soon as possible!"

"No. I said that I'm not going anywhere, and I meant it. I'm not leaving my home—my family or my friends again."

Bruce sighed, heavily. "None of us can protect you here."

She glared at him. "Who says I need protection? I ran before and what good did that do? They found me—they found my son. I wasn't protected here, hell, I wasn't even protected in Gotham. For two years we were all sitting ducks, and guess what, they found me! They killed Alicia! They almost kidnapped me and my son! It doesn't matter where I go, they will find me, so no, I'm not leaving. I'm staying right here where I belong."

Pete stepped towards her. "Lo, are you sure that's a good idea, I mean they will probably come after both of you as soon as they get back. It's not safe here."

"You mean all three of us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you remember? They want Lana too, so it would be all three of us leaving. Could you live with the fact that your wife and mother of your children would be gone for who knows how long?" When he shook his head from side to side, she continued, "We made the mistake of separating last time, but this time we'll be prepared for them. They won't scare me away just because they believe they hold some kind of power over me."

Chloe grabbed her hands, and squeezed them, as her eyes pleaded with her. "Lois, please! They will come for you, Lana and Kaleb!"

She stared straight into her eyes. "Then let them come."

Jonathon quickly stepped towards her. "Honey, you don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. I'm tired of everything. I just want to live a normal life, but I can't do that until they're dealt with. I'm not running anymore. If they want a war, then they can have one. They won't win this fight."

Martha smiled at how confident her daughter seemed about all of this. "I agree with Lois. They can't keep running from these monsters."

Lana stepped forward. "They have a point. I don't plan on running from them either. I have a family. There is no way I'm leaving them behind."

Kara nodded her head in agreement. "What do you suppose we do?"

"We live our lives normally, and when they make their move we'll be ready for them."

Bruce smiled at her. "I'm with you, Lo."

"Does that mean your sticking around?"

"Just try and get rid of me."

"Mommy? What is going on?"

They all turned their attention towards the little boy standing by the foyer, who was staring at them with wide, terrified eyes, and she quickly walked over to him, crouching down in front of him. "Nothing, baby."

"Do we have to leave? Cause the bad men are back?"

She gripped his face in her hands, and stared directly into those baby blues of his. "No, Kal, we're not going anywhere."

"But, what if they hurt us?"

"That won't happen. I'm going to protect you. I promise everything is going to be alright."

He just nodded.

She glanced at every single person in the room, who were smiling at her confidence, and in that moment, knew that her words to her son were true.

No matter what happened they would all be alright.

* * *

 _ **SIX MONTHS LATER…**_

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEB!" He giggled, uncontrollably when his family shouted at the top of their lungs before blowing out the candles to his very large chocolate cake, quite excitedly.

Lois grinned at her son, as he practically dug into his cake, and relished in the fact that he was having such a great day. He was turning five years old today, and it had already been a pretty crazy day. After showing Kaleb his new home this morning, they had went back to the farmhouse, where they have been watching him open presents, and enjoying his birthday just like an other child his age.

It had definitely been a great day so far, but it wasn't even close to being over yet. She had plans for her little boy tonight.

The first thing they would do was go to the caves, one of his most favorite places, where he would talk to his daddy, even though he understood that he couldn't hear him.

A few months ago, he had become even more curious about where his daddy was, what he was doing, and when he was coming back, so she took him to the caves, where she explained to him that his daddy was like his auntie Kara, and that he needed to be gone right now, but promised him that one day he would return to them.

Then they would make their way back to their new house for the first time ever, where they would stay up all night watching his favorite movies until both of them fell asleep.

It was going to be great, she thought to herself.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" She looked up to find her son standing in front of her, holding something behind his back. "What! What! What!"

He giggled at the way she mimicked him before pulling out a very large piece of cake, and handed it to her. "I saved you a piece. I know it's your favorite."

"You're right. It is my favorite. Almost as sweet as you."

"You're weird, mommy."

"I know, but you know what, you're weird too, so that means you get it from me."

"Nuh-huh. That's not possible."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup!"

She ruffled his beautiful black hair, making him squirm underneath her touch. "Are you ready to leave yet?"

"Not yet. I wanna play with Shelby."

"Well, you better get to it, mister, I have plans for you."

He grinned, widely at her, like that would make her tell him anything, and gave her those Kent puppy dog eyes that he was slowly perfecting to a tee. "What are we going to do?"

She rose her brows at him. "Did you really think that would work?" When he nodded, excitedly at her she quickly pushed him away from her. "Get out of here, brat before I kick your butt."

Two hours later, Lois was starting to become more and more irritated by the second since she couldn't find her son anywhere, at least not until she noticed Shelby running into the barn. Usually, he spent his time in the clubhouse that he had helped his Grandpa build. The only time he was in the loft was when he was upset about something.

So much like Clark, she thought to herself.

When she stepped on the landing, she found him sitting on the couch, pouting about something, and at first, she figured that he was upset about having to leave the farmhouse, but then she noticed that he had tears running down his cheeks, causing her to instantly go into mommy mode. "Kal? Honey? What's wrong?"

Instead of responding to her, he held up of picture—a picture she recognized right away. It was the one of her and Clark in their field on that very special Valentines Day. She slowly crouched down in front of him. "Where did you find that?"

"In the drawer." He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "You promised me that daddy would be back, but he's not here for my birthday. Is he ever coming back?"

The words coming out of his mouth broke her heart into a million pieces. Of course, he knew that his daddy couldn't be here with them, and even though she had explained most of this to him he was still confused about the fact that he couldn't see, talk or touch him.

She grabbed the picture from him before setting it down on the table, and stared deeply into his tear-filled eyes. "You know that your daddy loves you—that he'll be so happy to meet you, but he can't right now. I promise Kaleb, one day he'll come home."

"When? I want to meet him now! I want my daddy!"

A heavy sigh escaped her, at his behavior, not because it was irrational, but because it was only getting worse and worse as he got older—as he got older without his father in his life. As much as she wanted to shield him from the facts—facts that he might not understand she knew that she couldn't keep anything from him anymore. It was time that he knew everything. For five years, she had managed to keep his questions to a minimum, but recently all he cared about was seeing his daddy—meeting his daddy—spending time with his daddy. "I want you to come with me."

"Where?"

"To a place that was very special to your daddy and me."

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the field—the field where she had both happy and sad memories with the man she loved, and she hoped that once he knew everything that he would finally understand why he couldn't be here with them right now. "Kaleb, I know you have lots of questions about your daddy, but what you need to remember is that he is gone because he had to leave to become like you auntie Kar. He promised that he would return to me. He will come home, Kal, you will meet him one day."

"When?"

"I don't know, baby, but I know that he is going to love you the second he meets you."

He frowned at her words. "Doesn't he already love me?"

This was it.

The one thing she had been attempting to avoid telling him, mainly because he wouldn't really understand it, but maybe just maybe he could now. "Kal, baby, when I found out that I was having you, you're daddy was already gone…"

His eyes widened. "He doesn't know about me?"

"No, he doesn't."

"Then how do you know he loves me?"

She smiled, softly at him. "Because you are his son, and he will love you no matter what. I know that you're confused, but he will come home to us, and when he does he will love you just as much as I do."

"You promise, mommy?"

"I promise, baby."

"Aww. Isn't this adorable. Too bad neither of you will be around to see that day."

A cold shiver spiraled down her spine, at the sound of his voice, and she slowly turned around to face the last man she expected to see today. "Lex."

Over the past six months, every single one of them have been extremely careful, knowing that he could come after them at any point in time, but lately they had been less careful since none of them had shown their faces.

"Hello, Lois."

She quickly pushed Kaleb behind her legs. "Aren't you a little late? We've been waiting—preparing for this, but you never showed your ugly face, so we figured you had finally given up on this mission of yours."

"Given up?" He laughed, coldly before his face turned serious. "Thanks to you and your friends, we were forced to stay low to the ground, but now that I have everything in order I came to take what is mine."

"You'll never get away with this. If you kill us, you'll just go back to prison. Is that what you really want?"

"What I want is both of you dead, but there is something I need from you first…"

She frowned at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He smirked, devilishly at her. "Things have changed, you see, I've come to realize that you have been keeping something from me…the location of your lover. Tell me where he is."

I don't know—"

"Don't lie to me!" He quickly interrupted her. "I've been watching you, and it's quite obvious that you know exactly where he is."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"I thought you might say that." He pulled out a gun, and pointed it directly at her chest. "Now that I have your attention, let me tell you how this is going to go. Both of you are going to leave with me, and once you give me the information I need Murphy will eliminate you right in front of your son. Of course, he's going to be a little upset, which will make it easier for me to run the tests, that will inevitably give me all the answers I need."

"What answers? What the hell do you want from us?"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. Once I have your son' genes running through my veins I'll become unstoppable—I'll be a god amongst men—I'll have the world trembling at my feet. As soon as both of you are eliminated I'll destroy Clark before he has the chance to find out he ever had a son."

She took several steps back away from him. "This is all about Clark. This is all about power to you."

"It's always been about power, Lois."

"You're crazy! There's no way I'm letting you do this!"

"You say that like you actually have a choice in the matter, but you don't." He pulled out his cellphone. "I can't kill you, not until you give me what I want, but I will give you two choices; come with me right now and nothing happens to your family, refuse to comply then I'll have Murphy kill every single person you love."

That wasn't much of a choice, she thought to herself, she knew exactly what she had to do to protect her family, but that also meant putting her and her son in danger—putting the man she loved with all of her heart in danger.

That's the last thing she wanted.

"Tick tock, Lois, I haven't got all day."

She glared, heatedly at him. "Fine! We'll go with you, just please don't hurt my family!"

"Good choice. Let's go."

"Just give me a second." She lowered down to her little boy, who was absolutely terrified at the crazy turn of events, but she had a feeling that he understood a little bit. "Kal, baby, we're going to leave with this man. Do you understand why?"

He nodded. "He's the bad man that killed auntie Alicia."

"Yes, but do you understand why we have to leave with him?"

"Cause he will hurt our family if we don't."

"That's right. I need you to be strong for me, okay?"

"I'm scared, mommy."

"It's going to be alright, Kaleb, I promise." She quickly hugged him, taking advantage of this situation, and slipped off her Kryptonian bracelet, the one Clark had given to her, knowing that someone would find it eventually. If she couldn't find a way to get them out of this nightmare, she knew that her family and friends would, and maybe just maybe this would all be over before he got what he wanted.

Lex grew impatient with them. "Come on, let's go." He quickly pushed them across the field, attempting to get this done with as fast as possible, so he could finally have everything he's ever wanted.

Back at the house, everyone was starting to become more and more worried by the second since they haven't heard from Lois or Kaleb in over an hour.

It wasn't good.

Martha rationalized, "Maybe they just left…"

"Without saying goodbye? She wouldn't do that. You know that better than anyone, Martha." Jonathon argued back.

Bruce, who knew that everyone would start arguing back and forth if they didn't find them soon, and that's the last thing they needed right now. "Okay. Everyone needs to calm down—"

"Calm down?" Chloe interrupted him. "Are you kidding me right now? My cousin and nephew are missing right now! What if Lex got to them?"

Oliver rested his hand on her shoulder. "Honey, Bruce has a point, we don't know anything for sure."

"Screw this!" They all glanced over at Sam Lane, who has been eerily silent this entire time. "I'm going to find my daughter and grandson right now!"

Kara stopped him from walking out the front door. "Just wait a second. We don't even know if they're missing yet. They could have went on a walk for all we know."

Lucy Lane frowned at her. "What do you suggest we do? This is my sister and nephew we're talking about!"

"We just need to find them. Martha, Jonathon, Lana, Lucy and Pete I want you to search this entire farm. I want everyone else with me. We'll find them."

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a very beautiful field, every single one of them searching for them, but they were also looking for anything that was out of the ordinary—something that could tell them if they had been taken or not.

Kara was smack dead in the middle of the field using her X-Ray vision when she felt something hard underneath her foot, and quickly picked up the silver item, recognizing it right away…It was her bracelet. "Oh god."

Bruce, who was only a few feet away from her, heard the frightened tone in her voice, and quickly rushed over to her. "What is it? Did you find something?"

"It's her bracelet."

"It has to be Lex."

She growled low in her throat. "They took them…"

* * *

Lois held Kaleb tightly against her chest, as she followed Lex into an old building, which she figured was where he was planning on doing these crazy tests on her son, and wasn't all that surprised to find Murphy and Steve when they entered a room filled with experimental equipment.

Murphy smirked at them. "They came willingly? No fight? No nothing?"

Lex walked past him, and grabbed a syringe off one of the metal tables. "There was a little fight, but I managed to convince her." He glanced at Steve. "Grab the kid."

Steve quickly stalked towards her, and practically ripped Kaleb from her arms, which startled her, slightly before she started chasing after them, wanting her son back in her arms, but stopped dead in her tracks when Murphy pointed a gun at her head. "Not so fast."

She glared at Lex, who slowly turned towards her with his hands behind his back. "You son of a bitch! I swear to god if you hurt him I'm going to kill you!"

He slowly stalked towards her, secretly handing Murphy a needle, as he walked past him. "You shouldn't worry about him right now, honestly, you should be more concerned about yourself right about now. You have something I want, and if we have to torture it out of you then that's what we'll do. Just make this easy for yourself and tell me where he is." He glanced at Steve. "Put him in the cage. We'll deal with him once I have the information I need to move forward."

Kaleb squirmed, kicked and slapped the man holding him, attempting to get away from him, but he was too strong for him. "Mommy! No! Mommy!"

She charged towards Lex, hoping that she could get the drop on him while the other two were busy, but was completely surprised when she felt Murphy grab her from behind, pinning her against his chest. "I don't think so." She struggled against him, attempting to escape from him, which only made him laugh. "Mhmm. You're still as feisty as ever, sweet cheeks."

"Screw you!"

"Maybe later." He slowly injected a thick needle into her neck, causing her to become drowsy almost instantly, and the last thing she saw before passing out was her son staring at her through the bars of a cage with tears streaming down his cheeks.

* * *

Bruce, Oliver, Chloe, Kara, Bart, Victor, AC, Dinah, Sam and J'onn J'onzz were standing in the Watchtower headquarters, figuring out exactly what they needed to do to find and save Lois and Kaleb. After realizing that they had kidnapped them, they went back to the farmhouse, where they told everyone what was going on, and after managing to calm them down they got here as fast as they could, needing the equipment to locate them.

"I got it!" Chloe exclaimed.

Everyone surrounded her, as she repeatedly typed into the several computer systems. "Where are they?"

"1325 Industrial Plaza Point. It's a run-down warehouse on the outskirts of Metropolis. Why would he take them there?"

Bart glanced over the address before disappearing and reappearing in the matter of seconds. "They're definitely there. The place is stalked full of all kinds of experimental labs. Lex, Murphy and Steve are all in the same room. Lois is strapped down to an odd-looking table, unconscious, and Kaleb is trapped in a steel cage."

Oliver stepped towards him. "Did you manage to get the layout of the place in the few seconds you were there?"

"What do you think." He grabbed a piece of paper, and quickly drew out the entire layout of the building. "It's completely abandoned. They are the only ones there."

Bruce nodded. "Makes it easier for us then."

Kara glanced at Dinah, who was typing into several of the computers. "Can you get into the security programs?"

She turned one of the screens towards her. "It's already done. This place might physically look abandoned, but they have turned the inside of this place into a full-blown laboratory. It's like Fort Knox in there, but I managed to get past the firewalls."

"Good." She locked eyes with Chloe. "You'll need to be our eyes and ears. I need you to watch every single thing that happens."

She nodded at her.

"Bart, Dinah and AC you'll be watching all entrances and exits. If any of them try to escape take care of them."

They nodded.

"J'onn, I need you to be our lookout, make sure that no one leaves the building, just in case they manage to find a way to escape."

"Victor, once we're in, I need you to hack into the security computer systems. Shut down every single door inside the building. Best case scenario, we can lock them all inside before they realize what is happening."

"Bruce and Oliver, you're with me, once Victor shuts everything down we enter." She locked eyes with Bruce. "Just get them out of there. Oliver and I will handle Lex, Murphy and Steve—"

"And that's when I come in." Sam interrupted her.

As much as she hated bringing a civilian into this she knew that he was more than capable of taking care of himself, besides he had personal plans for Murphy, while they took care of Lex and Steve, hopefully this time it would be permanent. "Once Chloe gives you the all clear, join us in the main laboratory."

She glanced at every single person, making sure they understood how important it was that they stuck to the plan. "Let's go save our family."

And, with that, every single one of them left, intending to end this as fast as possible.

* * *

Lois slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling extremely groggy from whatever the hell they injected her with, but instantly went on alert when she realized that she was strapped down to a cold, silver table, and struggled with all of her might, attempting to get lose until she felt the cool feel of a knife lightly scraping against her bare stomach.

Murphy loomed over her with a smug expression plastered across his face. "Well, look who's finally awake."

"Screw you, Murphy! Where the hell is my son?"

"I'm right here, mommy…"

She glanced over her shoulder towards the cage that they had thrown her son into, and noticed how terrified he looked before glaring, heatedly at Murphy. "Let him go! You got me right where you want me, just leave him be."

He pressed the blade a little harder against her skin, drawing blood, causing her to bite her lip, attempting to stop herself from yelping out in pain. It's exactly what he wanted, and she'd be damned if she was going to do what any of them wanted her to. "You know we can't do that, you see, Lex needs every single drop of his blood to run his little tests—to turn himself into the greatest villain ever known."

"It'll kill him!"

"Well, obviously, he's just a pawn that will eventually be eliminated, and you, you're the one that holds all the information we need."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"We'll see about that." He pressed the blade deeper and deeper into her stomach before slicing different parts of her body, not enough to make her bleed out, but enough to make her feel immense pain.

She tried to fight the pain she was feeling, but couldn't hold it in any longer, and screamed out, "Ahhh!"

"Mommy!" Kaleb yelled out in a panic, as he watched this man hurt her, and felt like his heart was going to stop beating if he kept hurting her.

"Shh. It's alright, baby. You have to stay strong, remember? We'll get out of this. I promise."

Murphy growled low in his throat from her words before pushing the blade deep inside of her stomach, not deep enough to kill her just yet, but enough to injure a few vital organs, and enjoyed the way she screamed out in pain.

Once she caught her breath, she glared, spitefully at him. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? Finally getting that revenge you've wanted since the moment my father trapped you in that hell hole?"

He smirked down at her, as he twisted the knife in her gut. "I'll enjoy this a lot more when your nothing but a cold, dead body."

"Well, you can keep on hurting me if you'd like, but it doesn't change anything. Your still the same man you were all those years ago, following orders from someone who could literally give two shits about you. You're just his little lap dog. Once he gets what he wants you'll be dead."

"Shut up!"

"It's funny, actually, you haven't changed a bit, but one thing has…you never used to enjoy weapons as much as physical contact. I'm guessing Lex told you to use a weapon instead of your fists, and you listened to him because that's all you know how to do. Have you ever had an original thought?"

He quickly wrapped his hand around her throat, squeezing, slightly. "You're quite talkative for a woman in pain, but maybe I just need to up the game a little bit." He brought his head closer to hers, and whispered in her ear, "But you're right about one thing…I do enjoy physical contact."

Once he pulled away from her, he started punching her in the face over and over again, ignoring the child' cries, and when he stopped hitting her she spit blood in his face. "You do realize that he's just using you, right?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" He sliced her stomach several more times, making her writhe on the table, as she screamed in agony. "Tell us what we want to know, and this will all be over or just continue to deal with the pain. Your choice."

"You don't really care about any of this. The only reason your doing this is because Lex told you to." She chuckled, cynically. "You've never done anything unless you've been told to. Dear daddy wanted you to go after my father, then when Chloe and I figured you out he ordered you to keep us silent, and now Lex is ordering you to torture me. You're a pathetic excuse for a human being."

"Shut up!" He slammed the knife into her bloody stomach, deeper than before.

"AHHH!" She screamed out, her head becoming fuzzier and fuzzier by the second, while her vision started going in and out, but she pushed through the pain she was feeling.

"That's enough!" Lex yelled, as soon as he walked into the room. "I thought I told you not to go overboard!"

"Like I said…lap dog…"

Murphy growled, angrily at her comment before walking away.

Lex quickly took his place above her, and roamed his eyes over her injuries. "Seems like he was having a little fun with you. My methods will be ten times more painful for you if you don't tell me what I want to know."

She spit in his face. "Screw you!"

"You're choice." An evil smirk spread out across his face before he pressed a button on the metal contraption next to him, electrocuting every inch of her body.

"AHHHHHHH!"

At the sound of her screams, Kaleb completely lost it, and started banging up against the cage. "Stop it! Mommy! No!"

Steve quickly banged a silver zapping device against the cage, shocking him, slightly before he collapsed to the floor, and once the pain was gone he glared, heatedly at the man.

Lex started charging the machine before looming over her. "Tell me where Clark is."

She coughed up some blood, attempting to catch her breath, and stared at him with a fierce expression. "Why should I?"

"Because you're life depends on it."

"You're going to kill me anyways, so you can keep on hurting me, but I'll never tell you anything."

He brought his face closer to hers. "Tell. Me. Where. He. Is."

"I'm. Not. Telling. You. A. Thing."

All of a sudden, several bolts of electricity rushed throughout her entire body, causing her to scream and close her eyes in pain, the only sound she could hear was the sound of her son crying out to her. Once the electricity stopped, she felt her body becoming weaker and weaker by the second, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hang on—how much longer she could stay awake, but before that could happen she locked eyes with her baby boy, who was crying harder and harder at everything he was witnessing. "Kal, baby, stay strong for mommy. No matter what happens I need you to stay strong. It's going to be alright. I love you, Kaleb."

He shook his head from side to side. "No! Mommy! Please!"

She just smiled at him.

Lex gripped her face in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "You have one last chance to tell me where he is."

She stared into his cold, pale, dead eyes. "You can do whatever you want to me, Lex, it still isn't going to make me talk. You can rot in hell for all I care!"

When she felt the electric shock rushing through her body again, her eyes rolled to the back of her head before she passed out from the unbearable pain, and slumped against the table, her body weakening.

Kaleb shot up from the ground, banging his entire body against the bars, as he watched his mommy pass out, and screamed out, "No! Mommy! Mommy! No! Please! Wake up!"

Steve zapped the cage again. "Shut up, kid!"

He glared at him. "My family will hurt you for that! You killed my mommy!" His eyes traveled over to her unmoving body before he collapsed to his knees, as more and more tears cascaded down his cheeks, and he whispered, "You killed my mommy…"

Out of nowhere, they heard a loud bang echoing directly outside the closed door, causing all of them to glance in that direction with frowns plastered across their faces before Lex looked at Steve. "Go find out what that was."

He quickly walked over to the door, and attempted opening it, but was completely surprised when it wouldn't budge. "It's locked."

"What?" Murphy tried opening the door as well, but couldn't get it to move. "How the hell is that possible?"

Lex groaned, loudly, knowing exactly what was happening. "They're here."

"How did they even know where to find us?"

"I don't know, but they must have tracked her here."

Before any of them could move an inch, there was a loud explosion before the door flew off its hinges, causing all three of them to crash against the walls, knocking Steve, unconscious.

Bruce, Oliver and Kara walked into the room, assessing the situation, but all felt their hearts drop into their stomach when they saw Lois laying on the metal table, bloody, beaten and unconscious. None of them knew how to react at this moment, other than feeling complete and utter heartbreak from the sight of her, and even though they tried staying positive, they couldn't help wondering if she was gone.

Oliver quickly shook that thought away, not believing that his best friend was gone, and stepped towards Lex and Murphy. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"Nothing she didn't deserve."

He started walking towards him, but Kara quickly grabbed his arm stopping him from doing something he would regret. "Don't."

"They killed her!"

"You don't know that!"

Bruce very, very slowly walked towards the woman who literally meant everything to him wishing—praying that she was still breathing because he couldn't even fathom what life would be without her, but before he reached her he noticed Kaleb sitting a cage, crying his little eyes out. "Kaleb! Are you alright?"

He shook his head from side to side. "S-Sh-She won't wake up…"

"It's alright, buddy. I need you to stay calm for me, okay?" He nodded at his uncle, who quickly pressed several buttons on the wall, attempting to open the cage. As soon as it did Kaleb came running out, completely bypassing him and went straight to his mommy' side before he started shaking her, relentlessly. Mommy! Mommy! You need to wake up! Please! Mommy! Wake up!"

But…She didn't.

"Why won't she wake up?"

At the croak in his nephew' voice, he slowly walked towards him before his eyes traveled over every inch of her body, feeling his heart shatter into a million pieces from the sight of her bloody body, and beaten face. It was so much worse than when he found her that night all those years ago. "Oh god, Lois…"

Kara felt the tears rush to eyes, at the words coming from his mouth and the cries coming from her nephew before full-fledged anger took over, and she glared at them. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

"It was part of the plan."

Bruce ignored every single one of them, unable to think properly at this point, but aside from the thoughts running rampage in his mind he checked her pulse, realizing that she was still breathing, barely, but she was still alive, and felt hope rise deep inside of him. "She' still alive."

Kara and Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. "Get them out of here!"

He unstrapped her from the table before picking her up, holding her close to his chest, and squeezed Kaleb' hand, who was staring up at him with hope lingering in his eyes. "She' going to be alright, Kal. You hear me, Lois, don't you dare die on me."

As soon as they were gone, Lex and Murphy attempted standing up, but stopped moving once Oliver pointed his tranquilizer guns at them. "I don't think so. Neither of you are going anywhere."

Lex sneered at them. "You don't have any evidence against us."

Kara smirked at the over-confident man. "Actually, we have more evidence against you than you'd like to believe, you see, when we realized that you had taken Lois and Kaleb we sent a little anonymous tip to the authorities. You really should have been more careful about who you shared secret, inhumane business deals with."

The color drained from his face. "Lana…"

"That's right." Oliver added with a satisfied expression. "You see, we never thought that we could use the information you willingly told her before, but then it hit me, she knew everything about your business deals, and that was just the break we needed."

Lex glared, heatedly at both of them. "I'll kill every last one of you!"

"It's over, Lex."

Murphy frowned at them. "What the hell do you plan on doing with me? Prison?"

Instead of responding to him, they waited about ten seconds before General Sam Lane walked into the room with a stern expression plastered across his face. "Oh no. I have much better plans for you…"

He practically jumped out of his skin when he saw him. "You can't just drop me into another hole."

"Watch me." He walked over to him, and injected him with a powerful sedative, causing him to collapse to the floor, unconscious before glancing over at Kara and Oliver. "You two should get to the hospital. I'll take care of this."

They nodded before Kara grabbed his arm, disappearing in the blink of an eye, both of them wanting to get to the two people they loved with all of their hearts, hoping—praying that they were alright because honestly, they couldn't handle hearing anything other than that.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital, they found most of the family sitting in the waiting room, anxiously waiting to hear some good news, but from the expressions on their faces it didn't seem very promising, which worried them both…immensely.

Kara walked closer to them, cautiously, her nerves eating away at her insides. "How are they?"

Jonathon stood up, after a few seconds of silence since everyone else was feeling too heartbroken and wrecked to utter a single word. "Kaleb is perfectly fine. Not a single scratch on him. He's with Bruce right now, but um, Lois…"

When he didn't say another word, she glanced at every single one of them, nervously. "What about Lois?"

Martha sucked in a breath, attempting to keep her emotions in check. "She fell into a coma after her surgery. She lost a lot of blood and the amount of electricity that surged through her body was too much for one person to handle." A few tears fell down her cheeks. "The doctors-the doctors don't think she will wake up…"

She slowly collapsed down into one of the chairs, her heart breaking for the woman she loved as her own blood. "No…"

Oliver, who stood there listening to everything they were saying about his best friend, shook his head from side to side. "No! They have to be wrong! She's going to wake up! This is Lois we're talking about! She's a fighter—she's a survivor! She'll wake up!"

Chloe quickly rested her hand on his arm. "Honey, she went through a lot today, her body is in shock right now. They don't think she'll wake up, and if she doesn't soon they will have no choice but to—"

"No!" He stopped her before she could finish that sentence. "Don't you dare say that to me! Don't tell me that she's going to die! She will wake up!" He quickly walked away from them, unable to believe that this was happening right now.

She couldn't die.

There was no way in hell he was allowing that to happen.

She still had so much to live for.

Her son.

Her friends.

Her family.

And, most of all, the man that she loved was expecting her to be here when he came back.

It was eerily silent for several minutes between everyone, as their hearts broke into a million pieces, all wishing that this wasn't happening right now until their attention was drawn to the corridor, where they heard Kaleb screaming at the top of his lungs. "No! Let me go! I hate you! She needs me! My mommy needs me! Please! I want my mommy!"

He repeated this over and over again until Bruce appeared holding a squirming, crying and irritable little boy, and it broke their hearts into a million little pieces.

As soon as he set him down on the ground, he attempted running back down the hallway, but Bruce blocked his way, and stared at him with a stern expression. "God dammit Kaleb! You can't see her right now!"

He glared at him. "I hate you! I want to see my mommy! Let me see her!"

"No, you can't right now."

"I hate you!"

Oliver, who had heard his nephew' screams from down the hallway, appeared. "Kaleb Joseph Jerome Lane-Kent!"

He glanced over at his uncle, who was staring at him, sternly, and when he beckoned him over to him he quickly walked over to him before Oliver lowered down to him. "You need to apologize to your uncle right this second."

"But—"

"No buts, young man, he is only doing what the doctors are telling him. We all want things to be different, but there is nothing we can do for her right now, except wait until she wakes up."

"Is she going to come back to me?"

His eyes filled with tears. "I don't know."

The tears cascaded down his cheeks like a waterfall before he lunged into his arms, sobbing. "I can't lose my mommy."

He wrapped his arms around his little body. "I know, Kal, I know."

Every single person watched the heartbreaking moment, all hoping and praying that she would make it out of this.

Kaleb had already been through so much. He didn't need to lose the only parent he had.

* * *

 _ **THREE WEEKS LATER…**_

Kaleb was laying on his mother' chest with tears slowly trickling down his cheeks, as he listened to her steady heartbeat, wishing that she would just wake up.

One week ago, the doctors had seen signs of improvement in her charts, and moved her into a normal hospital room, where her very large family could visit with her, which was every single day and night.

Martha, Jonathon, Bruce, Oliver, Kara, Chloe, Pete, Lana, Sam and Lucy were all standing in different parts of the room, in complete silence just waiting for the moment she would come back to them all. Of course, none of them were supposed to be in here at the same exact time, but the doctors had let it slide since every single one of them had strictly informed them that they weren't leaving this room.

All of a sudden, Kaleb felt his mommy squeeze his hand, slightly, and quickly sat up, staring down at her with an intense gaze. "Mommy?"

They all glanced over at him, thinking that he was just imagining her moving again since he had done it several times, but quickly leaped out of their seats when they heard her moan, softly.

Lois slowly blinked her eyes open, the bright headlights above her giving her a slight headache, but as soon as her eyes landed on the beautiful face of her son, she smiled, softly at him. "Kaleb…"

He quickly hugged her, careful of her still healing wounds. "Mommy! You're awake! I've missed you so much!"

She hugged him back. "I'm right here, baby, I'll never leave you."

"You better not." He curled his body against her side, and rested his head on her shoulder, not allowing anyone to move him from her side.

After acclimating to her surroundings, realizing that she was in a hospital room she smiled at every single person she cared and loved with all of her heart, but her smile faded when she remembered everything that had happened before she passed out. "Oh my god! Lex and Murphy, they kidnapped us and held us captive! They were planning—"

"Shhh." Lucy interrupted her rant, as she grabbed her hand, and squeezed it, softly. "You don't need to worry about them. It's all over now."

She quickly sat up, which was a big mistake because she felt an unimaginable pain in her stomach, and resettled back down on the bed, as she attempted catching her breath. "No, you don't understand. They were planning to…" She trailed off when her throat became scratchy, and found it very difficult to speak.

Sam quickly handed her a glass of water, which she sipped on, greedily before he rested his hand on top of her other one. "Lo, honey, you don't need to think about them anymore. They cant hurt you or Kaleb anymore."

"No, you don't understand, I have to tell you something." She tried sitting up again, but her cousin slowly pushed her back down to the bed, gently.

Martha being the over concerned mother stepped closer to her. "Don't move too much, sweetheart, you're still healing."

Jonathon quickly started to walk away. "I'll get the doctor."

"No!" She yelled, causing every single person to glance at her, curiously. "Listen to me, Lex is planning something worse than any of us imagined he—"

"We already know, Lois." Kara interrupted her with a soft smile on her face. "We know that Lex planned on killing both of you after he got what he wanted—after he turned himself into a monster."

She wanted to question how they knew that, but honestly, she was more concerned about the other millions of questions that were running through her mind. "What happened? How did we get out of there? How did I end up here? Where are Lex, Murphy and Steve?"

They told her everything that happened after she passed out, and explained that both Lex and Steve were in prison, except that Steve had gotten a shorter sentence than Lex, and that Murphy was far, far away from here, thanks to her father.

Once they explained everything to her, she finally felt like she could relax. "So, it's all over with?"

Lana nodded. "We wont have to deal with any of them ever again."

"What if he gets released like he did last time?"

"That wont happen, but if it does we'll deal with it when and if the time comes." Pete reassured her.

"I'm so glad that its all over with, and that everyone is alright."

Bruce smiled down at her. "We're all glad that you're alright. You scared us there for a minute."

"I'm a survivor."

Oliver chuckled, slightly. "That's what I kept telling them."

Kaleb looked up at her. "I was so scared, mommy, please don't ever do that again."

She kissed the top of his head, knowing that this entire ordeal probably scared him more than anything else ever has. "I promise, baby."

She smiled at every single one of them, feeling extremely happy that this was all finally over—that they could all start living normal lives again.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT DAY…**_

"Lex Luthor was released from prison two weeks ago…"

Every single person, who had known about this already turned towards the one person who this bit of news affected in the most profound way, as thoughts of their dearest friend and family member consumed their minds, while Chloe stared off into space, her mind consumed with memories of everything that had happened.

Lois, on the other hand, wasn't even remotely aware of their expressions or the fact that Clark was squeezing her hand, like he was attempting to get her attention.

None of it mattered right now.

The only thing that mattered was the fact that he was out—that he was free.

After two years, he had finally managed to wiggle his way out of his sentence, and that meant only one thing…he would, under no circumstances, be coming after her, her son, and possibly the man, who had literally just returned to her.

The color drained from her face, and her hands trembled, involuntarily, as her entire world crashed around her.

* * *

 _ **Hopefully, the scenes weren't too gruesome for anyone, but I did warn you that it would be kind of intense. I honestly wasn't expecting this particular section to take three chapters, but now the story will be moving forward from this point forward, and there won't be anymore scenes from the past. The next few chapters will have a lighter feel to them before we move back into the intense stuff, like the last three chapters have been.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed Chapter Forty Five!**_


	47. Chapter Forty Six

_**A Summer in Love:**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Six:**_

* * *

Every single person inside Watchtower was shrouded in complete and utter silence, as they all stared at their closest and dearest friend with worry lingering in their eyes, while Lois was attempting to remain calm after the bombshell that was just revealed, but her mind wouldn't stop thinking about everything that has happened since the moment she moved to Smallville, and honestly, she had no idea what she was supposed to do or how to even react to news like this.

Chloe, on the other hand, was feeling a mix of emotions at this particular moment in time.

Concern.

Confusion.

Anger.

She was worried about her cousin more than anything else.

Ever since they were teenagers, she has dealt with one horrible thing after another, the only promising thing to ever happen to her was falling in love with Clark Kent, and now another horrible thing was happening.

It wasn't just what was running through her mind that was worrying her, she was also worried about how this was going to affect her and the people closest to her. For three years now, she has been living a happy, good, and worry free life, especially since she finally had the man she loved with all of her heart back in her life, but now all of that had changed in the blink of an eye, and she was concerned that this was going to ruin everything she had built—everything she has overcome.

As she thought about everything that has happened over the past eight years, she couldn't help feeling completely and utterly confused about how this was even possible. Lana had enough evidence against him to incarcerate him for the rest of his pathetic life, but of course he had managed to wriggle his way out of prison, just like he had done before, and now he was free—he was out in the world again, which meant only one thing…every single person she cared about and every single person she loved was in danger.

That thought alone caused her veins to fill with a hot, burning rage she hasn't felt in a very long time. "You've got to be kidding me!" She walked closer to Kara, and stared into her eyes. "Are you sure about this?"

"We found out yesterday."

She slowly turned towards her husband, who had spoken for Kara, and narrowed her eyes at him. "You knew about this?"

Kara quickly stepped in between them, knowing that this could potentially turn into a heated argument, and that was the last thing they needed right now. "Don't get all worked up about this, Chloe, he wanted to tell both of you, but I decided that I would be the one to do it. We found this out yesterday morning, and when I tried telling you, neither of you didn't want to hear it because of Clark returning to civilization."

"It has been two weeks though, I mean he hasn't done anything yet, maybe he learned his lesson by now." Bart put in his two sense.

"Like he did the first time around?" Bruce shook his head from side to side. "We all know that he has plans for Lois, Kaleb, and Clark. If he hasn't shown his face its because he's up to no good, just like usual."

Chloe nodded. "They waited six months last time, who knows when he'll make his move, but we all need to be ready for when it does happen."

Clark listened to everything they were saying about Lex, feeling more than just a little confused, and honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to think at this point in time.

It was unsettling.

All he could understand was that Lex had plans for the woman he loved, his son, and himself.

None of it made any sense.

It was quite obvious that this was something none of them had expected to happen, which brought back what he had overheard Lois and Kaleb discussing the day before, and it also brought back all those questions he had at the time.

What had his old friend done to the people he loved? Was this something that happened just recently or was it something that happened within the eight years he was gone? Why hadn't Lois, his parents or anybody else told him about this?

He didn't know, but he was sure as hell going to find out. "What the hell is going on? Why are you all so worried about Lex? What did he do? What does he want with my family? What happened while I was gone?"

They all stopped speaking when they heard the multitude of questions coming from the one person, who didn't know about anything that was going on, and stared at him with sympathy before Chloe stepped towards her best friend. "Clark, I understand that this might be a little confusing right now, but its kind of hard to explain…"

"A little confusing?" He shook his head from side to side at her. "This is more than just a little confusing, Chloe, its completely outrageous. When I left everything was fine. My family was safe. Lex wasn't a problem, but from the moment I came home I've noticed that everything has changed. What the hell happened?"

She sighed, heavily, as much as she wanted to explain everything to him, she couldn't. It wasn't that she literally couldn't, it was the fact that there was only one person who could tell him anything, and she was currently lost in her own jumble of thoughts. "Things weren't as perfect as you think they were, Clark, they were all starting to fall apart."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Lois, who had been eerily silent this entire time, due to the fact that she was feeling more shell-shocked than anything else right now, especially since she couldn't believe this was happening, quickly shook herself out of her stupor when she heard the concern, worry and slight irritation that was laced in his voice.

This wasn't how she planned on telling him any of this, honestly, she should have told him when Lex first threatened her all those years ago, but she didn't, and now she would have to deal with those consequences. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too upset when she did explain everything to him, and she prayed that this didn't cause him to become a broody mess, which is something he did more often than not.

Kara sighed, softly at her cousin. "I'm sorry, Clark, but—"

"But, they aren't the ones that need to explain this to you." Lois interrupted her.

He glanced down at her with confusion lingering in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"It's my story to tell, Clark, I should have told you when it all started, but I didn't, and I'm sorry about that."

"Tell me what? What the hell is going on?"

She smiled, softly at him, and squeezed his hand, reassuringly. "I promise I'll tell you everything you want to know." She glanced over at Kara, realizing that every single person in the room was staring at her with concern, and rolled her eyes at them. "Would you all stop staring at me like I'm going to break. I'm not going to break."

Bruce stepped towards her, cautiously. "Lois, you haven't talked about it in three years…"

"I haven't talked about it because I thought it was over—because you promised me that it was, but none of that matters right now, what does matter is, how the hell did this happen?"

Oliver sighed, softly. "We don't know. The evidence Lana had against him should have been enough to keep him incarcerated for years, but he figured out a way to get out of his sentence, just like he did before."

"This is just great!" She took a deep, calming breath, but it really wasn't helping her piece of mind. "I'm finally at a place in my life where everything is great, but now it's all falling apart…again."

"We'll figure this out."

"And, do what? Throwing him in prison didn't work, so what makes you think it'll work this time? That's if we can even find anything on him, which is very unlikely by the way."

Bruce frowned at her words. "We can't just give up either, Lois, you're not safe with him out, and neither is Kaleb, hell, Clark isn't even safe."

"Don't you think I know that!" She quickly released Clark' hand, and started pacing back and forth, her mind running at a mile a minute before a particular thought occurred to her. "Kaleb was right…"

Everyone was completely and utterly surprised by her words, everyone except Chloe, who knew exactly what she was referring to.

Kara stepped closer to her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that I told my son that he didn't need to worry about Lex, Murphy or Steve for that matter. I promised him that they would never hurt us again, but now Lex is back, and we all know what he wants. How the hell am I supposed to explain that to him?"

Oliver narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait a minute! When did my nephew start talking about what happened?"

"Since he saw Steve watching him at school."

He whipped his head towards his wife. "He was at the school?" When she nodded, he glanced back at his closest friend. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about this?"

She glared at him. "Oh, I'm sorry, for not telling you about something I was already handling, besides I was a little preoccupied yesterday or did you forget that the one person I've waited eight years for finally returned home!" At the apologetic look she received from him she managed to calm her nerves and emotions. "Chloe, Lana and I attempted figuring out what he wanted with Kaleb, but now its all making sense. Lex was released from prison two weeks ago, which coincidentally is the same time Steve started loitering around the school."

"What's his endgame?"

"What do you think? He wants the same thing he wanted three years ago."

Chloe gulped, loudly, remembering the plans he had for three of the most important people in her life. "Do you think he knows that Clark is back?"

"Most likely."

Clark was officially done. For several minutes, he had relegated to stay silent, hoping that he could attempt to put all the pieces together, but they were talking in circles, and it was confusing him even more than he already was. "What does any of this have to do with me?"

Lois locked eyes with him. "It's always been about you, Clark, everything that man has ever done was about you."

"What are you talking about? Lois, none of you are making any sense. Just tell me what is going on."

"I will, Clark, I promise, but right now I need to figure this out." She glanced at all her friends and family with a serious expression. "Do we know anything else? Has he attempted to find Murphy?"

"We don't know." Kara sighed, softly. "Its safe to say that would be his safest bet, maybe that's why he hasn't shown himself he's waiting for his second in command."

Lois scoffed. "Second in command my ass. He just wants someone to clean up his dirty work. He might have needed him in the beginning, but now he's just his back-up plan. When he gets what he wants, he'll have Murphy clean it all up, and dispose of him. Its inevitable."

AC stepped towards her. "What are we going to do if he does find Murphy?"

"It's not a matter of if it's a matter of when." As much as she wanted to believe that they would only have to deal with Lex this time around she knew that wasn't true, and they needed to prepare for the worst possible scenario. "We all know what they want, and it's better if we're more prepared unlike last time."

Bruce locked eyes with her. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out." She started to walk away, but was stopped by Clark grabbing her arm, and turning her back around towards him. "Lois, where are you going?"

"I just need some time to think."

He tightened his hand around her arm. "I need you to explain this to me."

"I'm sorry, Clark, but I need to figure this out on my own." He watched her walk away from him, feeling more and more confused about this whole situation. As much as he understood that she wanted to be alone right now, he needed answers, and he needed them now.

Chloe noticed that he was going to chase after her cousin, and quickly darted towards him when he rushed in her direction, but managed to catch up with him before he could get into the elevators. "Clark!" He turned towards her with an irritated expression plastered across his face. "You need to give her the space she needs."

"I can't do that, Chloe, I need to know what happened while I was gone—I need to know what the hell is going on. It's quite obvious that none of you are going to tell me anything."

"Because we can't!" She yelled before taking a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down. "Look, we can't tell you because this is something she needs to tell you. Things haven't been that great since you left, but you just need to give her the space she needs."

"What if something happens to her?" At her frown, he continued, "You've all been talking about what a threat Lex is to her and to my son, so what makes you so sure that he wont try anything?"

She smiled, softly at him. "Because that's not his style. He enjoys taunting her before doing anything. She'll be fine, I promise, but you just need to trust that she knows what's she's doing. Give her some time to figure all of this out."

He nodded, slightly. "What am I supposed to do? Just wait for her?"

"Go home, Clark, spend time with your son, and hope that she'll be ready to tell you everything when she gets home."

"How can you be so sure that she'll want to tell me anything?"

"Because I know her. She wanted to tell you this before you left, but it just didn't work out that way. For now, just go spend time with your son. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to be with his daddy."

He smiled softly, at her before walking away, hoping and praying that the love of his life was going to be alright, and that she would trust him enough to tell him everything.

Once he disappeared from her sights, she quickly made her way back into the main room, where everyone was arguing over what they should do about this situation, and in a way, she felt like it was uncalled for since none of them really knew what to do at this point, but she also understood that every single one of them was worried about Lois, Kaleb and now Clark, especially to the people that had witnessed exactly what Lex and Murphy were capable of.

As soon as Oliver saw her, he quickly walked towards her with a worried and concerned expression plastered across his face. "Is everything okay?"

She sighed, softly. "Well, Lois is probably going out her mind right now, and Clark, well he is just confused about all of this. I sent him home. Hopefully, Lois will tell him everything before Lex plans anything, whether it be finding Murphy or making a move against them."

Kara shook her head from side to side. "He should have known about this when it all started."

"It would have made this easier, but we all know that she had her reasons for keeping him in the dark."

"She was going to tell him, but once she found out he was leaving she was terrified that he would chose her over his destiny, and that is the last thing she wanted."

Oliver groaned, slightly. "Even so, he still shouldn't have been kept in the dark."

Kara glared at him. "You weren't even around when she made that decision, hell the only person that was here was your wife. We could sit here and argue over what my cousin should or shouldn't know, but we have much more bigger problems to deal with right now."

Dinah nodded. "Kara' right. We need to do something about Lex, I mean, its not like we can allow him to walk around free again. We all know what he is capable of, and what his plans were."

Victor shook his head from side to side at her. "What do you suppose we do then? It's not like we can just throw him back in prison for crimes he hasn't committed yet, besides I think we all should be more concerned about what's going to happen when he finds Murphy."

AC stepped towards them. "Do we really think Lex is intending on finding Murphy?"

Bruce nodded. "It makes the most sense. Lois was right. Lex might have needed Murphy at first, but he became disposable very quickly, and when he gets what he wants, Murphy will just be a lose end. Three years ago, Lex wanted power, Murphy wanted Lois dead, and now its safe to say that they will both revenge on top of everything they wanted before."

"What should we do?"

"Nothing." Every single person in the room glanced at Kara like she had gone completely insane. "Look, we can't really do anything about Lex right now, mainly because its obvious that we can't just throw him in prison again, but we can keep an eye on him. Our focus should be on Murphy. We all know that as soon as he is stateside again that's when they will make their move."

Chloe nodded. "I'll contact my uncle. Maybe he'll be able to keep an eye on that front, and when he does inevitably return we'll be prepared to take them both down for good this time."

"And, what about Steve?"

"Steve is just as disposable as Murphy, and right now he isn't really my main concern. We just need to lay low for now, watch both of them, and when they make their move we'll be ready for them. They won't get what they want from Lois, Kaleb or Clark."

Chloe nodded, agreeing with Bruce completely, but she couldn't help noticing that they were forgetting about another player on the board. "You're all forgetting that Lana is a part of this too. They just wanted her dead before, but now that she double crossed them for a second time they will want more than just revenge."

"Someone should tell both her and Pete about everything that is going on."

"I will."

Oliver walked towards his wife. "What about Lois, Kaleb and Clark?"

She smiled, softly at him. "Don't worry about them, Ollie, you need to focus on keeping an eye on Lex and Murphy. I'll worry about everyone else." She walked away from them, intending to tell both her friends about everything that had been revealed today, and hopefully by the time she made it to the farmhouse her best friend wouldn't be so confused, but she had a feeling that her cousin was having a more difficult time with telling him than she was worrying about Lex and Murphy.

* * *

A few hours later, Lois was sitting in her office at The Daily Planet, staring down at the several files that Jimmy had left on her desk, attempting to get her rambled mind to focus on her Jack Moreno story instead of everything else, but honestly, the more she avoided it the more she thought about it.

After leaving Watchtower, she wasn't all that sure about what she was going to do or where she was even going to go, but there was a small part of herself that wanted to confront both Lex and Steve, of course that was an absolutely horrible idea, and she was starting to wonder if coming here was a mistake as well.

It wouldn't leave her mind.

Lex was back.

He would find Murphy.

They would come after her, her son, her boyfriend, her best friend, and anyone else who got in their way.

All she wanted to do was focus on anything other than her current problems, but her mind wouldn't stop thinking about it, and she hated that she had been relegated back to the person she was three years ago. A person that worried constantly about what was going to happen to the people she loved. For three years, she hadn't done that, but now it wouldn't leave her mind, and she hated that this was happening all over again.

Why couldn't she just live a normal life? Why couldn't she just be happy with the man she loved and their son? Why couldn't she get what she's wanted from the moment he disappeared in those caves? Why couldn't things just go back to the way they were before Lex and Murphy ruined her life?

If she were being honest with herself, the thought of Lex being out of prison or the thought of Murphy being brought back into the scheme of things wasn't freaking her out as much as it should be, especially after everything that has happened, instead the only thing that was worrying her was the mere thought of telling Clark everything. Of course, she wanted to tell him, but it was the fact that she was afraid of how he would react to all the pertinent details.

Would he be upset? Mad? Angry?

She didn't know, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out, but deep inside of her heart she knew that she needed to grow a damn backbone and tell him everything.

But…

She was having a hard time figuring out what she was going to say to him, which is one of the many reasons she decided to come here instead of going home with him, and at first, she believed it would work, but now she was sitting here thinking about the one thing she didn't want to think about.

It was driving her absolutely insane!

"Lois? What are you doing here?"

The sound of her boss and good friend' voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she glanced over at him with a small smile of her face, as he leaned up against the doorframe. "Would you believe me if I told you I was working on my story?"

"No." He walked towards her, and sat on the edge of her desk. "Now, if it wasn't your day off I just might have believed that, but I know better than anyone that you'd rather spend your days off with that adorable son of yours."

She groaned, loudly, and dropped her head onto the table with a loud thump, mumbling, "I hate that you know me so well."

He chuckled at her odd behavior. "Well, you're my top reporter, but you're also like the daughter I never wanted. It's my job to know you better than you know yourself."

"Thanks, Perry, I really needed to hear that."

"No problem." He rested his hand on top of hers, comfortingly. "Now, Lois, how about you tell me the real reason you're here, and don't tell me it has anything to do with work. We've already established that I know that isn't the whole truth."

She slowly rose her head from the table, and leaned back in her chair before closing her eyes, softly. "Lex was released from prison two weeks ago…"

His eyes widened, at her words. "What? I thought that wasn't even remotely a possibility?"

When she first started working here, they instantly had a connection, not only because he already adored her cousin, but also because he had always seen her as his daughter instead of an employee, and when they found out that Lex, Murphy and Steve were released from prison the first time around she put on a brave face for her family and friends, but deep inside she had been a mess.

One night, she had been working late, not wanting to go home, where her family would inevitably discuss the situation, and instead of focusing on the story she was working on she had finally broke down, letting lose every single of one the emotions she had been bottling up for weeks.

That is exactly how Perry found her.

When he attempted comforting her, instead of making up some lie she told him everything—everything except the truth about her son' origins, and honestly, that was one of the best decisions she has ever made in her life.

He had been there for her through it all.

When she was feeling down about the whole situation—when she had been in the coma—when she had been recovering in the hospital.

He had been there for her and for her loved ones.

Never in a million years would she think that she would have such a great relationship with him, and honestly, she isn't sure she could have gotten through it all if he wasn't a part of her life.

She slowly opened her eyes, and leaned forward in her seat. "That's what we all believed, but if I'm being honest, that isn't what is worrying me…"

That piqued his interest…immensely. "What could be more daunting than Lex Luthor?"

"Telling the man, I love the truth."

Now he was intrigued. He knew for a fact that Clark Kent, a young man he had met once many years ago, was currently on some soul-searching journey, and has been gone for quite a long time. "Why are you worried about that when he isn't back?"

She frowned at him for a few seconds before she realized that he didn't know about that since she had been so overwhelmed yesterday. "Oh, right, about that…he came home yesterday."

He nearly fell off the table, from her words. "Why didn't you or Chloe tell me about this?"

"Well, um, we were both kind of overwhelmed when he returned."

"Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you and you're family. You're all probably very happy that he's finally back."

"We are." She smiled, softly, as memories of his return came rushing to the forefront of her mind, but it quickly fell when she remembered exactly why she was here instead of at home where she should be.

He noticed the expression on her face. "What's with the face?"

"I'm happy that he's home. I really am. I've been waiting for this since the moment he left, but this morning when we found out about Lex he was there, and he had so many questions. He was so confused, Perry, I have no idea what I'm supposed to tell him."

"You tell him the truth."

"I want to, god, I really want to, but he's been gone for so long—he's missed so much. Where would I even start?"

"From the beginning."

She glared at him. "That isn't helping."

He chuckled, slightly at her. "I'm being serious, Lois, you need to tell him everything about Lex and Murphy. I know that he's been gone for a long time, but don't you think he deserves to know?"

"Yes, of course he deserves to know, but it's so much more complicated than that."

"Because you didn't tell him before he left?" When she nodded, he pressed further, "I understand why you're worried, but if from what you've told me about him I think it's very possible that he'll understand why you didn't say anything to him."

"How can you be so sure?"

"From experience." He moved a little closer to her. "There was a time where I kept something from my wife—something that would have torn us apart, and it could have done just that if I wasn't honest with her, but I was. I was terrified that I would lose her, but she understood why I didn't tell her, and Clark will feel the same way when you tell him." He squeezed her hand, reassuringly. "He knows that you're keeping something from him, not just because of what happened this morning, but because I'm pretty sure that he noticed things before he left, and if you don't tell him—if he hears the truth from someone else he'll be more upset than he already is. I know that you two used to tell each other everything, and of course he is going to be upset since you didn't tell him when all of this started, but he'll understand. I know you love him, Lois, and I know you're scared of his reaction, but it is the best thing for both of you. Just tell him the truth."

She stared at him with tears building in her eyes, and smiled, softly at the older man. He always knew the best thing to say to her, just like Jonathon and Martha knew how to knock some sense into her. "Thanks, Perry, you have no idea how much that means to me. I know I need to tell him, and I will, but I just need to figure out how I'm going to say the words to him."

He smiled at her, as he stood up. "Your welcome, Lois, just be honest with him. Everything will work out. I promise. There is a lot of love and trust between you two, hell, you wouldn't have made it this long if there wasn't. You two are perfect for each other, but don't screw it up by being dishonest with him."

"Thanks, you know, you should do this for a living. You're pretty good at it."

"You know that I don't like the mushy crap, but for some reason you and that cousin of yours manage to bring it out of me."

"Because we're your favorites."

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." He started walking towards the door, but stopped before leaving, and turned back around towards her. "Don't keep than man of yours waiting for too long."

"I won't." When he disappeared from her sights, she glanced down at the many files scattered across her desk, and started sifting through them. She knew that she really should be getting home right now, especially after the heartfelt conversation she just had, but she was still confused about how she was going to say the words to him, and work was the only thing that could help her right now.

She would tell him, but for now she would work until she figured out how the hell she was supposed to tell him everything he wanted to know.

* * *

Clark landed in the middle of the driveway, feeling confused, heartbroken and hurt from everything he had managed to understand today, but mainly it was the things he didn't know that were causing these mix of emotions to flow so deeply within him.

Confusion.

He was feeling extremely confused because he didn't understand a single thing he had learned about his old friend, a man named Murphy, what they wanted with the people he loved with all of his heart, and what they had already done to them in the time he was gone, but even though he didn't really understand what was really going on he couldn't help feeling shattered by all of this.

Heartbroken.

His heart was literally breaking in his chest because everyone—everyone he knew—everyone he just met knew everything that had happened to his family, but for some reason he was the only one that didn't know anything, and all it did was make him feel a deep, deep pain.

Hurt.

A new level of hurt surged through his entire body because the woman he loved hadn't told him anything about Lex or Murphy before he left for his training, and that was something he hadn't experienced since their summer together all those years ago, but here he was in the same situation he was back then, except this time, it felt worse.

When he thought back to before he left, there was a small part of himself that knew something was going on with her, but he had been so clouded with his own problems that he didn't bother questioning her about it, and he was starting to regret that choice. There had been several times where he noticed that her mind had been elsewhere, especially in the last few weeks, but he didn't think too much about it since they had always been honest with each other after their separation in Colorado.

But…

For some reason, she felt like she needed to keep this from him, and as much as he attempted understanding that she had her reasons for it he couldn't get over the fact that she had been keeping something from him—something that turned into an even worse situation.

"Daddy!" He glanced towards the barn, where his son was running full-force towards him with Shelby not too far behind him, and it caused him to smile, even though he was feeling like absolute crap right now. His son would be the only one to put a smile on his face.

He quickly caught him in his arms, as he practically leaped into them, and flew him around the air for a few seconds before resting him on his hip. "Hey, buddy, have you and Shelby been playing all day?"

"Yes!" He nodded, excitedly, but his excitement died very shortly when he glanced around his surroundings, realizing that someone was missing, and looked back at him with a frown set in place. "Where's mommy?"

That question had been running nonstop in his head from the moment he left Watchtower. He couldn't exactly tell his son that she was figuring things out on her own, instead of being here with them, like he wanted her to be.

He wouldn't understand.

It was quite obvious that his son remembered most of what happened, and as much as wanted to know everything he would never, ever talk to his son about that, not because it was the wrong thing to do, but because it was clear to him that it would upset him more than anything else. The scene he had seen yesterday literally broke his heart into a million pieces, especially when he seemed completely terrified when Lois was attempting to leave, and that only rose more questions about what had happened and what his son had been through.

"She had some things to take care of, but I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"Good." He squirmed from his arms, and took off running towards his clubhouse.

Clark watched him disappear from his sights with a small smile lingering on his face before he made his way inside the house, and slowly collapsed onto the couch, his hands covering his face, as he thought about everything that wouldn't leave his mind, attempting to at least put some of the pieces together.

One part of himself was trying to not let his emotions get the better of him, especially since he knew that there was more to this than met the eye, but the other part of himself couldn't help wondering what had exactly happened. It was bad, he understood that much, but how bad?

Martha and Jonathon walked into the living room with steaming cups of coffees in their hands, where they found their son sitting on the couch, and it was quite obvious to both of them that something was seriously upsetting him.

She sat down across from him with concern lingering in her eyes. "Clark? Honey? What's wrong?"

He removed his hands from his face, and sighed, heavily. "Nothing. Everything."

Jonathon frowned at him, as he sat down next to his wife. "Well, that sums it down." He glanced around the living room, noticing that a certain someone was missing, and figured that had a lot to do with his son' sudden mood change from his happy one this morning. "Where's Lois?"

A loud, groan escaped past his lips before he muttered, "Figuring things out."

They both glanced at each other with weird expressions before speaking simultaneously, "What?"

"I don't know where she is. She told me that she needed to figure things out on her own, and then left."

Martha frowned at him. "What happened at Watchtower?"

"Oh, you know, lots and lots of things, but mainly my entire world crashing down around me."

Jonathon frowned even more so. "What are you talking about."

"I'm talking about the fact that I found out things—things that I don't even understand." They glanced at each other, knowingly, having a pretty good idea what all of this was about, which didn't go unnoticed by Clark, and he sighed, heavily. "Yeah. I thought you two might know what I'm talking about since I'm literally the only person that doesn't know a damn thing."

"She hasn't told you yet?"

"No, she left before telling me anything."

"What brought this on? I mean, we know that she was planning on telling you everything, but I thought you were just going to Watchtower to meet everyone?"

"That was the plan, and I did meet the rest of the team, but then Kara dropped a bombshell…"

"What bombshell?"

He glanced between his parents, knowing without a doubt that they would understand exactly what he was talking about. "Lex was released from prison two weeks ago."

All the color drained from her face, as memories of everything that had happened—as memories of fearing for her daughters life—as memories of watching her grandson spiral out of control came rushing back to her, and she slowly leaned back in her seat. "Oh no…"

Jonathon couldn't believe the words he was hearing since they all had believed that this was over, but obviously they were wrong about that. "What do you mean he was released?"

"I don't know. I don't know anything. All I know is that whatever happened while I was gone isn't good, hell, this all started before I even left, and I just don't understand why she didn't tell me about it." He noticed the glances his parents shared, and in that moment knew that they had known about this before he even left, which of course only stirred up his confusion and anxiety. "But, you already knew that, didn't you?" At their nods, he continued, "When did she tell you?"

His father sighed, heavily. "The night before you left…"

"Why didn't she tell me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Martha grabbed his hand, attempting to get him to calm down a little bit. "Clark, the night you revealed that you were leaving was the night she was going to tell you everything that was going on with Lex and Murphy, but as soon as she realized that you were leaving she figured that it would be better if you didn't know anything."

"Well, she thought wrong. I could have been here this entire time, I could have helped her and my son, but she thought it was better that I didn't know anything."

Jonathon gave him a stern look. "It wasn't like that."

"Then tell me what it was like?"

Martha sighed, softly. "We can't, Clark, but you need to understand that she had her reasons for staying silent, mainly because she didn't want to be the reason you didn't do your training. We all know that you would have stayed if you had known about any of this."

"Damn right I would have. I could have protected them."

"No, you couldn't have." They all turned towards the familiar voice, where they saw Chloe, Lana and Pete standing in the foyer, staring at them with sympathetic and serious expressions plastered across their faces.

Before any of them could utter another word, Jacob and Jessica rushed into the room with giddy smiles on their faces, and spoke simultaneously, just like they always did, "Where's Kal?"

Martha grinned at the duo before standing up, and making her way towards them. "I'm pretty sure he's around here somewhere, come on, let's go find your trouble maker of a cousin."

Jonathon quickly stood up, and made up a random excuse before leaving the room, knowing that they needed to be alone for this conversation.

As soon as they were gone, Chloe walked towards her confused and frustrated best friend. "I can see that you took my advice to heart."

He rolled her eyes at her. "What did you expect me to do? I cant just sit here wondering. I need to know what happened."

"And, you will when Lois tells you."

"When is that supposed to be? Before or after Lex does something?"

Lana walked closer to him, completely understanding how he was feeling right now. "When she's ready, Clark, you wouldn't be pushing this if you understood."

"I don't understand anything!" He yelled before taking a deep breath, and glancing between the two of them. "What did you mean I wouldn't have been able to protect them?"

Chloe sighed, heavily. "None of us could protect her, not even Kara, but that wasn't what I meant."

"What did you mean then?"

Pete, who's heart was breaking for his friend, stepped in between all of them. "She means that you are as much a part of this as we all are, but we can't explain this to you. It has to be Lois that tells you."

"Well, how is she supposed to do that when she isn't even here?"

Lana frowned at him. "She isn't back yet?"

He shook his head from side to side.

Chloe and Lana glanced at each other, knowingly, both a them having a pretty good feeling about where she was right now since it was the only place she went when she couldn't think straight. "I think I know where she is."

Clark quickly stood up. "I'm coming with you. I need to talk to her."

"That's not a good idea, Clark, it's only going to make things worse."

He glared at her. "When did you become her advocate? I mean, I understand that you know about all of this, including my origins because you're married to Pete, but when did you two become the best of friends?"

She took a deep breath, not wanting to drop another bombshell on him, but they honestly, shouldn't have lied to him about her involvement when they had explained how she fell in love with her husband. "They weren't the ones that told me about you, Lex or Murphy."

"What?"

"Look, Clark, I know that you're very confused right now, but it'll all make sense soon enough. I promise."

"Yeah. I keep hearing that."

Chloe stared directly into his eyes. "Clark, we know what we're talking about, but for now we need you to just relax, at least until Lois comes back."

Pete immediately noticed that he wanted to keep arguing with them about this whole situation, and quickly placed his hand on his shoulder. "They're right, Clark, let them talk to her alone, in the meantime we can catch up some more. She'll come home. We all know that she can't stray too far away from you for too long."

He smiled, softly at him before following him out to the barn, hoping and praying that Chloe and Lana managed to convince the woman he loved to come back to him.

* * *

One hour later, Chloe and Lana walked into The Daily Planet, where they found Lois sitting in her office, her eyes staring down at the many scattered papers on her desk, and it was quite obvious that she wasn't getting any work done.

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned against the doorframe. "How did we know that we'd find you here?"

She jumped, slightly, not expecting to hear her cousin' voice, and glanced over at the two smirking women. "Well, I thought I could get some work done."

Lana walked towards her, and sat down in one of the chairs. "And, how well is that going?"

"Not very well."

"I could tell." Chloe walked towards her with a knowing expression plastered across her face. "You know, it's probably because you're subconscious knows that you should be somewhere else…"

"I know where I should be." She sighed, heavily before leaning back in her chair. "I know that I need to tell him everything, but I just can't figure out how I'm going to say the words to him."

She smirked at her. "You could always start at the beginning."

She glared at her. "Thank you, captain obvious, but I know that already. Perry beat you to the punch on that one."

"Of course, he did." She slowly sat down across from her cousin. "You really should be getting home, Lo, Clark is getting more and more anxious by the second. He was grilling his parents by the time we got there."

"I know that I need to but—"

"But, you can't find the words to say. You've mentioned that already, luckily my lovely husband saved the day and is distracting him for the time being, but it won't last very long."

She glanced between the two of them. "How is he feeling?"

"Oh, I don't know, many things, but confusion, concern, fear, anger, and pain would be just the top layer of what he's feeling right now."

"Great." She groaned, loudly. "I really wished none of this was happening. I should have told him before he even left for his training."

Lana nodded. "We've all already told you that, but there is nothing you can do about that right now. You just need to suck it up and tell him the truth."

"I know, and I will, but I just need some time to think about all of this."

Chloe rolled her eyes at her. "You've already been thinking about this for hours now, Lois, he isn't going to like that you sat here all day instead of just being honest with him. He's confused. He just wants some answers, and rightfully so. When Lex first threatened you we should have told him."

"I know." She took a deep, deep breath. "This is all just getting out of hand, hell, it's been crazy since the first moment I met that pompous son of a bitch, and he deserves to know everything, but I couldn't then and—"

"And, now you're worried that he'll be pissed that you didn't tell him when it first happened." Lana interrupted her.

"I already know that he's going to be pissed about that, and it is quite worrisome, but I'm more concerned about his reaction to everything else."

"You mean, you're worried he'll do something stupid like confront Lex."

"Exactly!" She dropped her head onto the desk. "I wish I knew the best way to tell him this without him getting upset." She glanced at them. "That isn't very likely, is it?"

They simultaneously spoke, "Not very likely."

"Great. Just great."

Lana smiled, softly at her. "While you're attempting to figure that out, you should probably know what we're planning to do about this whole Lex situation."

"What would that be?"

"The Justice League is going to watch everything Lex does, while your father keeps an eye on Murphy—"

"You called my father?" Lois interrupted her cousin, as she lifted her head off the desk.

"He's the only one that can let us know if Lex manages to rescue him again just like he did last time."

"And, what is our brilliant plan for when Murphy is back on America soil?"

"Honestly, we don't know yet, but we'll figure out a way to take care of this for good this time."

"So, basically, we're going to do nothing until they show their faces?"

"Yeah."

She groaned, loudly. "That is a brilliant plan. It'll work just like it did last time."

Chloe rolled her eyes at her sarcastic remark. "We'll figure this out, Lo."

Honestly, she was tired of hearing everyone tell her that, of course she knew that they were just trying to protect her, but this whole damn situation was getting very tiresome, and maybe just maybe her boyfriend would have some better ideas, which meant she needed to build the courage to tell him everything. "Alright. Enough is enough. I've been sitting here all day, attempting to figure out what I need to say to him, but all I'm doing is avoiding the inevitable."

Lana grinned, widely at her. "That's the spirit. It'll be alright. Clark will understand."

Chloe wasn't too sure about that. "Let's just hope that he doesn't do anything stupid."

After saying goodnight to both of them, who gave her their best since they knew just as well as she did that this could all very wrong, she started walking towards her car, wanting to get home as soon as possible, mainly because she had been gone all day long, and she knew that Clark was going to be more than a little upset with her.

Of course, she wasn't planning on being gone this long, but one thing led to another, and after spending the entire day thinking about this, she realized that it wasn't helping her or the man she loved either.

It was time to be honest with him.

She was a few feet away from her car, but stopped walking when she noticed a tall, muscular man step directly in front of her, and glanced up to see none other than Steve Wilkinson, which caused her to take a few steps away from him. "How did I know that I'd run into you eventually? I mean, you've been out of prison for over a year, but now that you're boss is free you figured that you'd finally make yourself known."

"I was just waiting for the perfect moment. That moment is now. We have some unfinished business."

It didn't take a genius to catch the 'we' part of his message. "And, it begins." She slowly turned around to come face to face with Lex Luthor, who was standing directly behind her with a smirk plastered across his face. "Should have known that you'd show your face. Took you long enough, you know, it's been two weeks since you were magically released."

"True, but you didn't know about that until today, isn't that right?"

"Figures you'd be watching me. So, you decided to wait until I knew before confronting me?"

"Something like that, but I have to say the timing is literally perfect. Wouldn't you say, Steve?"

"Yes, sir."

She rolled her eyes at both of them. "Well, sorry to keep you waiting for so long, but I've been a bit busy. My world doesn't revolve around you or your sinister plans."

"That will change." He stalked closer to her, enjoying the way she stepped further away from him, and could even see slight fear lingering in those hazel eyes of her, even though she attempted hiding it he could still see it. "Don't worry, Lois, I don't plan on killing you…yet."

"Of course not. That wouldn't be your way of things, would it? You enjoy making your victims wait months at a time before you attack. It was six months last time. So, tell me, how long do I have to wait this time?"

He snarled, dangerously at the sarcastic tone in her voice. "Don't get smart with me."

"Whatever. I don't have time for this."

She turned her back on him, and started walking towards her car even if that meant knocking Steve on his ass to get inside, but was stopped by Lex grabbing her arm, tightly before spinning her back around towards him, his face mere inches away from hers. "Well, you better make time." He squeezed her arm to the point it was painful. "Three years ago, you and your friends ruined my life for the second time, and you'll pay for that soon enough, but for now I'm only here to give you a message."

She glared at him. "Screw you and your messages!"

He squeezed her arm even tighter, making her cringle, slightly, which only egged him on even more so, and she knew that it was definitely going to leave a mark. "This isn't a message for you, Lois, it's a message for your boyfriend." He brought his face closer to hers before lowering his lips to her ear, and whispered, "Tell Clark that he might have been able to escape from my clutches before, but this time is going to be different. Tell him that I'm coming for him." He pulled away from her with a smirk plastered across his face. "I'd watch your back if I were you, Lois, you never know when I'll come for what is mine."

As soon as they disappeared into the darkness, she quickly jumped into her car, feeling more and more nervous, as his words rung loudly in her mind, and quickly drove away, intending to get home as soon as possible.

Nothing mattered anymore.

It didn't matter what she explained to him.

It didn't matter how she planned on saying the words.

None of it mattered.

He needed to know, and he needed to know right this second.

* * *

One hour later, Lois pulled up to the farmhouse, and rushed inside of the house, where she found Martha and Jonathon sitting in the living room, feeling more than a little flustered from her confrontation with Lex, but managed to keep her emotions in check, which was becoming harder and harder.

As soon as they noticed her, they rushed towards her, catching her off guard for a few seconds, but figured that they had been worried about her since someone had probably told them about Lex' impromptu return to the real world.

Martha scanned her eyes over every inch of her body, like she was expecting her to be injured. "Oh my god! Lois, where have you been? We've been worried sick about you."

Before she could utter a single syllable, Jonathon jumped in, "What have you been doing all day? We've been expecting you for hours now."

She smiled, softly at them. "I'm sorry. I should have called, but um, my mind has been a little jumbled since this morning. I just couldn't think straight after I found out that Lex was back."

Martha grabbed her hands, and squeezed them, slightly. "I'm so sorry, honey, we all thought this was over."

Jonathon rested his hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure this out. I promise. Where have you been?"

"Well, after driving around for a few hours I went to The Daily Planet to keep my mind off things, you both know how work is the only way I can do that, but honestly, it wasn't really helping. Chloe and Lana eventually found me, and I talked to them for a little bit, hoping that would help clear my head before I came back. It didn't really work that well though."

"I'm not surprised by that. You weren't expecting this to happen. None of us were."

"No, I wasn't, but um, something did happen…I bumped into Lex and Steve…"

Jonathon quickly went into father mode, at her words, and a stern, but worried expression spread out across his face. "That son of a bitch! Did he hurt you?"

She quickly crossed her arms, attempting to not seem flustered by his question, but managed to cover the pretty decent sized bruise on her arm, which was already starting to turn purple, and it was hurting more than it was when she was in his grasp. It wasn't that she didn't want them knowing about what really happened, but she knew that if they had seen it they would be even more worried than they already were, and that isn't what they needed to be focusing on right now.

"No. Neither of them did anything other than throw around threats, just like they always do." When she noticed that they didn't seem to be convinced by her words, she smiled, reassuringly at them. "I'm fine. I promise."

"When will this really be over? We've taken care of them twice now, but he managed to escape again. What about Murphy? Is he going to bring him back again?"

"I don't know, but I kind of have bigger problems that what Lex freaking Luthor is planning right now."

Martha instantly knew what she was referring to, and squeezed her hand, hoping that would give her some courage. "Clark will understand once you explain everything to him."

That is exactly what she was hoping for, but honestly, she wasn't too sure how this was all going to go, and she really hoped that he wouldn't be too upset about it all. "How is he doing?"

"Well, when he isn't spending time with Kaleb he's cooped up in that old loft of his."

That definitely wasn't a good sign, she thought to herself.

"What are you going to tell him?"

"Everything."

"Everything? Even your past with Murphy?"

"That is where this all started. I can't exactly explain everything unless I delve into that as well. He deserves to know everything. I'm tired of keeping secrets from the man I love."

Jonathon smiled at her. "I'm sure it all work out."

She smiled at him before glancing between the two of them. "Um, I was wondering if Kaleb could stay here tonight?"

"Of course, sweetheart, you know that we love having him here."

"I know that. I just think it's better if he stays here. I'm really hoping that things go the way I want them to, but just in case it doesn't I don't want him around us. He doesn't need to see that; besides he just got the family he's always wanted, and I don't want to upset him in any way."

"He'll understand, Lois."

She smiled at them before starting to head towards the barn, where the love of her life was waiting for her, but before she made it to the front door was stopped by the sound of her son' voice. "Mommy? What's going on?"

"Hey, baby." She quickly walked over to him, and swooped him up into her arms, which immediately put him at ease, just like it always did when she held him like this. "We didn't mean to wake you up."

"I wasn't sleeping." He frowned at her. "Where have you been? I've been waiting all day for you just like daddy has been."

"I'm sorry that I haven't been here with either of you, but I had some things I needed to take care of. There is something I need to discuss with you."

"What?"

Jonathon and Martha glanced at each other, knowing that they needed to be alone, especially since she would be the only person that could explain this to him without it being confusing. "We're going to give you some time alone."

She nodded at them before carrying her son into the living room, and sat down on the couch with him resting on her lap. "Kal, baby, do you remember when one of the bad men came to your school yesterday, and what I told you?"

"You told me that I didn't need to worry—that the bad men wouldn't come back."

In many ways, she wished that she had never told him that, especially since she was about to tell him something that contradicted that completely, but she was also just trying to protect him and calm him down, mainly because they all believed that this was over. "Well, honey, Lex is back. He's been back for a few weeks now, but I didn't find out until earlier this morning."

His widened with complete and absolute fear. "The bald man is back?"

She nodded.

Tears filled his deep aquamarine eyes. "A-a-are they going to hurt you again?"

"Shhh." She quickly held him close to her chest, rocking him back and forth. "It's going to be alright. Do you remember what I promised you?"

He glanced up at her with a few tears rolling down his cheeks. "Y-y-you promised that you'd never leave me."

"That's right. I meant what I said then, and I mean it right now. I'm not going to let anything happen to us. I promise. We'll be alright."

As he listened to her, he clung onto her for dear life, his mind remembering everything that happened, and even though he felt absolutely terrified at what could happen he knew deep inside that it would all be alright. His daddy would protect him and his mommy from the bad men.

After a few minutes of silence between them, she shifted him, slightly, and stared deeply into his eyes. "Kal, I'm going to need you to stay here with your Grandma and Grandpa tonight."

And just like that his calm demeanor was completely gone.

He shot up to his knees, and squeezed her shoulders in his hands, as his eyes were filled with complete and utter terror. "No! Mommy! I want to go home with you and daddy!"

"You can't. Not tonight."

"Why? I want to be with you."

She smiled, softly at him, and moved some stray hairs away from his face. "I know that you have noticed that your daddy is a little upset. That's because he doesn't know about anything the bad men did to us. I have to explain everything to him. That's why I need you to stay here."

"Is daddy going to be mad?"

"No, honey, he's just a little confused like you were when you were really little. Do you remember that?" He nodded. "That is exactly how he feels right now. He doesn't understand just like you didn't, and I need to fix that."

At first, he didn't want them to leave without him, but he was slowly starting to understand that his daddy was confused like he was, and his mommy was going to help him understand, just like she helped him. "Okay. Will you be here in the morning?"

She poked his little nose, causing him to make a face at her. "We'll be here before you even open those beautiful little eyes of yours."

"Mo-mmy!" She chuckled at the way he uttered her name, knowing that he hated it when she said things like that, but she couldn't help herself he was just too adorable. He quickly jumped off her lap, and started walking towards the stairs, but stopped before he made it to the first step. "Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"I know I'm not a baby anymore, but can you and daddy tuck me in before you leave?"

"Of course." She watched him disappear up the stairs before she headed towards the loft, where she found Clark standing by the open window, staring up at the stars, and from his stance he wasn't that happy, but before she could utter one single word to announce her presence, he said, "So, driving around town, working on an article, and spending time with Chloe and Lana was more important to you than telling me the truth?"

Her shoulders dropped at his words, and she took a few steps towards him. "I should have known that you were listening."

He slowly turned around towards her, his face filled with confusion, pain and slight anger. "How was any of that more important than just talking to me?"

"I'm sorry, Clark."

"I've been waiting here all day for you…"

"I'm sorry, Clark, I really am, but I needed some time to think, and the only place I can do that is at work, especially when it comes to Lex and Murphy. The only reason I spent more time with Chloe and Lana was because I needed to, no, I wanted a little more time to think about everything before I came back here, but obviously that was a big mistake since Lex made it his mission to confront me."

Of course, he already knew that since he had been eavesdropping on her conversation with his parents, and as much as he wanted to know everything that had happened in his absence he was also worried about their confrontation. "What did he want?"

Honestly, she really didn't want to get into that, mainly because he wouldn't understand since he didn't know anything yet, and instead of telling him she decided to brush it off like it was no big deal. "It was nothing. He was just throwing around threats like he always does."

"Yeah. I heard you tell my parents that. I want to know what he said to you."

"It was nothing, Clark, I promise."

He narrowed his eyes at her, and took a few more steps towards her. "Lois, just tell me what he said."

"It doesn't matter."

"Dammit Lois! Just tell me!"

"Fine!" She yelled back at him before taking a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves, and locked eyes with him. "He told me that he's coming for you."

Those particular words coming out of her mouth pissed him off to no end. Eight years ago, he had barely been friends with the man since he couldn't trust him, but honestly, he didn't understand why Lex had it out for him and his family so badly. One part of himself wanted to know everything that had happened right here and right now, mainly because he was still very confused about it all, but the other part of himself wanted to storm into that mansion and threaten him to stay the hell away from his family.

It didn't take very long for him to make his decision, but before he could even say a single word to her he noticed something on her upper arm when the moonlight shined brightly on her skin. It was several bright red marks. They were already starting to turn purple and blue, and in that moment, he knew she had lied to his parents when she told them that they hadn't done anything to her.

"What the hell is that?"

She quickly glanced down at her arm, realizing that he had noticed the bruise Lex had left behind, and mentally berated herself for not attempting to hide it in some way. It wasn't that she didn't think he deserved knowing about what happened between them, but she knew that he would only be more upset than he already was, and deeply feared that he would do something reckless.

"It's nothing."

In the matter of a second, he was by her side, his hands gripping her arm, lightly, as his eyes glanced over the entire bruise before they met hers, and she could see pure and utter anger radiating through them. "That's not nothing, Lois, did he do this to you?"

"It doesn't matter."

He dropped her arm, and took a few steps back away from her. "It doesn't matter? Are you serious?"

She sighed, softly at him. "It's fine, Clark, it's just a bruise. I've dealt with worse."

A part of himself tried staying calm, but he couldn't, not now. "Dammit Lois! That isn't nothing! It does matter! He touched you! He hurt you! He left a bruise!" A new determination rushed throughout every single vein inside his body from the pure anger he was feeling at this moment in time. "That's it! I don't care if I don't know what happened! He isn't going to get away with hurting you!"

As soon as he started walking towards the stairs—started walking away from her, she completely lost her cool composure, as thoughts of what could happen to him—as thoughts of losing him came rushing to her mind, and she screamed out, "No! For three years, she had managed to keep her composure—to keep every little thing she has felt buried deeply inside of herself, but the second those words came out of his mouth all of that was gone, and she was unable to stop herself from breaking down completely. "Clark! Please! Don't leave! Please don't leave me!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, at the terrified tone of voice she had used, every single nerve in his body turning ice cold since he had never heard that type of desperation come from her lips before, and very slowly turned back around towards her only to witness something he had never, ever seen before in all the years he has known her.

Her eyes were wide with terror.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Her entire body was trembling.

In that moment, he knew that this whole situation was a hell of a lot worse than he ever imagined it to be, and he knew without a doubt that she needed him more than Lex deserved his anger.

He quickly rushed over to her, and rested his hands on her shoulders, feeling her entire body tremble underneath his touch. "Lois, your shaking…"

Her eyes never left his. "Clark, please! I'm begging you…don't leave me. I just got you back. I cant lose you again."

He didn't understand what that meant, but it didn't matter right now, what mattered was the fact that the strong, independent woman he loved with all of his heart was terrified—was completely breaking down—was literally trembling, and he could tell that she needed him more than anything else. "You won't lose me."

Tears cascaded down her cheeks. "I will if you leave. Please, baby, don't leave me…"

He quickly wrapped her in his embrace, holding her trembling body against his chest as tightly as he possibly could, and softly kissed the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere, Lo."

For several minutes, he just held her like that, attempting to comfort her as best as he could manage before she pulled away from him, slightly, and stared deeply into his eyes. "Clark, I need you to promise me that you won't confront him."

Without even having to contemplate his decision, he placed both of his hands on the sides of her face, his fingers curling into her beautiful, long brunette locks, and connected his concerned aquamarine eyes with her terrified hazel ones. "I promise you, Lois, I won't confront Lex, but I need you to be honest with me—I need you to tell me everything. I don't care what it is anymore. Just tell me, so I can be here for you—so I can protect our family."

"I'll tell you everything you want to know, but can we please just go home first?"

After tucking their son in, kissing him goodnight, and telling his parents that they would be back in the morning they went home, where Lois was currently pacing back and forth in their bedroom, attempting to find the confidence within herself to say the words out loud—words she hasn't spoken into existence for three years now.

Clark was sitting on the bed, as he watched her pace back and forth in front of him for several minutes before his thoughts started becoming more and more confused, while his heart was breaking for the love of his life, who seemed absolutely terrified to say anything. "Lois…"

She stopped pacing before glancing over at him, and smiled, softly when he held out his hand to her, which she took in a heartbeat, hoping that his reassurance would help get her through this. "Lois, we've known each other for a long time. I'm pretty sure I've loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you. We've always told each other everything—we've always been honest with each other. It doesn't matter what you say to me right now. Nothing is ever going to change. I'm still going to love you."

"I never questioned that, Clark, I just don't know where to start."

"How about you start from the beginning?"

She took a deep breath. "The first thing you should know is that this all started with a man named Murphy back when Chloe and I were just young teenagers…"

A little over twelve years ago, Chloe and Lois were just trouble making, naive teenagers when they had met this man named, Murphy, who transferred to General Sam Lane' military base in North Carolina, and they were both completely and absolutely enchanted by his mannerisms, good looks, and composure.

Before he had arrived, Lois had been attempting to convince her cousin to stay with her on base for a whole year since they never saw each other anymore, and as soon as she had seen this man she had decided that staying with her cousin and spending time with this man was a good idea.

For two months, they both would meet with him secretly, not wanting the other to know about their relationship with him, mainly because they didn't want to hurt each other' feelings, but what they didn't know was that Murphy was pinning them against each other to get what he wanted or rather what his father wanted…General Sam Lane' files on several operations The United States of America was constructing at the time.

For the past two years, he had been visiting several military bases, getting the information his father wanted from the Generals, and this was his last stop before returning home.

Both of them believed that they were falling in love, but in reality, they were just pawns in his mission.

One night, he planned a special night for both of them, but of course he didn't know that this was the night that they had decided to be honest with each other about their relationship with him because they hated keeping secrets from each other. At first, they both were angry at each other, but when they thought about it they realized that there was more to this man than met the eye.

For the next month, they worked together, attempting to figure out what was really going on, and one night they found the motherload they had been searching for. Neither of them had expected this man they thought they loved would be using them to get the information he wanted from Sam Lane, and even though they both had conflicting feelings towards him, for their own reasons, they understood that they couldn't allow this to happen.

The next morning, they both went to Sam, and explained everything they had found out about him, but he refused to believe them since he figured that a man of his stature and the fact that he was a well-known military officer would never do something like this.

That night, Murphy confronted both of them, while they were attempting to figure out a way to get Sam to believe them, and literally beat them into submission. They didn't know it, but Sam had told Murphy about their crazy accusations, which made him act on impulse, but it wasn't the first time he's beaten women.

Two months later, they had both been sure that there was nothing they could do to stop this man or to get out of this twisted and horrible situation, but then Bruce Wayne, someone they believed that could be their savior, stopped by for a visit just like he always did a few times a year, and when they confronted him, telling him everything he chose to believe Sam over them since they were just children and didn't know what they were talking about.

It was over for them and they knew it.

The following eight months were absolutely horrible for them. They were threatened, beaten and tortured, all because he enjoyed it—all because it was a part of his little game—all because it's the one thing that were keeping them silent. Lois was the one that received most of his attention since he enjoyed and appreciated her more than her cousin, not only because she was the daughter of the General he was after, but because she was a beautiful, independent and open-mind woman.

Neither of them knew how they were going to get out of this situation.

One cold, windy, Autumn night, they had decided that enough was enough, and that the only way to end this was by killing him, no matter what the consequences of their actions would be.

Their plan consisted of Chloe grabbing a weapon from the armory, while Lois spent her time with Murphy, distracting him, so Chloe could get the drop on him, but it didn't work. He was smarter than they both realized. When Chloe was about to stab him in the back, he turned around, catching her off guard, and knocked her out before confronting Lois, his favorite little play thing, but instead of his usual punishment he started beating her to a bloody pulp, determined and hell bent to kill her.

Bruce was headed towards their room, wanting to say goodbye to his adoptive sister and cousin, when he heard the screams, and burst into her room, witnessing the last thing he ever expected before he managed to restrain the man he had believed to be honest, but in the end, Chloe and Lois were the honest ones.

While she was in the hospital, Sam disposed of Murphy on a desolate island, knowing that not a single person would be able to keep this man away from Lois or Chloe if he managed to be released from prison, and Gabe Sullivan had immediately picked up his daughter, unable to believe all of this had happened.

When she was released from the hospital, she didn't even bother talking to her father or Bruce since they had been her only hope, and they had let her down just like everyone else in her life had. Chloe, on the other hand, was a completely different story. She refused to talk to her, mainly because it had been her idea to have her stay with them, and she felt guilty for dragging her into such a dangerous situation, even though neither of them knew it was going to happen.

Clark stared at her with wide eyes when she finished telling her story, which wasn't what he was expecting, of course, he knew that her past with Murphy was going to be bad, but never in a million years would he have thought something so horrible would happen to the woman he loved.

She was tricked.

She was made a fool.

She was threatened.

She was beaten.

She was tortured.

She was heartbroken.

It was completely and utterly unbelievable, but it had happened to her, the one person he never imagined something like that happening to, and he couldn't help feeling even more anger towards this Murphy character.

He squeezed one of her hands, while his other one rested on her cheek, and smiled, slightly when she leaned into his touch. "Oh god, Lois, I'm so sorry that you went through all of that. I can't believe that Chloe did as well, but mostly I can't believe that neither your father or Bruce believed either of you. How can you stand to be around either of them after all of that?"

She rested her hand directly on top of his. "It was a long time ago, Clark, but you're right I couldn't stand being around either of them. After I was released from the hospital, Bruce tried talking to me—tried apologizing to me, but I refused to hear it, and told him to leave—told him that I never wanted to see him again. My father was a completely different story. I was forced to see him, and to talk to him every single day, but I hated him. For months I refused to do anything other than coop myself in my quarters wishing, hoping and praying that I could just erase the memories—erase the pain—erase the heartbreak I felt."

His heart was literally breaking into a million little pieces for her.

She had went through so much at such a young age.

No person, no matter who they were should ever have to go through something so horrible.

"I'm so sorry, Lo, I wish you never experienced that—I wish Murphy never even touched you." He smiled, softly at her. "I never would have imagined you going through something like that. You're so strong, independent, fierce, and have so much will power."

"I'll be honest, it broke me into a shell of a person, but I managed to come through on the other side." She took a deep breath before staring deeply into his eyes, preparing to tell him something she never told him before. "Clark, one year after that I started rebelling, more so than usual, against everyone that meant something to me. I had learned that love wasn't something to be obtained, instead it was only something people used to their own benefit." She smiled, softly at him. "You're the one that changed all of that for me."

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"You were the first man I met that didn't have ulterior motives—the first man that really, truly and honestly wanted to get to know me for who I am—the first man that has ever loved me, and the first man I've ever loved. You changed my perspective on everything about love, life and being happy. You are the reason I'm the person I am."

Tears built in his eyes, from her heartfelt words, honestly no one had ever said anything so loving—so meaningful to him before, and he only loved her more for it. "I love you so damn much, Lois, I think I've loved you from the first moment we met, but by then you were already a loving, caring and good-hearted person. I'm so thankful that you came into my life when you did. We both know that I was a wreck back then, and you're the only reason I persevered through all of that—you're the only reason I'm a better person—a better man."

"I love you too, Clark." She leaned forward, capturing his lips in a sweet, loving and passionate kiss, which he quickly responded to before wrapping his arms around her body, pulling her closer to him, showing her just how much she really meant to him.

When he pulled away from her, he rested his forehead against hers, as he stared into her eyes. "Lois, you have no idea how much this all means to me—how glad I am that you're opening up to me, and I understand why you never told me about Murphy, but how does Lex fit into this? What does he have to do with your past with Murphy?"

"Do you remember the day after I moved here?"

For several seconds, he attempted remembering everything that had happened after their romantic reunion, and was coming up blank since all he remembered was spending the entire day together, but then it dawned on him. While he was arguing with Lana at The Talon, she had been talking to Lex, which at the time didn't really concern him that much, even though she had blown up on everyone, but now he was starting to wonder if he should have paid more attention back then. "Was that the first time he confronted you?"

"He didn't just confront me. He threatened me, not in so many words, but it reminded me of Murphy, and that worried both Chloe and I."

"What did he want?"

"At first, we had no idea what he wanted from me or why he felt the need to threaten me, and we were determined to figure it out, but never got anywhere until my father showed up at the farmhouse. That's when we found out that a file about Murphy had been stolen from my father. It didn't take us long to figure out that Lex was the one behind it—"

"Why would he do that?" He interrupted her.

"We didn't know, and instead of waiting for another confrontation Chloe and I decided to find out for ourselves."

"What did you do?"

"I broke into his office at LuthorCorp, while Chloe went to his mansion to distract him, and that's when Chloe saw Murphy for the first time in over five years. They were working together, and that's when we knew that this was all about you."

He frowned at her. "What do I have to do with any of this?"

"Lex wanted to find a way to manipulate me to find out the truth about you, and he figured that Murphy was his best bet, but he was wrong."

This was completely and utterly unbelievable. From the moment he saved Lex on that bridge, his parents had been adamant about him wanting to know the truth about him, but he refused to believe it until he found the secret room he had on him, and now he knows that it had become an obsession to him. "Why didn't I see any of this before?"

"Because he didn't want you to." She sighed, heavily. "His plan was to use me to get answers about you, and I think you can determine what he was going to do once he got what he wanted."

"He wanted to run tests on me like a lab rat."

She nodded. "It's so much more than that, Clark, he wanted to obtain your abilities, so he could destroy you."

His eyes nearly popped out of his, at those words. "What? Why the hell would he want to do that?"

"For power. It's always been about power for him, but he never got the chance because you vanished, and that was the night his plans changed."

He frowned at her. "What do you mean his plans changed?"

This is where things were going to get complicated, and she hoped that he didn't do something stupid, especially since he had reacted so badly to Lex just giving her a bruise. It only got worse from here, and she really hoped that he would be able to stay calm. "As soon as I left the caves, Lex and Murphy confronted me about you. They wanted to know the truth about you, and when I refused to tell them anything Murphy tried killing me, hell, he almost did, but I managed to escape."

"How?"

"I kind of super sped away…"

His eyes widened, as realization hit him. "That's when you found out you were pregnant…"

She nodded. "That's also the night they found out about you. Once I vanished right before their eyes, they knew that you weren't human, and that was the moment their entire agenda changed. They didn't need me to get the information they needed anymore. Lex knew that he could run his tests on our son to become this powerful being, and when he got what he wanted he planned on destroying you. Murphy just wanted me dead for what my father did to him."

It just wasn't possible.

Lex knew about him.

Murphy knew about him.

They were both after him and his family, for their own reasons.

As much as he wanted to know more about what happened after he left, he couldn't get over the fact that none of this would have happened if she had just been honest with him in the first place. "Lois, why didn't you tell me? You know better than anyone that I could have protected you."

She stared straight into his eyes. "I thought that I could handle this on my own just like I did before, but…" She trailed off, as memories of all the things she had felt during that time came rushing back to her, and a single tear fell down her cheek. "But, when we realized that Murphy was a part of this I knew that I had to tell you everything, but you weren't there, and when you did come home you told me you were leaving. I couldn't tell you after that. I didn't want to be the reason you didn't do your training."

In some ways, it made complete sense, especially since he knew that he would have stayed with her instead of leaving, and that could have potentially made things worse, but he still felt like she should have been honest with him before things got out of hand. "Lois, I understand your reasons, I really do, but you should have told me—you should have trusted me. I could have protected you and our son."

A few more tears fell down her cheeks. "You would have been in danger too."

"But, we could have been together, Lois, we could have gotten through this together."

Her head dropped, as guilt hit her like a freight train, and even though she knew her reasons were rational, so were his. "I'm sorry, Clark."

His heart clenched, at the sorrow she was feeling right now, and he wanted to console her, but there was a part of himself that was still upset over the fact that she hadn't told him. "Lois…" She slowly looked up at him with tears running down her cheeks, and it pained him to see her like that, but he needed answers. "I know you had your reasons, and I respect them, but I need to know everything that happened after I left."

She sighed, softly. "I'll tell you everything, but I need you to promise me something first—I need you to promise me that you're not going to do anything reckless."

He frowned at her words. "Why would I—"

"Just promise me, Clark."

"Okay. I promise I wont do anything reckless."

She took a deep breath before telling him everything. She explained everything from the moment Murphy attempted kidnapping her and their son one day after he was born to the moment she woke up from her three week long coma.

He had stayed silent the entire time she told the long, winding and unbelievable story of what happened the entire time he was gone, and as soon as she finished speaking he quickly stood up, beginning to pace back and forth in front of her.

Emotion after emotion encompassed him.

Pain. Fear. Surprise. Shock. Guilt. Heartbreak. Rage.

But, the two most prominent emotions he was feeling right now was, anger and despair.

"From the moment you moved here you've been in danger…"

"I'm fine, Clark."

"None of this is fine!" He yelled, as his emotions started getting the better of him, and he honestly didn't know what he was supposed to do with the information he had just learned, but he knew one thing for sure…he was angry and in complete despair. "They kidnapped both of you! They locked my son up in a cage! They planned on killing him! They tortured you! They almost killed you!"

Lois quickly stood up with concern etched over his features, as he completely broke down in front of her from the anger and pain he was feeling right now, and she wanted to help him through this, but mainly she wanted to stop him from doing something reckless. "Clark, it's alright, I need you to calm down. Please!"

He stopped pacing, and turned towards her with a fire lingering in his eyes, which is something she had never seen before, and it worried her. "I can't stay calm! Nothing about this is alright! They want you dead! They want my son dead! They want me dead! Lex wants to become an all powerful being that could end this world!"

She hurried over to him. "Clark! Please! Calm down!"

As much as he wanted to think about this rationally, he couldn't—he couldn't get over the fact that Lex had made it his mission to ruin not only his life, but all of the lives of the people he loved so deeply, and on top of that Murphy wanted the same things, but for different reasons. The emotions he was feeling right now was something that he had never experienced before, and he wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he desperately wanted to make sure they never hurt his family ever again.

But…

He couldn't do anything about it, not only because he promised the woman he loved that he wouldn't do anything reckless, but because he wouldn't stoop down to their level—he wouldn't become them.

Her heart was literally pounding like a jackhammer inside her chest, at the state of mind he was in right now, and quickly rested her hands on his arms, hoping that would calm him down, at least just a little bit. "Clark!"

At the sound of her voice, he turned towards her, immediately noticing how terrified she looked right now, and forced himself to get a reign on his emotions before he did something reckless.

She placed her hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her, and stared deeply into his blazing eyes. "I need you to calm down—"

"I can't calm down!"

"Look at me!" Once he did she never took her eyes off him. "Don't let them do this to us! You need to calm down! You need to relax!" When he started shaking his head from side to side she grabbed his hand, and placed it on her chest, her hand squeezing his, hard. "You feel this? This is me, the woman that loves you with everything I have, standing right here in front of you! I'm still here. Kaleb is still here. We're both alright. Everything that happened is in the past. Lex might be back. Murphy might be coming back, but I wont let him destroy this family! Please, Clark, just calm down!"

Her words managed to calm down the intense anger he was feeling right now, but it was filled with something else entirely. Pain. Guilt. Heartbreak. He quickly pulled away from her before slamming his fist into the wall behind him, creating a massive whole with deep cracks spreading up to the ceiling, and screamed out, "HE ALMOST KILLED YOU!"

"CLARK!" She screamed with fear, worry, and despair lingering in her voice.

The anger and rage completely vanished from him, as he removed his hand from the wall, and instead of feeling anger his heart filled with an unimaginable pain—pain of what had happened to them—pain of what he had almost lost. "I almost lost you…" He slide down to the ground, the tears falling down his cheeks like a waterfall, as he whispered, "I almost lost you…"

She quickly dropped to the ground directly in front of him, her heart breaking into a million pieces from what was happening to the man she loved with all of her heart. "Clark, look at me, I'm right here. He didn't kill me. You didn't lose me."

He shook his head from side to side. "No. No. No. I-I-I left to protect you. I left to stop you from dying, but I almost lost you anyways. You almost died…"

More and more tears fell down her cheeks, as she gripped her face in her hands. "Clark! God dammit! Listen to me! You didn't lose me! You didn't lose our son! You didn't lose anything!" She stared deeply into his eyes, making sure that he was understanding every single thing she was saying to him. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. We're in this together, remember? We promised each other forever and for always. Please! Clark! I'm right here!"

Her words helped a little bit, but he couldn't stop the complete and utter heartbreak he was feeling right now, and rested his forehead against hers, staring into her tear-filled eyes, as his hands touched every inch of her body, like he hadn't felt her in years. "I almost lost you, Lois, I cant lose you. You mean everything to me. I'm nothing without you."

"I'm not going anywhere, baby, you're never going to lose me." She kissed him over and over again until he started responding to her, and whispered against his lips, "Please, Clark, come back to me. You're not going to lose me. I'm right here. We're in this together forever—"

"And for always." He whispered against her lips.

"That's right, baby." She pulled away from him with a soft smile on her face from the mere fact that she had managed to calm him down, but she could see the guilt written all over his face, and quickly pulled him to her chest. "It's alright, Clark, we're going to be alright."

He quickly wrapped his arms around her body, burying his face into the crook of her neck, and breathed in the scent that was purely her, the feel of her embrace calming him down.

Everything was alright.

She was here with him.

He didn't lose her.

She was still here.

He wasn't alone.

He had her.

He had their son.

Everything was going to be alright.

And, even though he knew that he couldn't help feeling guilty about everything.

He could have protected them.

He could have stopped all of this from happening.

But…

He was gone, and he almost lost both of them because of that.

He whispered against her skin, as more and more tears fell down his cheeks, "I'm so sorry, Lois, I'm so, so sorry."

She pulled away from him, slightly, and stared deeply into his eyes, knowing exactly what was going through that mind of his. "Hey. Don't you dare do that—don't you dare blame yourself. This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault."

"But, I wasn't here—"

She pressed her finger against his lips, effectively shutting him up. "It doesn't matter, Clark, you needed to leave. We both know that you needed to become the man—the hero your supposed to be. None of this is your fault. Lex did this. Murphy did this. It's their fault and no one else'. Please, don't blame yourself. Do you understand me?"

He just nodded, and pulled her back into his embrace, wanting nothing more than to have her in his arms right now.

Nothing else mattered.

Several hours later, they were cuddled up on their bed with their arms wrapped around each other, tightly, and as she slept peacefully next to him he thought about everything he had learned tonight, feeling all kinds of emotions.

Anger at Lex, Murphy and Steve for everything they had done to her and to their son.

Concern for what Lex could possibly do to the people he loved.

And, determination to protect his family.

After learning everything, he realized that he needed to become the savior his biological father told him he would be. It was time to reveal himself to the world, just like his cousin had done, not only because it was his destiny, but because it was the only way to protect the woman he loved and his son.

If he could manage to get Lex to just focus more on him than the two most important people in his life then he just might be able to take care of this situation before anything happened to his family—a family he had just gotten back, and there was no way he was allowing anything to happen to them.

He wouldn't lose the most important thing in his life.

* * *

 _ **I've been so excited to get back to the main story, and once again it's a very long chapter, but lots of important things had to be included in this chapter. Everything is out in the open now, and Clark definitely had some mixed emotions about it all, but I thought that anger, sadness, and guilt were the best ones for him. The next few chapters will be lighter, getting back to the romance and happiness this story started with, and then we'll dive right back into the intense stuff.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed Chapter Forty Six!**_


	48. Chapter Forty Seven

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Seven:**_

Clark slowly opened his eyes, frowning slightly when the sun shined directly into his face, but quickly smiled when he saw the beautiful woman laying next to him, completely dead to the world, and was unable to stop himself from thinking about the happiness he has felt in the past two weeks.

It was absolutely amazing spending every single day and every single night with her again. For eight years he had to fall asleep without her—he wasn't able to speak to her—he wasn't able to hold her or kiss her like he's been doing ever since he came back home, and there was no way he was going to miss anymore time with her of their son.

Kaleb has been one of the best things that could have ever happened to him. When he had first spoke to his son, he instantly realized that he was exactly like her, and the past two weeks had only strengthened that original thought.

He was mouthy.

He was independent.

He spoke his own mind.

Just like his mother.

The only things that made him just like him was his looks and his outlook on the world. He was practically an exact replica of himself when he was that age, and he cared deeply about people, just like he did, but mostly it was how much he felt like he needed to protect not only the people that had his heart, but the people that he barely even knew.

Aside from the happiness he had been feeling with the woman he loved, and their son things have been going really well with his old friends, his new friends, and his parents, but things hadn't exactly been all filled with complete and utter happiness either.

They still didn't know when Lex was going to make his move, and they still didn't know if he was planning on bringing Murphy back into the mix of things, which irritated him more than just a little bit, but thankfully he had managed to keep all his emotions in check since that night, mainly because he didn't want to upset her or their son.

It was hard learning everything that had happened to his family, and it was even harder attempting to accept and deal with it all, but he was dealing in his own special way, even if that meant not speaking about it…ever.

He quickly shook those horrible thoughts away, not wanting to think about either of those men, instead he wanted to focus on more important things like the beautiful woman laying next to him. It had been a long time since he was able to do this, and he felt extremely happy that he could now and for the rest of his life.

Lois slowly blinked her eyes open, which landed directly on the handsome man, who was currently staring down at her with a humongous smile plastered across his face, and instantly knew that he was either thinking about her or them since that was the only time he ever looked at her like that. "What are you thinking about?"

He grinned down at her, as his fingers traced invisible designs along her waistline. "Would it be sappy if I told you that I was thinking about you, and how happy you and Kaleb have made me the past two weeks?"

She rolled her eyes at him before rolling him over, laying directly on top of his chest, and grinned down at her overly romantic boyfriend. "Yes, but I love you more for it. You were sappy when we first met. You're sappy now, and I love it."

"Good." He trailed his hands up her body until they rested behind her head, his fingers twisting into her soft, brunette hair before pulling her head down to his, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss. "I love kissing you in the morning."

"You love kissing me anytime of the day or night, but that's alright because so do I." She kissed him again. "So, are you going to tell me what you were thinking about as you were staring at me?"

"I was thinking about how much I missed waking up next to you every morning."

"You'll never have to do that again."

"Nope. Never. You're stuck with me forever."

"Forever is a long time."

He grinned at her words. "It is. You're mine forever and—"

"And for always." She finished his sentence before capturing his lips in a soft, sweet and passionate kiss.

A few seconds later, they quickly pulled away from each other when they heard a familiar bubble of giggles coming from the other side of the room, and turned towards their son with knowing smiles plastered across their faces. "Were you eavesdropping again?"

He nodded, excitedly before rushing towards them, and jumped directly on top of them, enjoying how they both started attacking him by smothering kisses all over his face, which is exactly what happened every single morning when he barged into their room.

It was great.

As soon as they stopped attacking him, he stared down at them with an excited glint lingering in his eyes. "What are we doing today?"

Lois sighed, softly at her little boy. Over the past two weeks he had gotten used to the fact that his daddy was able to spend the entire day with him, while she worked, but all of that was about to change since he had a very important interview today, even though they both had explained this situation to him he still expected to spend the whole day with him. "Kal, we've talked about this, your daddy is going into work today."

"Why?"

Clark ruffled his already messy hair. "Because someone has to keep an eye on her."

She glared at him before smacking his shoulder. "Hey! I don't get into that much trouble!"

He rose a brow at her words. "Really? Does falling off a building ring a bell?"

"That wasn't my fault. I didn't fall I was pushed. There is a difference, you know, besides I did write your debuting article all because that happened."

"Lois…"

A little over one week ago, it had been just like any ordinary day, but that all changed when she managed to get a lead on her Jack Moreno story, who had definitely been a major pain in her ass for weeks, and after speaking to her source he managed to kidnap her, knocking her out with chloroform. When she finally came to he had her on the top of a rooftop in the worst part of Metropolis, and after goading her for a few minutes he attempted to force her to drop her story on him, which of course didn't go over very well since she had spent most of her life receiving threats from people just like him. When she refused to comply he had his goons throw her off the top of the roof.

Clark, who had been spending the day with his son also attempting to figure out when and how he was supposed to reveal himself to the world, heard her scream all the way from Smallville before rescuing her moments before she hit the ground, and in the process revealed himself to the citizens of Metropolis.

It had been a very bad situation turned into something spectacular…Superman' debut.

While writing the article, she remembered calling him that years ago when he first floated with her in his arms in Montana, but that wasn't the only reason she believed that was the best name for him, it was also because it only proved what kind of hero he aimed to be—the type of hero he already was.

She rolled her eyes at him, dramatically. "Okay. I admit that I can be a little reckless at times, but I won't stop chasing the greatest stories since it is in my nature. I've already promised you that I would try to be more careful, and I have been since that day. I haven't gotten pushed off a building since then."

Of course, only she would see logic in that, he thought to himself.

"Lois, you've been attacked in different ways more times than I can count, and that's only since I've been back. How the hell did you get out of situations beforehand?"

She smirked at him. "With my charm."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Well, that won't be happening anymore. You're one of the many reasons I'm going on this job interview."

"Don't lie, Clark, you need this job not only because it fits perfectly with your superhero status, but you also enjoy writing and chasing stories just as much as Chloe and I do."

"Whatever!"

Kaleb giggled, uncontrollably, as his parents bickered like his grandma and grandpa, which caused them to glance over at him with curious expressions. "You think this is funny, squirt?"

"Yes! You two are funny!"

"I'll show you funny!" Lois quickly tackled him to the bed, tickling his sides, relentlessly, which made him laugh until he yelled out, "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!"

"Good. Now, you better go get ready or else I'm going to torture you all day long."

He smirked at her. "You can't. You have to work."

Before either of them could react to his sarcastic words he dashed out of the room very quickly, and she slowly collapsed down onto the bed, unable to believe her son right at this moment. "I'm going to kick his butt!"

Clark chuckled at her, as he climbed out of bed. "He gets it from you, Lo."

"Don't remind me." She glanced over at him, and watched as he started getting his clothes out of the closet. "Are you wearing the suit today?"

He groaned, loudly at that. His lovely family had made him this blue, red and yellow costume to wear underneath his clothes, of course it made sense to have an outfit for his superhero activities, but if he was being honest with himself it felt way too revealing, and that had been proven a few days ago when she nearly ripped it off him. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, baby." She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively at him. "Go put it on."

Her words caused him to take several steps back away from her before placing his hands directly in front of him, like that would stop her from trying anything. "Nuh-huh. Last time I did that you attacked me—"

"You know you liked it…" She interrupted him with a seductive gaze lingering in her eyes.

A satisfied grin spread out across his face, as memories of that morning came rushing back to him, but he quickly shook those nefarious thoughts away, and grew serious with her again, attempting to keep the upper hand in this situation. "Don't try that. It's not going to work."

"Are you sure?"

He quickly super sped into his outfit, including the costume before she had a chance to do or say anything else on the matter to him. "Yes. Now, go shower before we have breakfast without you."

She watched him walk away from her with a smile lingering on her face. It was so, so much fun teasing him, but honestly, she had missed this—she had missed him, and she was feeling more than thankful to have him back in her life.

One hour later, Lois quickly rushed down the hallway with an aggravated aura surrounding her entire body, as she attempted slipping on her jacket, while the other hand was focused on putting on her high-heeled shoes, but stopped her movements when she glanced up to see her two favorite men laughing at her. "Oh. You think this is funny, do you?"

Kaleb nodded excitedly, as Clark served up his breakfast before walking over to her with a small smile plastered across his face. "You know, you wouldn't have this problem every morning if you put your stuff back where it was supposed to be."

She glared at him. "Well, maybe if someone didn't throw my stuff all over the bedroom I wouldn't have this problem every morning."

He smirked at her. "I can't help myself."

"Hmm." She quickly walked around him towards the kitchen, and grabbed a few pieces of toast before sitting down next to her son, who was munching down on his breakfast, like he had never eaten a single thing in his entire life. "How's the breakfast?"

"Yummy!" He muttered around a mouthful of food, and as soon as he swallowed he smirked at her, a playful and teasing glint lingering in his baby blue eyes. "Better than yours."

She pushed him, softly. "My cooking isn't that bad. Martha has been teaching me."

Clark shook his head from side to side, softly chuckling at her, as he sat down on the other side of his son. "Lois, you've been learning for over eight years now."

"Shut up!"

They just chuckled at her.

After they finished eating breakfast and cleaning up the dishes, Clark started getting ready to leave for his interview, already beginning to feel a little nervous about it, and when she noticed this she slowly walked towards him. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

"I don't know, I mean I've had a few articles published at different papers, but this is Perry White we're talking about. The man literally adores you and Chloe for that matter. So, yeah, I guess I'm a little nervous."

She smiled at him, as she flattened out the wrinkles in his suit. "You'll do great. I'm sure he'll like you just as much as everyone else does, besides he already knows quite a lot about you."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I've told him plenty about the man I love. You have absolutely no reason to be nervous, Clark, you've already met the man."

"Years ago, when I wasn't in the best state of mind. I'm sure I left a great impression."

She ignored his sarcastic comment, and kissed him, softly, hoping that would help calm his nerves a little bit. "You'll do fine."

He kissed her again, wanting her reassurance to help him through this. "I'll see you in a little bit. I love you."

"I love you too."

He walked over to his son, who was watching them with a careful eye, and ruffled his hair, making him squirm underneath his touch. He really, really hated it when they did that. "You behave yourself today."

"I will."

He started to walk towards the door, but stopped in his tracks when he heard the teasing tone in her voice when she called his name, and turned back around towards her only to find her smirking at him. "Are you forgetting something?"

The black-rimmed glasses dangling in her hands were literally taunting him, and he groaned, loudly at the mere thought of wearing those things. "I don't see the point in wearing them, I mean it's not like anyone will be able to tell the difference."

She walked over to him, and placed them on his face. "We've talked about this, Clark, you need a completely different portrayal of yourself while you're a normal Daily Planet reporter."

"I look like a freaking nerd!"

"I've always had a thing for nerd with glasses."

He grinned at her. "Fine you win, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I think you look perfectly fine, isn't that right, Kal?"

"Yes! Much better daddy!"

He rolled his eyes at both of them before walking out the front door, towards the interview of a lifetime. He just hoped that he was able to impress the infamous Perry White.

* * *

Kaleb practically dashed into the farmhouse, as soon as the car had come to a complete stop, which was a daily ritual for them, and leaped into his grandpas arms with the biggest grin, while Lois straggled into the house with a disbelieving expression plastered across her face. "You'd think he hasn't seen you in years."

Jonathon chuckled, as he lowered Kaleb back down to the ground. "I think he's just excited about our plans for today." He glanced down at his rambunctious grandson, immediately noticing how excited the little boy seemed. "How about we start working on old Betty?"

Lois shook her head from side to side, as she watched her son dash out of the house like a bullet with Jonathon right on his tail, both of them chuckling as they made their way towards the barn. "Those two have literally been inseparable from the moment they met each other."

Martha grinned at her. "Clark was the same exact way when he was that age. Both of them are always wanting to help other people. It's in their nature, I guess, that's when their similarities show the most, aside from the fact that they are spitting images of each other."

"Tell me about it." She sighed, heavily, as thoughts of how similar those two really are came rushing to the forefront of her mind. "Kaleb is already wanting to save people just like his daddy, of course he was curious when Kara revealed herself to the world, but now that Clark has it is the only thing he ever wants to talk about."

"He just wants to be like him."

"He already is."

Martha walked into the kitchen, and started cleaning up a little bit, which Lois was quick to give an extra hand, knowing how she liked her kitchen to look. "Speaking of, is Clark still upset about that whole being pushed off a roof incident?"

"Yes!" She rolled her eyes to the sky like it was the most unbelievable thing in the entire world. "I don't understand why he is being so particular about that. He knows about all the trouble I got into in High School, and he even knows about the things I got mixed into before we even met."

"I doubt that it has anything to do with that. He knows your personality—he knows that you have a knack for getting involved in tricky and potentially dangerous situations. I think it has more to do with Lex than anything else. He found out that he almost lost you and Kaleb, so whenever something does happen to you he feels like he's going to lose you."

That made sense, she thought to herself, but even though it was understandable it did bring up a particular subject that has been eating at her for some time now. "You know, he hasn't even mentioned anything that happened since that night."

She smiled, reassuringly at her, as she grabbed her hand, and squeezed it, softly. "That is going to take some time. We've all had years to adjust. You and Chloe had even longer, but he just found out two weeks ago. It's going to take him a little while before he feels comfortable enough to talk about it." All of a sudden, she grinned, as wide as humanly possible. "At least he forgave Bruce."

Her words caused her to groan, loudly, as she plopped down onto one of the stools. For almost one week he had refused to even look at her adoptive brother, let alone speak to him after finding out what had happened with Murphy all of those years ago. Bruce, of course, didn't understand why he was getting the cold shoulder from his new friend, and after discussing the situation with her, realizing what was going on, he had an in-depth conversation with him. Now, it was like nothing ever happened—like they were best friends again.

It was funny, she thought to herself, that the two broodiest men on the planet would be friends, but they were, and in a way, it was good for everyone surrounding them since they didn't brood too much these days, mainly because they managed to keep each other in check.

"We all know that it wouldn't have lasted very long anyways. Those two seemed to click from the moment they met."

"Strange, huh? The two most isolated, stubborn and broody men would be best friends, even though they barely know each other."

"Neither of them will admit it though."

"True." She glanced up at the clock hanging about the foyer, realizing that the time had flown by since they walked into this kitchen. "When is his interview?"

"Right about now since he can get there faster than any of us." She quickly stood up with a determined and playful gaze. "Which means I should get going before he manages to catch the scent of a good story before I even walk into the office."

She chuckled, softly, as she shook her head from side to side. "I can see that it's already starting."

"What?"

"You two used to do the same exact thing in High School, both of you always trying to beat the other to the greatest story. I can see that the battle is already beginning, and he hasn't even gotten the job yet."

"He'll get the job." She smirked with a teasing glint lingering in her hazel eyes. "The perks of having a boyfriend like Clark is that we can have our little battles at work or when we're just messing with each other, but in the end, we never get mad or upset about losing. I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Which is why we all know that you two are perfect for each other." She stared at her for a few seconds, her mind contemplating the words she wanted to say, and part of herself didn't want to say anything because she didn't want to push an idea into her head, but the entire family already thought it was a good idea.

It was something every single one of them wished would happen…soon.

"Have you ever thought about taking your relationship another step forward?"

She stared at her with a frown set in place, attempting to dissect the meaning behind those particular words, knowing that there was a deeper meaning in them, but then, all of a sudden, it dawned on her, and her heart started beating like a jackhammer inside of her chest from the mere thought of something like that happening. "Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?"

She chuckled at the way she refused to say the word. "Yes, Lois, I'm talking about marriage."

Her entire face drained of color. "U-u-uh we haven't really talked about that like ever. We did when we were younger, but those were different circumstances, and it's not like we had a serious conversation about it. He just came back home. I'm pretty sure that he just wants to pick up where we left off."

It didn't take a genius to figure out that there was something she wouldn't or couldn't say out loud since she had felt the same way many years ago when she waited, quite impatiently for her beloved husband to ask that question. The tell-tell signs were written all over her face. "What about you, Lois?"

"What about me?"

"Do you want to marry my son?"

Every single thing faded from her, while those words rang in her head over and over again, and she started feeling extremely hot, as she attempted to figure out how she was supposed to answer that very complicated question, but luckily her adorable son barged into the house, saving her from uttering a single word. "You're going to be late, mommy."

She grinned at him before locking eyes with the woman, who was forcing her to think about things that she has only thought about once or twice before. "And that would be my cue." She knelt down in front of him. "You be good."

He nodded.

After muttering short goodbyes to Martha and Jonathon, she rushed out of the house, wanting to get out of that compromising conversation as soon as possible.

Martha grinned to herself, as she watched her speed out of the driveway like she was on the run, and instantly knew that she had planted the right seed into her mind. She was completely flustered by her questions, but it was also obvious that it had stirred something deep inside of her, and maybe just maybe something would come out of it.

She hoped so.

* * *

Clark paced back and forth directly in front of Perry White' office, very impatiently waiting for the interview he has been attempting to prepare for to start. This short, blonde woman had told him to wait out here, which is exactly what he has been doing for the past twenty minutes, but the waiting was only making him more and more nervous as the minutes ticked by.

It was almost unbearable.

While he was away, training and traveling, he had written plenty of articles about many things, mostly just the catastrophe he had witnessed in other countries, and had published them all under a pseudonym, but this was more nerve wrecking than that ever was.

It wasn't that he didn't think he would be able to get the job.

It was the fact that he wanted to impress this man.

Lois and Chloe had told him many things about this man, including the fact that he was a very understanding person and that he sometimes could have a temper, especially when it came to his reporters.

That wasn't what was making him nervous.

The thing that was making him nervous was that he saw himself as their protects, almost like a father figure, and for some reason he felt like this was more daunting that speaking to General Sam Lane, which made absolutely no sense since he wasn't even their father, but even though he understood that he couldn't help worrying about what was going to happen inside that room.

"Clark? Clark is that really you?"

He glanced up at the familiar voice—the voice of someone he hadn't heard or seen in a very long time, and smiled at the accomplished photographer. "Hey, Jimmy. Lois told me you worked here."

He moved closer to him with a smile plastered across his face. "Let me guess, she told you that I was their errand boy?"

"Well, yes, but they also told me that you haven taken most of the pictures for their articles. I've seen your work, Jimmy, it's really good."

"Thanks." He took a few more steps towards him. "Lois and Chloe told me that you had an interview today."

He nodded before frowning at his old friend. "You know, I've heard lots of things about you, but I've never seen you in Smallville since before I left."

"That was mainly because I was dating your best friend, but now I don't have too many reasons to visit that small-town anymore."

"Is it because of Chloe?"

He smiled, softly at him. "No. Chloe and I have been really good friends for years. We do work together almost every single day, but I do have my reasons for staying away, well mainly just one reason."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your cousin…"

His eyes widened, slightly. "You and Kara don't get along?"

Now it was his turn to frown. "They didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"We used to date."

His eyes nearly popped out of his head, at those particular words. "You dated my cousin?"

He nodded. "It lasted a few months. She is a really great person, but I couldn't deal with her uniqueness, mainly I couldn't deal with the fact that she was always in danger, you know."

At first, he had absolutely no idea what he was referring to, but then it dawned on him, and he mentally reminded himself to find out who else knew about him and his cousin since it was obvious his lovely girlfriend hadn't told him everything. "You know?"

His uneasiness at the situation made him smile. "Relax, Clark, you're secret is safe with me."

"What secret?" They both turned towards the door, where Perry White was standing with a confused expression plastered across his face.

Jimmy winked at Clark before glancing at his boss. "Nothing. I was just informing Clark here that Lois is really good at snagging the best stories, and if he wanted to stay alive he shouldn't steal any of her bylines."

He narrowed his eyes at him, not believing that for a second. "Don't you have some front page shots to get me?"

"Yes, sir!" He quickly rushed down the hall.

Perry held out his hand, which Clark quickly shook. "It's nice to finally meet you, Clark I've heard lots of good things about you. Shall we get started?"

He nodded before following him into the office, closing the door behind him, feeling even more nervous than he did five minutes ago, as he sat down in the chair directly across from him, and fidgeted like a child on a sugar high, hoping and praying that this man couldn't tell otherwise, but had a feeling that he was being quite obvious about it.

Perry watched in amusement, as this young man fidgeted in front of him. It was obvious that he was nervous, which made him wonder what his two favorite reporters had told him to make him so uptight about an interview. "You can relax, Clark, this isn't going to be as bad as you probably imagined it would be. It'll be really simple."

"Sorry, sir, just want to make a good impression."

"Don't call me sir, that's what people call my father, and don't call me chief either. Call me Perry."

"Yes, si—Perry."

He grinned at him. "Also you don't need to worry about making a good impression you've already accomplished that." He flipped open his portfolio, and quickly scanned his eyes over the first article, pretending to read through it before slapping it closed, loudly. "You got the job, son."

A confused and flabbergasted expression formed across his face. "What? You didn't even read anything…"

"How do you know?" He chuckled at the lost expression he was giving him. "I'm joking, Clark, I've been reading over all of your articles for about one week now."

"How is that possible? I just sent them in…" He trailed off, as a thought occurred to him, and he sighed, softly. "Lois…"

"Yes, Lois printed off every single one of your articles, including the ones you three did in High School." He noticed the expression of concern cross over his face, and instantly knew what was going through that head of his. "Don't worry, she has nothing to do with why I decided to hire you, well she's part of the reason, but mainly I want you to join the team because of your writing skills and your dedication to the stories you have written in the past, besides I'm pretty sure we both know that you need this job."

He frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I think you know."

It was quite obvious what he was referring to from the way he was smiling at him, and he gulped, silently, at the fact that another person knew about him and probably his cousin.

Just another thing to discuss with his girlfriend, he thought to himself.

"Lois didn't tell me by the way, and I can see that written all over your face. You'll learn that I can be very intuitive since it seems that you forgot about that little fact, of course that was when I was a drunk, and you were a little lost if remember correctly." Once he seemed to understand his words, he pressed further, "Now, you'll be sharing an office with Chloe and Lois since they are best people to show you the ropes. I know that you have experience, but this is The Daily Planet, and I have to have the best of the best."

He nodded, completely understanding.

"Good. I'll have my assistant show you around, while we wait for, Miss Loves To Take Her Damn Time, to get to work, and then you'll be all hers. Good luck, Clark, I think you're going to need it."

He chuckled, softly at his words, knowing exactly what he meant about working with her, but he had experience in that field, and he was the only person who could get under her skin.

It was going to be great working with her.

"Thank you, Perry." He stated walking towards the door, but stopped when he heard him call his name, and slowly turned back around towards him. "Yes?"

"When you do see one of my favorite reporters tell her that I want to see both of you in my office before you go on any leads."

Perry grinned to himself, as he completely disappeared from his sights. It wasn't going to be just great having him around, it was going to be spectacular not only because it is exactly what this young hero needed, but also because it was going to be interesting seeing those two working side by side every single day.

The last time they worked together was in High School.

It's been eight years since then, and he couldn't wait to see how they handled that.

It was definitely going to be an interesting sight to witness.

* * *

Lois was sitting in her office staring at her untouched computer screen, as she was completely and utterly lost in space, her mind only able to focus on one thing—one thing she hadn't been able to get out of her head since the moment she left the farmhouse.

Damn you Martha Kent, she thought to herself, wishing and praying that she could think about literally anything other than their conversation, but it wouldn't leave her mind, and it was starting to irritate the living crap out of her.

Ever since she fell in love with his handsome features and boyish charms she had never thought about marriage, except for two occasions. The first being that day in Estes Park, and they weren't even together at that point in their lives. The second was the night they named their son, unconsciously, but that was different—different because it was the heat of the moment type of situation. This, on the other hand, was the only thing she had been able to think about for quite awhile now, and it was becoming more and more frustrating.

She didn't want to think about that for one very specific reason…she didn't want to get her hopes up for something that might not ever happen, at least not in the foreseeable future.

It wasn't that she wondered if he would ever ask her that particular question because she had a feeling that one day he would, but she had never thought so intensely about it before, and now it was the only thing she could think about. Would he want that? Did she want that?

Of course, you want that, she thought to herself.

When they had discussed marriage, briefly before they were even a couple she had been adamant about never getting married, mainly because she figured that it wouldn't fit into her lifestyle, but things were different now, and deep inside she knew that she was ready for that next step, hell she's been ready for that for years now.

She just never admitted it to herself until now.

There was a small part of herself that just wanted to walk up to her handsome boyfriend and discuss the situation with him, but the other much bigger part of herself wouldn't allow that to happen. It had nothing to do with not being able to talk to him about anything because they did that all of the time, but the problem she was facing was the fact that she was terrified of what he would think about this. Would he be happy? Upset? Scared? Nervous?

She didn't know what he wanted other than to just be with her, but she did know what she wanted…she wanted to call him her husband—she wanted to be called Lois Lane-Kent.

A loud groan escaped past her lips before she dropped her head onto the desk, and closed her eyes, softly, her never-ending thoughts running a mile a minute. She knew what she wanted, but she didn't know what he wanted, and that was frustrating as all hell. What was she supposed to do?

"Lois? Lois are you alright?"

She lifted her head, and glanced over at her friend, Jimmy, who was staring at her with a worried expression plastered across his face before sighing, heavily. "Yes. No. I don't know."

His worried expression transformed into one of concern, as he walked closer to her, and sat down directly across from her. "What's wrong? Is this about a story?"

"I wish this was about a story."

He frowned at her. "Then what has you looking like someone killed your dog?"

She glanced around her surroundings, making sure that no one was close enough to her office to overhear anything before locking eyes with him, and leaning a little closer to him. "When I was dropping Kaleb off Martha dropped the m word on me…"

"M word?" He stared at her, quizzically for a few seconds before realization dawned on him. "Marriage? She brought up marriage?"

"Yes! And now it's all I can think about!"

He grinned at her complete and utter misery, knowing full well that she could slap him for this, but every single one of her family and friends have always discussed her marrying the farm boy one day, hell he even mentioned it to Chloe when they were all still in High School. "Do you want my opinion?" At her nod, he continued, "Personally, I believe that is the best option for both of you."

She glared at him. "That isn't helping."

"Have you ever thought about it before?"

"Marriage in general or marrying Clark?"

He chuckled, softly at her. "Both."

"I always figured that marriage was never an option for me, mainly because I knew and understood that I'd be focusing on my career, but then I met him, and everything changed in the blink of an eye."

"How did he change your mind?"

"By making me fall in love with him." She sighed, heavily. "A few weeks after we started spending time together I started questioning everything, but when we reunited the first time around I began wondering what our life would look like in the future. We've talked about it once before, but that doesn't really count since we weren't really being serious about it, mainly because we were so young. Honestly, I just don't know how he would react if Martha had mentioned it to him instead of me."

He laughed, loudly at her words, but quickly calmed his mirth when she glared, heatedly at him, and grabbed her hand, squeezing it, softly. "Lois, you know him better than anyone else, so what do you think he wants?"

"That's the problem! I don't know what he wants!"

"Then discuss it with him."

And just like that her defenses went up just as fast as they had came tumbling down, and she quickly straightened her back before shaking her head from side to side. "Uh-huh. Nope. I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know if I want to know the answer to that question. We literally just got each other back. Kaleb and him are bonding extremely well. That is the only thing I've ever wanted from the moment he left. I just need to focus on that instead of things Martha planted in my head."

He grinned to himself. She just poured out her entire heart to him, and as soon as she realized that she closed herself off again.

Such a Lois Lane move, he thought to himself, it was quite obvious what she wanted, but it was also obvious that she was afraid of what he would think about all of this, and he really hoped those two lovebirds figured it out before it drove them all insane. "I'm sure you're right, Lois, just focus on what's important."

She grinned at him before growing serious with him once again. "We never had this conversation."

"What conversation?" When she just simply smiled at him he decided to change the subject before she went on another one of her rants. "So, I saw Clark right before his interview, and he seemed more than a little nervous. How do you think it's going?"

"It went fine."

They both practically jumped out of their skin from the sound of his voice before glancing over at the subject of their conversation, and Jimmy smiled, widely over at him, while Lois just gave him a softer smile, her mind wondering what he had overheard.

She really hoped he didn't hear anything other than them talking about his interview because she wasn't sure she was ready to have that conversation, even though she knew exactly what she wanted. "Let me guess…you got the job."

He smiled, softly at her. "You would be right, Miss Lane."

Jimmy quickly stood up, and clapped his hand down on his shoulder, squeezing it, softly. "Congrats, bro, I knew you'd get the job. All those nerves were for nothing." He glanced over at Lois with a knowing expression, and winked at her before walking out of the office.

Clark frowned at him, as he walked away before glancing at her with an inquisitive gaze lingering in his eyes. "What was that about?"

"Nothing." She quickly stood up, straightening out the wrinkles in her skirt before walking over to him with a small smile. "So? I want all the deeds! How did it go with Perry?"

"Well, you were right, I had no reason to be nervous, but there is something I want to discuss with you."

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell me that both Jimmy and Perry know about me?"

She chuckled, slightly, at the frustrated expression on his face. "First of all, I didn't tell Jimmy anything, Kara did, and he eventually put all the pieces together. As for Perry, he confronted me about it a few days after you debuted. For years he's been hearing stories about you, and he definitely didn't believe the reasons we all had given him whenever he would wonder why you left. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out." She tilted her head to one side, slightly, as she stared into his eyes, and felt a mix of emotions radiating off him, which worried her. "Are you mad?"

He walked past her, thinking about everything she had explained to him and everything he has been thinking since he realized they both knew before turning back around towards her. "No, I'm not mad, Lois, which is weird. For years I wanted to keep that part of myself locked away, but then…" He trailed off, as he attempted to find the right words to say, and slowly walked closer to her until he was standing only a few inches away from her. "But then I met someone who I could trust—someone I could be honest with, I guess what I'm attempting to say is that I thought I'd feel more concerned about it, but I don't, honestly, I feel more relieved than anything else."

"That's because you're a different person than you were back then."

"And that's all because of you."

She shook her head from side to side. "Maybe I'm responsible for part of it, but I think you're training did most of that for you."

"My biological father might have showed me the hero I could be, but you showed me what kind of man I could be—what kind of man I want to be."

"You're already that man, Clark Kent."

His eyes dropped down to her lips, but before he could kiss her like he wanted to he took a few steps away from her. "We should probably get going."

That wasn't what she was expecting to happen. "What?"

He grinned at her confusion. "Perry wants to see us in his office."

She rolled her eyes. "When doesn't that man not want to see me in his damn office!"

"Maybe because you're always getting yourself into trouble."

"Shut up!" She muttered, as she glared at him before grabbing his hand, and pulling him down the hallway with her.

Thirty minutes later, they both walked back into their office in complete silence, as their minds replayed everything that had just happened, and neither of them could believe that this was actually happening. Perry had assigned them to be partners, which would eventually turn into a trio partnership when Chloe returned. Neither of them had expected that to happen, of course they figured they would work together since someone needed to show him the ropes, but never in a million years did they think it would be a permanent solution.

It was exciting.

Lois glanced over at Clark, who also seemed to be lost in his thoughts. "Is this really happening?"

"Yes." He smirked over at her with a teasing glint lingering in his eyes. "I guess he needs me to keep an eye on his trouble making reporter."

She glared at him. "I don't get into that much trouble!"

"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that."

"Okay, sparky, that's enough of that." She grinned when he gave her that look he always gives her when she found a new nickname for him. "How about we start chasing some leads, who knows, maybe by the end of the day you'll have your first byline."

"You're going to enjoy this, aren't you?"

"You know it. It's going to be so much fun bossing you around."

"Ha! Ha! Very funny!" He grabbed a folder off one of the desks, and flipped through it until he found exactly what he was searching for. "Well, I already have a lead for us."

Her brows rose at that. "What? How is that possible? You literally just got the job."

He smirked at her. "While you and Jimmy were doing whatever you two were doing I was snooping around, and found a story that I think you'll enjoy."

"What is it?"

"Marriage."

His words caused her entire face to go completely blank, as her heart pounded, relentlessly inside of her chest, and she recalled her conversations with both Jimmy and Martha, the thought once again taking over her mind before she took a small uneasy step towards him, wondering if he had overheard her conversation with Jimmy. "Marriage? What about marriage?"

A small frown took over his features from her weird reaction, while his mind wondered what was going through that head of hers, even though he was pretty sure he had a good idea what was going on with her, but there was no way he was mentioning that to her, at least not right now. "The story, Lois, several couples have been kidnapped before their weddings. Only one has been returned, but there are about five or six more that are still missing."

She took a deep breath, feeling thankful that he was only talking about the story instead of what was going through her head, and ripped the folder from his hands, her eyes scanning over most of the contents. "I'll give you this you grabbed a pretty juicy one for your first day."

"I know how to find stories, Lois or have you forgotten about our High School escapades?"

"I haven't forgotten." All of a sudden, an idea popped into her head, and even thought it would mess with her already jumbled mind it was the best way to get to the bottom of this story. "Clark Kent, will you marry me?"

His mouth completely fell open from her words, as his heart pounded like a jackhammer inside of his chest, and he stared at her with a confused expression, as she hustled around the office. "What?"

She glanced over at him, and grinned at the pure look of confusion that was resonant on his face. "For the story, Clark, it's the only way to get the answers we need. You do want a front page story, right?"

"But won't that make us targets?"

"Yes, farm boy that is the plan. Come on, we don't have all day."

He followed her out of their office, shaking his head from side to side with a small smile gracing his lips, and whispered, "She's going to be the death of me."

As soon as they made their way to the elevators she glanced over at him with a smirk in place. "Clark let's get something straight, Perry might have made us partners, but I've been doing this a lot longer than you, so that means you work for me not with me. I call the shots. I ask the questions. You are low-man and I'm top-banana. Is that clear?"

At her words, he had to attempt to hold in his laughter, knowing that she was being dead serious about this, but he couldn't stop himself from teasing her a little bit. "I already know you like to be on top."

She glared over at him before punching his arm, which only made him chuckle, and once the elevator doors opened they walked inside, both of them feeling very excited to be working on their very first story together.

* * *

Lex Luthor was sitting in his office at LexCorp, going over some mundane business deals. Things were just starting to get back to normal. Ever since he was acquitted of his charges he had been attempting and failing at getting his assets back in order, and that was all thanks to his father, who had turned this place into a more humane business, which meant that all his previous deals had turned null and void, but luckily, things were finally starting to turn around on that front.

Well, almost everything, he thought to himself, there was still the little pesky detail about his partner in crime' whereabouts, but hopefully Steve would have some good information about that, as well as some other important information he needed to know for his plan to work.

When the door slowly swung open he glanced up to see Steve walking towards him with a satisfied expression plastered across his face, which gave him all the answers he wanted. "Did you get what I asked for?"

He nodded before pulling out a small lead box, and placed it on his desk. "It wasn't easy to find."

"I gathered since it took you almost over a week to find this one piece." He slowly stood up, and opened the lid, revealing the jagged dark green rock. "What did our scientists discover?"

"You were right. It doesn't come from this world."

"Meaning it doesn't come from Earth." He shook his head from side to side. "I can't believe I never put it together until now. I mean this stuff used to be scattered all across Smallville. I should have put it together right from the beginning, especially all the times he seemed to become weaker and more human when around these little green rocks." He locked eyes with him. "How soon can you get enough of these for our plan to work?"

"I'm not sure. It's going to take me a bit of time. They aren't that easy to come by these days."

He groaned, loudly. "It's obvious that they removed most of it from Smallville all because they wanted to protect the child."

"I'll find more, but how do we know it's going to work?"

"We don't, but that is exactly why I'm going to test our theory." He stared at him with a serious expression. "What about our other little project? Have you found him yet?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I'm still working on that, but it seems that Sam Lane dumped him in an even deeper hole than last time. I'll find him."

"Good. We need him for this to be successful. We can't exactly do everything on our own. As for the pretty green rocks, I'll inform you if my plan is successful, and if it is we need to begin our preparations."

"What is the plan?"

A devilish smirk spread out across his face. "I think it's time I have a little chat with an old friend."

Lex watched him walk away from him before glancing down at the rock, analyzing it carefully with his pale, blue eyes before shutting the lid, and quickly shoved it into his pocket. It had never occurred to him that Clark or Kara for that matter would have a weakness since they were both out of this world, but it seemed that he had just found the one thing he was searching for, and by the end of the day he would know the truth.

If both Superman and Superwoman were allergic to these rocks then that meant little Kaleb would be as well, which is exactly what he needed to know since the child now had abilities like them, not as extreme according to Steve, but they were there, and that could be a problem for his plans.

As soon as he figured out this mystery, he would get everything he needed ready for his attack, and when Murphy inevitably returned to the mission they would all be getting the revenge they wanted, also getting the one thing he has wanted for over eight years now.

Power.

It might take a little bit of time, but in the end, it would all be worth it.

* * *

Later that day, Clark was sitting across from Lois, who was currently correcting his portion on their article, waiting very impatiently for her feedback, knowing that she was going to give him a hard time just because she could, and even though he knew it was pretty good he also enjoyed the fact that they had actually written another article together for the first time in years.

It had been quite a long time since they've done this.

When she was finishing reading over his article she glanced up at him with a small smile lingering on her face. "It's not too shabby, but you should fix a few things."

He grabbed the piece of paper from her, and scanned his eyes over all of her corrections noticing all of the red marks, words, circles and underlines before glancing over at her with a questioning gaze. "Not too shabby, huh?"

"Those aren't words of discouragement. They are words of encouragement, Smallville."

Once he fixed what she wanted him to, his mind starting replaying everything that happened from the moment they walked into that jewelers shop, and even though it was kind of fun playing a role like that, especially that particular one, but it only made one thing an absolute fact for him…his girlfriend really had a thing for dangerous situations. "You know, I think I understand why Perry wanted me to be partners with you, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your talent. Is Chloe just as careless as you when digging for a story?"

She glared at him. "My plan wasn't that bad."

"You're plan was horrible, Lo, you got yourself kidnapped, and then I had to save you…again."

"Only for you to get kidnapped as well."

"How was I supposed to know he would have Green Kryptonite?"

"You weren't." She patted his chest, softly. "But, Clark, you know that those little green rocks used to be scattered all over Smallville, so it was very likely he was able to get his hands on some before we moved most of it away from our home." A satisfied grin took over her features. "He did seem quite surprised that we answered all those questions, honestly."

He took several steps closer to her with a suggestive expression slowly spreading across his face. "Well, that's because we have no secrets from each other, and it will always be like that between us." He took another small step towards her. "And I meant every word I said, I do love you with all of my heart."

She quickly closed the space between them, their chests only a breaths width away from each other, and smiled up at him with a glint lingering in her eyes. "I love you too, Smallville."

In the blink of an eye, his arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling her body flush against his before he molded his lips with hers, romantically, which she quickly responded to, her hands flinging around his neck, as her fingers caressed his dark locks. He rested his forehead against hers when he pulled away, and stared deeply into her hazel orbs. "I've been waiting all day to do that."

"What took you so long?"

He just kissed her again. For a little over two weeks he had gotten used to being able to kiss her whenever and wherever he wanted, but that had changed today, and he definitely wanted to make up for some lost time.

She pulled away from him before either of them could intensify this already intense situation. "Clark, you know that we can't."

"Not here, obviously, but we could go back home. We still have a few hours before we pick up Kaleb."

"We have plans."

"How about we just bail on our plans. You know that you just want to go home with me."

It was tempting.

It was very, very tempting.

When she finally made up her mind, not caring what her lovely friends would think about this, she leaned closer to him, intending to kiss him again, but stopped her movements when she heard a familiar voice by the door. "Well. Well. Well. It seems that Clark here is trying to bail on boy' night."

Clark glanced over at them, noticing Pete, Oliver and Bruce standing a few feet away from them with knowing smiles plastered across their faces. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh. Sure you don't."

Bruce quickly grabbed him, effectively pulling him away from her, and smirked, mockingly at her. "Sorry, Lo, but he's ours for the night."

She watched as all three of them practically dragged her lovable boyfriend out of their office, her mind wondering what trouble they were going to get into tonight before she headed towards Perry' office to drop off their front page worthy article. He had some plans of his own tonight, but she did as well, and she couldn't wait to start their weekly adventures.

It was going to be great.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Clark, Pete, Oliver and Bruce walked into their favorite bar in Metropolis, which Clark didn't exactly agree with not only because he didn't really care for the taste of alcohol, but also because he couldn't even get drunk, and he had tried…many times. "You do realize that alcohol doesn't affect me, right?"

They all just shook their head from side to side at him. "That doesn't hold any ground, Clark, you're drinking whether you want to or not, so we suggest that you suck it up, and just enjoy the night out with your friends."

"There's no choice in the matter, is there?"

Oliver grinned, widely at him. "Nope. You're one of us now, which means drinking at least once a week, you know, the one night we can all escape from the women."

"And the children," Pete added.

He chuckled at them, understanding their point of views on that matter, but honestly, he would spend every second of every day with the woman he loved and their son if he could.

Once he had ordered all four beers for every single one of them, he waited patiently by the bar, feeling a little excited about what tonight would bring since he hadn't ever had a night out like this before, but before he could fully relish in his excitement he heard a familiar voice directly next to him—a voice he hadn't heard in a very long time—a voice he had hoped he wouldn't hear again, mainly because he wasn't sure if he would be able to contain the anger he's been feeling for weeks.

"Hello, Clark."

He glanced over at him with a steely expression spread out across his face, and took a deep breath, attempting to keep all of his emotions in check. "What the hell do you want, Luthor?"

A grin graced his thin lips. "Well, we haven't seen each other in quite a few years, so I thought I'd reacquaint myself with an old friend."

"We were never friends, Lex, you've always wanted answers about me, and now you have them, so there is nothing for us to discuss."

"Ahh. I see that the lovely Miss Lane finally informed you of everything."

He took a step towards him with a fire blazing deep in his eyes. "Don't bring her into this! You have no right to speak her name!"

"Except that I do." He chuckled, cynically. "You know that bruise I left her a few weeks ago was just a warning. When we do make our move it will so much worse for her, your son, and mostly you. This time none of you will make it out alive."

All the emotions he was keeping in check—all the composure he was reigning in—all the anger he was holding back was immediately shattered into a million pieces from his menacing words. "You son of a bitch!" He gripped the lapels of his jacket in his hands before slamming him against the nearest wall, slightly cracking the wood. "You won't touch her! You won't touch my son! You won't touch me! Stay the hell away from my family!"

He laughed, coldly. "I can't do that, you know, I don't understand how I never saw any of this sooner, but you make it so obvious. I should have put the pieces together that first night you attacked me in The Talon, but it took that lovely girlfriend of yours for me to realize the truth."

He slammed him against the wall again, ignoring the people screaming directly behind him, and ignoring the sounds of people yelling at him. "Shut up! You will stay the hell away from my family!"

"I will be getting what I want, Clark." He reached into his pocket, carefully opening the lead box, revealing his little green rock, and watched in wonder, as Clark cringed, slightly in pain before loosening his hold on him, which answered all the questions he had. "Are you feeling alright, Clark?"

He quickly shook his head, attempting to get control of what his body was feeling right now. His head was painfully dizzy. His insides were churning just like when he was around Green Kryptonite, but before he could determine where it was coming from all the pain completely vanished.

"Clark!" All of a sudden, he was pulled away from him by his friends, who had just realized what was going on, before he could utter a single word, and when he attempted to charge towards him again Bruce blocked his way, knowing that he could toss him across the room if he wanted to, but he had experience with Kryptonian anger.

"Listen to me, Clark, you can't touch him. Not yet. Lois wouldn't want that. Your son wouldn't want that. We don't want that. You're better than him." When he noticed that he wasn't listening to a singe word he was saying he grabbed his shoulders, and squeezed them, hard. "I know what you're feeling right now. We've all wanted to kill him over a million times already, but we can't. Do you remember that conversation we had after Lois told you everything?" At his nod, he continued, "I told you things that only a select few know about. Don't stoop down to his level. Be the person—the man that we all know you can be. Don't allow your anger to get the best of you."

He took a deep breath, as he listened to everything his friend was telling him, slowly calming his raised emotions down, and knew that he was right. He couldn't allow Lex to do this to him or anyone else close to him. "Okay."

"Good." He turned around towards Lex, who was grinning at every single one of them, like this was exactly what he had expected to happen. "You're a real piece of work, you know that."

"I was just telling facts."

Oliver stepped closer to him with menace lingering in his eyes. "You'll get what's coming to you, Lex."

"I'd love to see you try and stop me." He walked away from them with an evil smirk plastered across his face.

It worked, he thought to himself, it was obvious in the way he started backing off as soon as he opened up that lead box, and even though the main reason for his altercation with him was to get the answers he needed he also realized something else.

He had many, many strengths, including his friendships with the Brady Bunch, but he also had another weakness…Lois Lane, which he could use to his advantage in the coming days.

While Bruce and Oliver attempted to calm down Clark, who was still writhing in anger and rage from his confrontation, Pete glanced around the room, noticing the terrified expressions lingering on everyone's faces, and knew that things were about to get even more complicated. "Um…I think we should leave."

They quickly dragged Clark out of the bar, and as they were walking he managed to calm down completely, which only made him feel guilty for his outburst. "I'm sorry for ruining the night."

"Ruined it?" Oliver slammed his hand down on his shoulder. "You didn't ruin anything, Clark, bars are overrated anyways. I think I have a better idea." He quickly took all of them to his apartment, knowing that his wife wouldn't be there, and hoped against all hope that he could get him to forget about Lex Luthor, at least for a little while.

* * *

A few hours later, Lois, Chloe, Lana and Kara were all sitting on the couch in Kara' living room, in Metropolis, having just finished eating all of their junk food, and as they were watching their favorite movie of all time, Conair, they were trying their hardest not to tear up when Cameron Poe finally reunited with his wife and daughter he had never met, but were failing miserably.

It didn't matter how many times they watched it they almost developed a sense of sadness and happiness when watching that particular scene.

Lois allowed her head to fall back against the couch cushion. "Why do we watch that damn movie?"

Kara sighed, softly. "Because we love it so much. I remember the first time you made me watch that movie."

Chloe snickered at her. "You cried like a big baby!"

She glared at her. "Shut up! It was emotional!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say."

Lana chuckled at their little argument, knowing that every single one of them could bicker about this one movie for hours if they wanted to, before clapping her hand together, excitedly. "Alright. I think it's time we move on from action and sadness. A more romantic one perhaps. Made of Honor anyone?"

Chloe and Kara nodded their heads in agreement, while Lois thought about what that movie entailed exactly, and quickly shot forward, yelling out, "No!"

It wasn't that she didn't like that certain movie, actually she loved that movie almost as much as the previous one, especially the male actor playing her favorite character, but it only brought back everything she has been attempting to forget about.

She noticed that they were all staring at her with weird expressions, and quickly attempted covering her random outburst. "Um, I mean we should just watch something else instead."

Chloe moved closer to her with a quizzical gaze. "I thought you loved Patrick Dempsey? You watched Greys Anatomy for years…"

"I just don't want to watch it, you know, seen it too many times kind of thing."

"No. There has to be a real reason. What is it?" Lana pressed further, knowing that she was lying through her teeth.

"There is no reason. Just drop it already."

Kara narrowed her eyes, as she stared at her, like she was attempting to figure out what was going through that mind of hers. "It has nothing to do with the movie, does it? We all know that you love that movie more than your Shark Marathons, so obviously something happened that you're refusing to tell us, and for some reason this particular movie will only you remind you of it, even though you've probably been thinking about it all day long."

She stared at her wide-eyed for a few seconds before shaking her head from side to side at her. "How the hell do you do that?"

She shrugged her shoulders, like it wasn't that big of a deal. "It runs in the family."

"No, it doesn't," she mumbled underneath her breath.

Chloe and Lana glanced at each other, knowing that she said something, but couldn't figure out what it was exactly before their gaze returned to her, and they simultaneously spoke, "What was that?"

"Nothing."

Kara grinned, successfully, it seems that someone forgot that she had super hearing, and it was definitely working to her advantage in this situation. "What does my cousin have to do with this?"

Lana grinned, widely at her. "Clark did something, didn't he?"

Chloe stared down her cousin, attempting to figure out what was really going on, and grinned like a Cheshire cat when the truth was written all over her face. "Oh my god! He did do something! This is going to be good!"

She glared at all three of them. "What makes you think I'm telling you anything?"

"Because you love us!" They spoke, simultaneously.

A groan escaped past her lips, as she fell back against the couch, sighing, heavily, and honestly, she wished that she would have just kept her mouth shut, but now she didn't have another choice but to tell them what they wanted to know. "Fine! I'll tell you, but lets get something straight, Clark didn't do anything wrong. He probably doesn't even know about this, and if he does he is choosing to stay silent about it."

Lana quickly leaned closer to her, as she made herself more comfortable on the couch. "What happened?"

"I was dropping off Kaleb this morning, and Martha might have mentioned marriage to me, which left me speechless at first, but then it wouldn't leave my head. I was talking to Jimmy about it when Clark walked into the office, but him possibly overhearing our conversation isn't the problem I'm having. I just can't get it out of my head, which is very, very irritating, and the story we worked on together didn't really help."

Chloe rose her brows at that. "What was the story about?"

"This crazy psychopath, who was wronged in his past relationship, was kidnapping engaged couples, so we pretended to be engaged to get the bottom of it, but we both ended up getting kidnapped ourselves. That doesn't matter though. What does matter is that I can't get it out of my head, and it's driving me insane."

Kara listened to every single word, analyzing the true meaning behind them as best as she could, and it was pretty easy to understand why she would be worked up about this, anyone would be, but it also opened up a few questions she has been wondering since the moment Clark came home. "Okay. Let me get this straight. You're freaked out because you've never thought about it before?"

"I never said that."

Chloe quickly grabbed her hand, and squeezed it, like that would force her to give her the answers she wanted. "Why didn't you tell me you've thought about this?"

She ripped her hand away from hers. "Because I never felt like I needed to, besides I only thought about it once maybe twice until today."

Lana eyed her, suspiciously. "What do you want, Lois?"

"What?"

"Lois Joanne Lane, do you want to marry Clark Joseph Kent?"

There was a part of herself that already knew the answer to that question since she had finally admitted it to herself, but the other part of herself knew that she wasn't ready to say the words out loud, and honestly, it wasn't any of their damn business. The only person she planned on talking to this about was her boyfriend when that happened, whether it be weeks, months or years from now.

She was about to tell them exactly that, but was stopped when Chloe clutched her enlarged stomach with her hands, and scrunched her face up in pain before screaming out, "Ahhh!"

"Chloe? Are you alright?"

She simply glanced down to her lap before locking eyes with every single one of them. "My water just broke…"

* * *

All the way across the city, Clark, Pete, Oliver and Bruce were having the best time of their lives, as they laughed while drinking, and were enjoying the fact that they could just be themselves in each other' company since they hadn't done this before.

Luckily, Clark hadn't thought about his altercation with Lex one time since they arrived at Oliver' apartment, mainly because they were distracting him, and honestly, he hasn't had this much fun with friends in a very long time.

As soon as everyone calmed their mirth, Pete grew extremely serious, and stared at his best friend with determination. "Alright. I think it's time we get to the real reason we invited you out tonight…"

He frowned at him. "It wasn't just to hang out?"

Oliver rolled his eyes at him. "No, Clark, we have much more important things in mind."

"What would that be?"

Bruce stared him down, which only made him feel really uncomfortable, and quickly took a swig of his beer, even though it tasted like crap, but he was hoping that it would calm his nerves that suddenly started affecting him in more ways than one. "What are your plans for my adoptive sister?"

He nearly choked on his beer, but thankfully was able to hold it inside before slowly placing the beer back on the table, attempting to catch his haggard breath. "My plans?"

Oliver nodded. "You've been back for a little over two weeks now, Clark, so have you thought about, you know, popping the question? We've already been down that road. Now it's your turn."

If only it was that simple, he thought to himself.

Before he even thought about leaving for his training he knew exactly what he wanted, which was to marry the woman he loved with all of his heart, but they were both too young for a commitment that deep, and when he came home he still wanted it, hell, he had thought about it for eight years. The only problem he was experiencing was what she would think if he had talked to her about it, but then that changed when he overheard her talking to Jimmy about it, which of course only confused him even more than he already was.

It was quite obvious that she was conflicted by her thoughts and emotions, but it was also obvious that she seemed to be terrified of the idea, mainly because she didn't know what he wanted, which was completely ridiculous since she knew how much he loved her.

He knew that he was ready, but the question he had been asking himself all day long wouldn't leave his subconscious…was she ready for such a big step in their relationship?

"It's funny that you bring that up." He sighed, softly, as he rubbed his hands down his face. "I overheard her talking to Jimmy about it, I guess my mom put the idea into her head."

Pete shook his head from side to side, as he chuckled, softly. "She seems to enjoy meddling in our lives, doesn't she?"

Bruce ignored his comment, and moved a little closer to his friend. "What were they saying?"

"Honestly, I really don't know. It was really hard to understand either of them since they were talking in circles, but I was able to deduce that she's confused about how she feels about it, especially since my mother literally dropped this bombshell on her, and she's also terrified of how I'll feel about it. I believe that she thinks I don't know what I want."

Oliver rolled his eyes at his words. "Women! They always have to make things so complicated. Do you think she knows what she wants?"

"I don't know."

Pete smiled, softly at him. "What do you want?"

He was about to answer that question without any hesitation when his cellphone started ringing, and glanced down to see the woman of their conversation calling him. "Speak of the devil." He quickly answered the phone, a teasing glint lingering in his voice. "Lois, do you miss me already?"

"No time for that, Smallville, I need you to get everyone to the hospital, and call your parents too. We need everyone here."

His heart started beating, rapidly inside of his chest, at her words, his mind concocting all kinds of reasons they would need to be at the hospital, most of them being really bad scenarios. "The hospital? What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Clark, it's Chloe…her water broke."

The other line clicked in his ear, loudly before he dropped his hand to his side, and locked eyes with Oliver, who was staring at him, curiously. "It's Chloe. Her water broke."

And just like that everything faded away from him.

His entire body froze.

He wasn't able to hear, think or even speak.

It was finally happening.

For nine months he had waited and prepared himself for this moment, but now this it was actually here he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

Clark groaned, loudly. "Figures he would freeze right now."

Pete chuckled at him. "Just wait until you experience it. You'll do exactly what we all did…freak out."

That particular thought brought a small smile to his face before he quickly shook his thoughts away, forcing himself to focus on what was really important right now. "Let's just get him to the hospital. I'll call my parents on the way."

They quickly helped an excited, nervous and overwhelmed Oliver out of the apartment, all of them wanting to get to the hospital as soon as possible to meet the newest member of the family.

* * *

Several hours later, Clark and Lois were sitting in the waiting room with Kaleb sprawled out across their legs, fast asleep, as they waited for the moment they could meet the newest member to the family.

It had already been a very long night.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital she was already ready to start pushing, and once Oliver showed up the doctors kicked every single one of them out, which had pissed both Chloe and Lois off since she had been there when Kaleb was born, but in a way, it was better this way, mainly because it gave them time to explain things to their son, who didn't really understand the concept of having babies.

Clark glanced down the hallway for the umpteenth time, feeling more and more impatient as the minutes passed. "What is taking so long?"

Lois chuckled at him. "I keep forgetting that you've never been through this before. It took well over seven hours before Kaleb entered this world. Babies can be very temperamental sometimes, especially when we all just want them here already."

He frowned at her, slightly. "You never told me that."

"Because we never really talked about it."

"Tell me."

She was about to tell him everything he wanted to know, but stopped before she even opened her mouth when she noticed Oliver walking towards them with a huge smile plastered across his face, and quickly stood up, careful not to wake up her sleeping son. "Is she? Can I?"

"Chloe and our baby girl are waiting for you." He glanced over at Clark. "You too. I'll watch Kaleb for a little bit."

They quickly made their way towards the room, and when they walked into that room they both had their very own reactions to witnessing Chloe holding her baby girl close to her chest. Lois was feeling more than excited, while Clark was feeling nervousness and awe at the mere sight of it.

Chloe grinned at them. "Lois, Clark, I'd like you to meet Elizabeth Joanne Sullivan-Queen."

Lois stared at her with tears building in her hazel eyes. "You didn't have to."

"Yes, I did. Oliver and I agreed that she deserved to have a part of her aunt and a part of the woman we both loved very much." She held out her hands towards her. "Would you like to meet your niece?"

She carefully picked her up, swaddling her close to her chest, just like she used to do when Kaleb was this little, before staring down at the little beauty, who barely had any hair, but what was there was blonde, just like her parents and she had the deepest green eyes she had ever seen before.

A single tear fell down her cheek. "She is so beautiful." She turned towards Clark, who was standing there in complete and utter silence, as he stared at them. "Do you want to hold her?"

He hesitated, slightly before taking the little baby from her arms, and just held her away from him, not knowing what he was supposed to do.

Chloe chuckled at him. "I think he needs a little assistance."

Lois shook her head from side to side at him. "Here, Clark, put one of your arms underneath her, but make sure your holding up her head. She can't lift it on her own yet."

He did.

As soon as he felt that he was more comfortable holding such a small child he smiled down at her, as she stared up at him with wide eyes, like he was the most fascinating thing she had seen thus far. "Hello there. You're so tiny, but just as beautiful as your mom. You get all your looks from her."

They both chuckled, softly at the endearment he was showing to his niece, as a few tears fell from their eyes from the mere sight of it. He had missed this with Kaleb, but he was able to experience it with little Lizzie, and they were both very happy about that, even if he deserved to witness this with his own child.

As soon as everyone else met the newest member to the family, coddling and spoiling her just like they all had done with Kaleb, Jacob and Jessica, they left, knowing that the new parents wanted to be alone with their baby girl.

They had waited quite a long time for this moment, and they were both very excited that it was finally here, even it was quite a surprise since she was a week early.

It was a very welcoming surprise for the entire family.

* * *

 _ **This chapter and the next two chapters are little fluff pieces setting up the events that are coming up, and we needed a little happiness before things get any crazier. This chapter was specifically the set up chapter for the following two chapters. As for the Superman debut, I didn't want to focus too much attention on that since that isn't the main focus of this story.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter forty seven!**_


	49. Chapter Forty Eight

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Eight:**_

* * *

A tall, skinny blonde man with scrapes, dirt and mud covering the majority of his entire body walked through the all too familiar wooden doors to the mansion, and slowly glanced around his surroundings, feeling more than just a little happy to be back in a familiar place, instead of the hell hole he's been living in for the past few years.

There were some minor changes to the place, mainly the décor hanging on the walls, but it all looked, smelt and felt the same, which is exactly what he needed right at this moment in time.

Familiarity.

Three years ago, he had almost gotten what he wanted—almost gotten the revenge he had wanted for quite a long time, but they had been caught off guard, and instead of getting what he wished, prayed and hoped for he had been stuck in an even worse hell hole than last time, while his two partners were locked away in prison.

Every single day and every single night he was threatened and beaten by the locals, he slept on the cold, freezing ground whenever he could manage to find a safe enough place, and he barely ate or drank anything since it was hard to come by, but now that he was finally back things would start to look up for him.

He was free.

He was back in the real world.

He was prepared.

He wanted revenge.

As soon as he learned about everything that had happened in his absence he could finally receive the revenge he's been waiting well over one decade for, and honestly, he couldn't wait for that day of reckoning to come.

It wasn't just going to be amazing.

It was going to be poetic.

He slowly pushed the wooden double doors open before making his way into the familiar room, grinning, widely at the two men standing near the desk, who both glanced up at him with returning grins plastered across their faces as soon as they had seen the man they had been expecting for the past few days. "Well, you two look like you've been living the high life since we parted ways."

Steve grinned even wider at his sarcastic comment. "Some more than others."

Lex stepped closer to him, his eyes glancing over inch of the man in front of him. "And you look like you've been wrestling with grizzly bears for the past three years. Couldn't you have showered before coming over here?"

He rolled his eyes at him. "I've been dreaming about this one moment from the second I was dropped into that damn hole, so no I couldn't wait to shower first. I want to know what is going on, and what you two brilliant men have planned."

Lex placed his hands directly in front of him. "Slow your roll. There are some things we need to discuss with you first."

"Like what?"

"Like what you have missed in the past three years." Steve stepped closer to him. "I was released from prison a little over one year ago, and I've been keeping an eye on our targets for the day you two would return to the mission. Lois, Chloe and their band of superheroes have been living their best lives since they ruined all of ours. Chloe and Oliver just introduced a new member to the family. Lizzie is her name. Lois, on the other hand, is enjoying her life in Smallville, and her job at The Daily Planet among other things…"

"What about the child?"

"Little Kaleb could be a problem in the future since he has abilities just like his father and aunt, but we're taking care of that little situation."

He narrowed his eyes at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Lex became more serious with him, his expression turning into one of absolute determination. "All in due time, Murphy, the most important thing you need to know is that Clark resurfaced almost two months ago."

That bit of news surprised him, slightly, but there had always been a part of himself that knew the object of Lex' obsession would show up one day or another, and honestly, this was the best possible time since he planned on destroying every single one of them, starting with the woman who has made it her life mission to make his life miserable. "So, he finally decided to come back to the real world."

"He goes by Superman now."

He frowned at him. "What the hell is a Superman?"

"It's his alter ego. Just like Superwoman, The Green Arrow and the rest of that vigilante group they associate themselves with. He showcased himself to the world a little over one month ago saving none other than your favorite person."

"I'm not surprised by that. I never met the man, but I get the feeling that he would do anything for that woman." He glanced between the two of them. "Which brings me to the question…have either of you come up with a plan while I was rotting away in that hole? I've been waiting quite a long time for this, and I'm not that positive if I can wait patiently. It's time that we end this for good. No mistakes this time around."

"You're right. It's time that this is finally taken care of." He glanced over at Steve with a knowing expression. "Tell him."

"Unlike last time, we will be more prepared because this time we know that they have a weakness."

He frowned at him. "A weakness?"

Lex nodded. "Clark, Kara and little Kaleb all have a weakness." He walked over to the cabinet before pressing a button underneath the bottom shelf, revealing one of their many secret compartments, and pulled out a very large lead case. "All three of them are allergic to this one item."

Murphy quickly took the box from him, his confusion growing even more intense as soon as he opened it, and grasped the green rock in his hands, his eyes studying the item like it wasn't even remotely possible. "A rock? A rock is their weakness? That doesn't even make any damn sense."

"That's what we thought, but I tested a smaller piece on Clark, and it definitely words. Luckily, I don't think any of them suspect that we obtain any of these green meteor rocks since they believe that they have disposed of it all."

"We know that they have a weakness, and we've already created a lock proof plan, but there is still a few more things we need to acquire before we can end this for good." Steve added.

He groaned, loudly. "How long is that going to take?"

"A few weeks maybe less."

"Good." He locked eyes with Lex. "I'm gathering that these rocks with take care of the three of them, but what about everyone else?"

He smirked at him with an evil glint lingering in his eyes. "It's quite obvious that they will come after them, and I do have a plan for when that inevitably happens, but we need to focus on our other three targets…Lois, Lana and Chloe."

"What do you have in mind?"

"This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

Clark slowly fluttered his eyes open with a small frown set in place since he didn't want to be awake at this moment in time, mainly because he had been out extremely late last night, saving people from a natural disaster on the other side of the world, but then a smile graced his lips, as a surge of excitement rushed throughout his entire body when his mind was consumed with thoughts of what he had planned for the following three days.

They were leaving Smallville—leaving Kansas.

And he couldn't wait.

Over the past month, every single person in this very large family has been worrying nonstop about nothing else than when Lex Luthor was going to make his move, when Murphy was going to appear, which they all knew would inevitably happen, and what they were going to do about this entire situation.

It was tiring.

It was mind-consuming.

It was frustrating.

If he was being honest with himself all he really and truly wanted was all of their lives to just be a little simpler than they were. He just wanted to be happy with his family, while working at The Daily Planet and saving people as Superman with The Justice League, but of course he had to deal with this Lex situation on top of everything else, which made things way more complicated than they should be.

It irritated him a lot more than he had ever admitted to anyone, and he hoped that things would begin to feel more normal—more ordinary soon, but he knew that wouldn't be a possibility until they took of this situation, which is one of the many reasons he needed a little break from all of this, at least for a little while.

And within the next couple of hours they both would be able to escape for a few days.

For weeks he had been planning this one weekend extravaganza not only because they both needed this, but also because it was the only way he could accomplish what he has been wanting to do for quite some time now, and even though he had ulterior motives for this little getaway he also just wanted to be alone with the woman he loved with all of his heart.

He needed this.

She needed this.

They needed this.

And he intended on making this a great experience for the both of them.

It was going to be more than great…it was going to be wonderful.

His thoughts were interrupted by an all too familiar sound coming from the bathroom, one that he has heard quite a few times already, and a low groan escaped past his throat, as he crawled out of bed, intending to help her through this just like he has been doing for the past several days. This little bug, as she likes to call it, has been attacking her system for about one week now, of course she always told him that it was nothing and that she was perfectly fine, but he highly doubted that since he had never seen her like this before, which worried him, slightly.

There was one part of himself that just wanted to focus on his plans for the weekend with her, but the other part of himself refused to ignore what was going on with her, even if that meant postponing their romantic getaway until she was feeling better.

He made his way into the bathroom, where he found her leaning her head up against the wooden cabinets, attempting to catch her breath away, and slowly knelt down directly in front of her with a soft smile gracing his lips before he brushed the hair away from her flushed face. "Lois? Are you alright?"

She smiled, softly at him, hoping that would reassure him a little bit, but knew that it probably wouldn't work since this wasn't the first time he had found her like this. "I'm fine, Clark."

"Really? Because this is about the tenth time we've done this over the past week." He tilted his head to one side, slightly, staring deeply into her hazel eyes, as an idea occurred to him, even if it wasn't what he wanted to do it's what she needed. "You know, maybe we should just wait to leave until you're feeling better."

As soon as those particular words came out of his mouth her heart started pounding, relentlessly inside of her chest, and her entire body shivered, slightly when thoughts of how that wasn't what she wanted at all consumed her mind, heart and soul, especially since she had a few reasons of her own for wanting to escape with him for a few days.

The first was that she wanted nothing more than to just be alone with him.

The second was she needed a break from everything that they had been doing in the past month, including work, but mainly it was The Justice League constantly discussing Lex and Murphy.

The third was the most important one…she had something very important to tell him—something she hasn't told anybody yet, and the moment needed to be absolutely perfect, which couldn't happen if they were here.

She wanted to escape with him for one reason and one reason alone. A soft smile graced her lips, as she thought about what happened a little over two weeks ago…

 _The early morning birds were chirping all around her, as she jogged down the trail directly behind their house, which is something she tried doing every single morning, and usually she went running with Chloe and Lana, but her cousin was in no shape to go jogging, and Lana was a very busy woman this morning with her husband, and trouble making children._

 _All of a sudden, she started running faster than the speed of sound, the fields of corn passing her in a complete blur, the wind was whipping across her face pretty harshly, and the multitude of smells surrounding her hit her senses every few milliseconds._

 _Once she managed to stop running, she glanced around her surroundings, realizing that she was several miles away from home, and rested her hands against the closest oakwood tree, as thoughts of what had literally just happened consumed her mind._

 _It had happened once before…almost nine years ago._

 _She was pregnant._

 _She slowly slid down to the ground, her hands covering her face, as she attempted to allow this monumental realization to settle down within her mind, heart and soul._

 _It was a very good thing and a very bad thing at the same exact time._

 _Good because this was something she has wanted for years now, and she knew that Clark has wanted this too. It was the main reason she was feeling excitement right now. He would finally be able to be here through everything—everything he had missed before._

 _Bad because this was about the worst time something like this could happen to them since Lex was still a major problem. If he found out that she was pregnant he could retaliate by killing her unborn child, which worried her, immensely._

 _Even though she was feeling quite upset by these turn of events she couldn't help feeling very excited about it as well._

 _He would be here._

 _He would be able to watch their baby grow inside of her._

 _He would be able to be with her when their child was born._

 _He would be able to see everything he had missed before._

 _It was very, very exciting._

 _There was one part of herself that wanted to rush over to Chloe, Lana, Kara, and especially Martha to tell them everything she knew they would be very happy about, but the other part of herself didn't think that would be the wisest choice. Not because she didn't think they could keep it to themselves, but because she wanted to do things differently this time._

 _Last time every single person knew before he did, of course that only happened because he had left before she even found out, but this time he would be the very first person to know, and she hoped that he would be just as excited about this as she was, aside from the fears she knew that they both would have._

 _Now all she had to do was figure out the best way to tell him._

"No, Clark, I promise you that I'm perfectly fine. My stomach has just been feeling a little funky the past few days, but I'll feel much better if we leave. I want to escape with you more than anything right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She allowed him to help her off the floor, and cleaned up the bathroom a little bit before turning towards him with a grin plastered across her face. "So? About this magical, romantic extravaganza…where are you taking me?"

He chuckled, softly, and shook his head from side to side at her failed attempt to procure information out of him.

Just like old times, he thought to himself.

"Nice try, Lo, but I've spent a lot of time planning this, and I'm not going to tell you a single thing about it. I promise you that you're going to love every second of it though."

She sighed, heavily. "It was worth a shot."

"Haven't you learned by now?"

"I've learned that you enjoy keeping me on the edge my seat with surprises. You've been doing it for years."

"Exactly!" He grinned lopsided at her. "Which is why you should know better than to ask me questions like that, but I promise it'll be worth the wait."

"If you say so."

"I do say so." He softly kissed her forehead. "I'll meet you at the farmhouse?"

She nodded. "I'll pick up Kaleb once I finish getting the rest of my things packed."

He rolled his eyes at her. "We're only going to be gone for a few days."

"Well, I don't know where you're taking me, so I have to pack for every occasion." She smirked at him with a teasing glint lingering in her eyes. "Unless you just tell me."

"Never going to happen."

"I figured."

"Trust me, Lo, you're going to love it." She just hummed at him, which caused him to chuckle at her attitude before kissing her on her cheek. "I'll see you in a little bit. Don't be late."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "I won't be late. You're not the only one excited about this."

He grinned at her before walking out of the bathroom, quickly getting dressed, and leaving their house, his entire body feeling compete and utter excitement at what was to come, while his mind flooded with everything he had planned for them.

It had been several years since they had been in either of those places, and even though they had experienced some sad and depressing memories from that particular time in their lives it was the best place for them to escape for a little while.

He couldn't wait.

* * *

Lois slowly walked towards the front door of her best friend' house, hoping that she could manage to get her lovely and adorable son, who had literally begged to stay the night with his cousins, to leave this house as soon as possible since she was more than just a little excited to leave town for a few days with the man she loved, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be that successful.

As soon as she made her way into the living room she found Lana, Pete, Chloe and Oliver sitting on the couch, cooing over little Lizzy, and couldn't stop herself from grinning at the picture every single one of them made. "I can see that you're all spoiling my little niece."

They all glanced over at her with smiles plastered across their faces before Chloe stood up with her baby girl swaddled in her arms. "Doesn't the saying go something like, the first child is always the most spoiled?"

She rolled her eyes at her. "Maybe in any other normal family, but in our crazy one that just doesn't apply. Kaleb was spoiled, as were Jacob and Jessica. Now it's little Lizzie's turn."

Lana chuckled at her. "And when you and Clark decide to have another child he or she will be just as spoiled as the rest of them were."

A small smile appeared on her face from those particular words, but quickly shook those thoughts away, not wanting to give anything away to her friends, even though they deserved to know the entire reason she wanted to escape with Clark for a few days. "I think we'll just spoil this one for now." She quickly grabbed her little niece, making sure that they were both comfortable before rocking her back and forth, as she stared up at her with those wide green eyes. "You're getting bigger and bigger every single day; do you know that?"

Oliver sighed, softly. "I never thought that one month would pass by so quickly." He locked eyes with his friend. "You know, you could have warned me."

She chuckled, softly at him. "And allow you to be prepared for that? I don't think so. Kaleb grew up so fast, and the same thing will happen to this little one, but every second will be worth it."

Pete nodded his head in complete agreement. "Watching Jacob and Jessica grow up was one of the best highlights of my life. They might grow extremely fast, but no matter what they will always be my babies."

"Our babies," Lana corrected him.

Lois grinned at the two of them, loving how happy and in love they were with each other, even after all of these years. "Speaking of…where is my baby?"

"I'm right here, mommy."

At the sound of his voice coming from directly behind her she spun around, and roamed her eyes over his entire body, realizing that he wasn't even out of his pajamas yet, which shouldn't have surprised her, but she really, really wanted to get both of their days started already. "Kaleb why aren't you ready to leave yet?"

He smiled up at her, guiltily. "I was playing."

"And where are your cousins now?"

"Outside."

"Well, you better go get your stuff together, and tell your cousins goodbye. Your daddy and grandparents are waiting for us."

He tilted his head to one side, quizzically. "Can I come back?"

"Maybe if your good for Grandma and Grandpa they will allow you to have another sleepover, but you'll also have to ask your Aunt and Uncle."

He quickly glanced towards Pete and Lana with a charming smile spread out across his face. "Can I? Can I? Can I?"

Pete chuckled at his nephew before ruffling his dark head of hair. "You know that you're always welcome here, but first you better get ready before you're mommy kicks your butt."

An expression of mortification crossed his features before he rushed out of the room, causing every single one of them to giggle at his excitement. "I feel for you two, having just the twins is a handful, but having that ball of energy as well must be exhausting. They are quite rambunctious when they are all together."

Pete grinned at him. "Just wait until Lizzie starts running around. She'll be just as crazy as the rest of them."

Chloe rolled her eyes at both of them. "More like she'll be annoying the crap out of her older cousins."

Lana nodded, completely agreeing with her. "True, but she will have three little protectors." She grinned, slyly at her friend. "One more than the others."

She groaned, loudly. "Don't even start with that. He is already wanting to be just like Clark and Kara. I don't even want to know what it's going to be like when he's a teenager."

Chloe laughed, softly. "You are definitely going to have a handful with that one, especially if he's anything like Clark was at that age."

"I don't want to even think about it. I still have a few years before that happens. I'm just going to enjoy every second of his childhood before the teenage brooding years come up."

"Good idea. You're going to have it worse than any of us combined."

Lizzie started crying, loudly, which caused her mommy instincts to kick in, and quickly attempted consoling the little baby, but it was quite obvious that she only wanted one thing right at this moment. "I think someone's hungry."

Chloe quickly grabbed her baby girl, rocking her back and forth, attempting to get her to quite down before locking eyes with her husband, who was crowding her with worry lingering in his eyes. "Ollie, can you just grab the bag out of the car?"

He quickly nodded, and rushed out of the house like he was on fire, which caused every single one of them to grin at his fatherly instincts. "Never would have pictured him being so fatherly like."

Lois chuckled, softly at his comment. "Well he has had some practice."

Chloe rolled her eyes at her cousin. "It's so much worse now though. Every single time she makes a little noise he is right there ready to extinguish the situation. I swear he is going to be the reason she turns out to be more spoiled than they rest of them."

Lana laughed, softly. "Isn't it funny how the men seem to be the ones that spoil the children more than we do."

Pete glared at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you spoiled our lovely children, hell, they are even worse than Kaleb." She cringed from her own words before glancing at her friend, who had a solemn expression on her face, and immediately regretted those words since they all knew that he didn't have his father until recently. "I'm sorry, Lois, I didn't mean anything by that."

She smiled, slightly at her. "It's alright. Kaleb has Clark now, and that's all that matters."

Chloe nodded. "Besides, he will have the chance to experience all of that when you two lovebirds decide to have another little one." She noticed the expression that crossed over her face before it disappeared completely, and in that moment knew that her cousin was keeping something important from her. "What was that look?"

"What look?"

"You had this look," Lana added before narrowing her eyes at her. "Lois Joanne Lane have you been thinking about having another baby with Clark?"

She rolled her eyes at them. "It doesn't really matter if I have or not. We both are just focusing on our family right now, but if we did then it wouldn't be any of your damn business until we decided to tell you."

"What wouldn't be our business?"

They all turned around at the sound of Oliver' voice coming from directly behind them. "Lois and Clark having another baby."

He rose his brows at her. "Is that something you want?"

She was about to respond with the sarcastic remark that was on the tip of her tongue, but stopped herself when her son rushed into the room with his black bag hanging loosely on his shoulder. "I'm ready."

"About time, mister." She glanced at all four of them with a grin lingering on her face, feeling very thankful that she had gotten out of that one. "And that would be our cue to leave."

Lana and Chloe glanced at each other, knowing that she was avoiding the question like it was the black plague, which only made them wonder what was going through that head of hers, but decided that it was best to say silent on the subject for now. "Tell Clark that he better have something magical planned for this romantic getaway."

"I will."

After saying her goodbyes to every single one of them, and spoiling her niece a little more she dragged her son out of the house, wanting to get to the farmhouse as soon as possible. It wasn't that she wanted to leave all of her friends, family or son, because she didn't, but she really wanted to be alone with the man she loved for a few days, and honestly, she couldn't wait to find out what he had planned for them.

No matter where they went or what they did it was going to be perfect for both of them.

* * *

At the farmhouse, Clark was standing in the kitchen with Martha and Jonathon, wishing and praying that his lovely girlfriend and son would walk through that front door already since he was more than just a little excited about this entire weekend getaway, and he just wanted to be there already, even though he was slightly nervous about his plans he was also happy that this was finally happening, especially after weeks and weeks of planning.

Jonathon grinned at his son, noticing how impatient he seemed to be about all of this. "You need to be a little more patient, Clark, they will be here soon."

He smiled, softly at him. "I just want to be there already."

Martha rested her hand on top of his, squeezing it, softly. "You can't rush this, honey, you'll be there when you get there, and don't rush into anything just wait for the perfect moment."

"I don't intend on rushing into anything, even though I've wanted this for a very long time now. I think I've been planning this since she came back to me all those years ago."

Jonathon narrowed his eyes at him with a stern expression slowly spreading across his face, not liking the implication behind those words. "But you didn't because you were too young, right?"

"Yes, dad, I might have thought about it, but I didn't act on my impulses because I knew that neither of us were ready for that type of relationship."

Martha grinned at him. "But you're both ready now."

"I know that I am. I just hope that she is."

"She is, Clark."

"After overhearing that conversation between her and Jimmy I was starting to think that she might not be, but it's very possible that she is just nervous about it."

"Trust me, Clark, she is more than ready for this type of commitment. I saw it on her face when I discussed it with her, and I've seen it in her eyes every single time the subject of marriage is brought up. She won't say it out loud. This is going to be great for both of you."

"I hope so."

Jonathon smiled at the nervousness his son was showcasing right now, completely understanding since he had been in this same boat many years ago for months before he grew the courage to ask Martha for her hand in marriage. "Do you have everything planned out? That is our greatest weapon. Making the setting romantic before asking the question is how you get them to say yes."

"Jonathon!" Martha slapped his arm, not liking the words he was speaking to their son, but in a way, knew that he was just being completely honest with him, and a part of herself knew that he was right.

"What?"

Clark chuckled at his parents for a few seconds before thinking about the question his father had asked him. "Yeah. I have everything planned out, hell, I've been thinking about this for such a long time now. I've always known that this is where I wanted to do this. I just hope it doesn't bring up any bad memories for either of us."

Martha shook her head from side to side. "It won't. You both have come so far since those days." A teasing grin spread out across her face. "At least your conversation with Sam wasn't as bad as you thought it would be."

He groaned, softly at her words, his mind recalling everything that had happened less than one week ago…

 _As soon as he had finally figured out what he wanted to do, how he wanted to approach it, and where he wanted it to happen he grew enough courage to speak to the one man that he hadn't spoken to in several years, and honestly, he wasn't all that positive that this conversation was going to go over very well._

 _He lightly knocked on Sam Lane' front door, which was only a few miles away from the dead center of Metropolis, and couldn't stop himself from feeling extremely nervous about this._

 _Sam quickly swung open the front door with a frown lingering on his gruff features, wondering who the hell had the audacity to be at his house this early in the morning, but his expression transformed into one of complete surprise when he saw none other than Clark Kent standing on his porch, who seemed to be nervous for some reason. "Clark? What are you doing here?"_

" _I needed to speak with you. I can come back if this is a bad time."_

 _It wasn't a bad time, he thought to himself, but it was weird and strange to see his daughter' boyfriend at his house, especially since he hadn't seen him in a very long time, of course he knew that he had returned from his training, but he didn't feel the need to visit the man, knowing that he needed to spend time with his daughter and grandson._

" _I was wondering how long it would take you to show up. It's been almost two months since you returned to civilization."_

" _I've been a little preoccupied."_

" _Don't I know it." He smiled, softly at the young man before widening the door for him to enter, and as soon as they were both sitting across from each other in the living room, he figured that he would pry into his head a little. "So, Clark, tell me, what has it been like since coming home?"_

 _A soft smile appeared on his face not only because he really did seem interested in his life, which wasn't really the first time that had happened, but also because he was giving him time to build up to the entire reason he was here. "It's been good. My parents and friends have been really great about everything, but mainly it's Lois and Kaleb that have made it all so amazing. I never expected to have any of this before returning home, especially my son, but I do, and I couldn't be any happier about that."_

" _That's good." An expression of humor crossed over his features, as thoughts of his buoyant grandson consumed his mind. "That child can really put a smile on anyone's face no matter what is going on in their lives. I remember when Lucy and her husband, Dean had been arguing over something that really didn't matter, she was so upset, but Kaleb managed to make her smile anyways." He grinned, widely at him. "I'm guessing that he gets that particular trait from you."_

" _I don't know about that." He made himself a little more comfortable on the couch, attempting to keep his nerves in check, but even small talk wasn't helping the words that were currently eating away at his mind. "How is Lucy and Dean doing?"_

" _Oh, you know, the normal. They are both getting used to being married. For years they have been dating, but now everything has changed, even if they have been married for a little over one year now. I'm sure they'll figure out. Couples in love usually do."_

 _That definitely didn't help his current predicament. "Was it like that for you and your wife?"_

 _An expression of pain and suffering appeared on his face before it transformed into one of happiness, as memories of their short lived life together flashed behind his eyes. "Not exactly. We were different. I met Ella at such a young age. I think I was even younger than you were when you met my daughter. We were so incredibly happy for several years before we finally tied the knot. Most people struggle with a commitment like that, even if they have been together for years, but for us it only made things better and stronger between us. When Lois and Lucy came into our lives it made things even more perfect than they already were."_

 _That was quite helpful, he thought to himself, at first his conversation with this man was starting to make him even more nervous than he already was, but now he held a little hope for the words he needed—wanted to speak to him._

 _Sam narrowed his eyes at the man across from his, noticing how nervous he seemed to be, which only made him wonder the reason he was really sitting inside of his house. "What are you doing here, Clark, I mean I don't mind you just dropping by for a visit, but I'm guessing that there is more to this than discussing things of the past."_

 _He took a deep breath. "I'm here for a very specific reason. The first thing you should know is that Lois told me everything about what happened with Murphy and what happened in the eight years I was gone—"_

" _How are you dealing?" He interrupted him._

" _Honestly, at first I was very angry at both Lex and Murphy, and I still am, but I won't allow either of them to ruin what I have built with my family—what I intend on building."_

" _Have you found anything else?"_

" _No, we're working on it, but I'm not here to talk about that. I know that you know about my son and I…"_

" _Yes, that was quite a bombshell to learn, but I completely understand why you were so secretive about it all those years ago, hell, my daughter even protected your secret until she had no choice but to tell me. I'm glad that you're more open about it now, you know since your flying around the world saving people now." He chuckled, slightly when those words was returned with a small grin, but quickly returned his expression to one of impasse, knowing that there was a completely different reason he was here. "Why are you really here, son?"_

 _He took a deep, deep breath. "Sam, I've been in love with your daughter probably from the first moment I laid eyes on her, which I'm sure you've heard all about, but there is no way I could imagine what my life would be like without her or my son in it. I've been spending quite some time thinking about this. More than I probably should, but um, I'm here to ask you for her hand. I want to marry your daughter."_

 _Sam grinned to himself, at those particular words, and made sure that his face remained stoic, not wanting this young man to know what was going through his head and heart at this moment in time. Before he even met this young man, he had known that this day would come, and he wasn't all that surprised that it was happening right now, actually he was more thrilled at the idea of these two getting married, but that didn't mean he was going to give him a simple answer._

" _I'm not sure if my lovely daughter ever told you this, but before I sent her to Smallville I knew that you were there, of course I didn't know about you other than what I could read in a file. I didn't just send her here because I wanted to mend some broken bridges between us. I sent her because she had been completely miserable without you in her life, and I'm sure that it was the same for you, and you both deserved to be happy. It was the best decision I've ever made."_

 _Clark smiled, softly at the man. "She did tell me that, and I've never thanked you for that. You made us both whole again when you did that."_

" _No need to thank me, son, it worked out for everyone involved." A far away expression appeared on his face before he locked eyes with the young man in front of him. "You know, you two remind me a lot of my younger years with my wife. We fell in love just as fast as you two did, and we had many things that got in the way of our love just like you two have experienced. I have hope that you two will be just as happy as we were."_

 _It was incredibly wonderful and interesting hearing all of these things, but it wasn't answering the question he wanted an answer to, even though he had a feeling what he was going to tell him from the words that he had just spoken to him. "Does that mean…" He trailed off, unable to utter the words out loud, but hoped that his future father in law would understand what he was attempting to say._

 _Sam grinned, widely at him. "It means that I'm giving you my permission to marry my daughter. I know that you two love each other very much, and I honestly couldn't imagine giving her hand to anyone other than you, Clark, you were there for her when she needed someone the most. You have always been there for her, and she is always there for you. You two make each other happy, and that's all I want for my little Lo."_

 _A smile graced his lips. "Thank you, sir."_

" _You don't need to thank me, but if I were you I'd make that proposal of yours breathtaking."_

" _I will."_

 _As he left the house, he couldn't help feeling incredibly thankful that that had went much better than he had expected it to, and now he just needed to figure out the perfect way to make his dream a reality for both of them._

"That was probably the most nervous I've ever been in my entire life."

"What were you nervous about?"

They all quickly turned towards the foyer at the sound of Lois' voice lingering from directly behind them, and Clark quickly covered, internally berating himself for not using his super hearing, mainly because he didn't want to ruin this for her. "Nothing, Lo, I was just talking about my interview with Perry."

She narrowed her eyes at him, knowing that he wasn't being completely honest with her since that had happened over one month ago, and was about to question him further, but was stopped from even opening her mouth when their son literally rushed into his arms. "Daddy!"

He quickly caught him. "Hey, buddy, did you have fun?"

He nodded, excitedly. "Mommy told me that I could go back."

"No, I didn't." She quickly stepped towards them with a stern expression lingering on her face. "I told you that you would have to behave, and you could only do that if your grandparents were alright with it."

At her words, he squirmed out of his arms before rushing over to Martha and Jonathon with a humongous grin plastered across his face. "Please!"

Jonathon chuckled down at him. "We'll talk about it later, but right now I think you need to focus on saying goodbye to your mommy and daddy."

His head whipped towards them with a frown set in place. "When will you be coming back?"

"In a few days."

"I want to come with!"

Clark grinned over at his son. At first all he cared about was spending more time with his cousins, but now that he was faced with the fact of saying goodbye to them he wanted to come with. "I promise one day we'll take you there."

Lois frowned at his words. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He smirked over at her. "You'll find out."

"Right. I'm not allowed to know anything." She slowly glanced around the room, noticing that two very important people were missing. "Where's Bruce and Kara? I thought that they would be here."

Jonathon smiled, softly at her. "They were still working at Watchtower when they called about an hour or so ago."

A groan escaped past her lips. "Don't they know how to take a break?"

"Not when it comes to protecting all of you."

"Of course not." She smiled, slightly at her. "Well, tell them not to work too hard while we're gone."

"We will. You two be careful, and don't forget to enjoy yourselves."

"We will." They both quickly uttered their goodbyes to Martha and Jonathon and literally smothered their son with kisses before practically jumping into his truck, heading towards their weekend getaway, both of them feeling very, very excited about this for two completely different reasons.

* * *

 _ **This was a much shorter chapter, compared to what I have been posting, but it was basically the set up chapter for the following two chapters. I wanted to show the conversation between Clark and Sam, mainly because that isn't really shown in some of the stories I have read, and I wanted to show how much Sam has changed from the beginning of this story.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter forty eight!**_


	50. Chapter Forty Nine

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Forty-Nine:**_

* * *

Several hours later, Lois huffed, quite impatiently and loudly, as she glanced outside of the passenger side window, her mind unable to stop wondering where the hell her lovely boyfriend was taking her for their weekend getaway since he had refused to tell her a single thing, even though she had questioned him about a million times since they left Smallville, and honestly, she was becoming more frustrated than anything else.

Just like he used to do all of those years ago, she thought to herself.

A small smile crossed over her features, as memories from those very special three months came rushing back to the forefront of her mind.

It had been one of the best things to ever happen to her.

Before she had even met the man of her dreams, she had been in a pretty depressive state of mind not only because she was completely fed up with her father, especially with the way he had been treating her and the way he had raised her, but also because she was still feeling so much anger, heartbreak and pain from everything that had happened with Murphy, even though not a single person had spoken his name until she moved to Smallville the memories still haunted her.

But…

All of that changed when a tall, handsome farm boy saved her life, and that is exactly where their long, winding story began.

Her entire life—her entire world changed that fateful day.

Clark glanced over at her, wondering why she was being so quiet all of a sudden, and was pleasantly surprised to find her grinning from ear to ear, which was a lovely sight to see, especially since her smile was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen, but it did make him question what was going through that beautiful head of hers. "What are you thinking about?"

She glanced over at him, the smile never leaving her lips. "I was just thinking about the day we first met, well the day you saved my life. We were both running from something—we were both searching for something that could help us, but instead we found each other, and honestly, that was the best thing that ever happened to me."

He smiled to himself, knowing full-well that his first surprise for her was linked directly to that very special day, and he couldn't wait to witness her reaction to it. "It was for me too, Lo."

Her smile grew even wider from his words before her thoughts returned back to the sole reason they were discussing this in the first place. "So? Are you finally going to tell me where you're taking me?"

"You lasted a whole ten minutes." He glanced at her with a small smile gracing his lips before focusing his attention back on the road. "You're ridiculous, you know that?" When he noticed her nodding at him, he continued, "If you must know I'm taking you somewhere special—somewhere that means a lot to both of us, but there is a little stop we need to make first."

That didn't answer any of her questions, she thought to herself.

A few minutes later, he slowly pulled the truck off to the side of the road, confusing her even more than she already was, and gently helped her out of her seat before grasping her smaller hand into his larger one, as they walked towards a bridge that had a beautiful river flowing underneath it, which seemed awfully familiar to her for some reason, but she couldn't place when she had seen this place before. "It's really beautiful here."

He smiled, softly over at her, knowing that she was feeling very, very confused right now, mainly because he could see that particular emotion lingering in her eyes. "It is very beautiful here, even more beautiful than last time." At her frown, he pressed further, "Do you know where we are?"

She thought about his words for a few seconds, coming up completely blank, not really understanding why he wanted to stop here, but as she glanced around her surroundings memories came flooding back—memories that she had just been thinking about came flooding back to the forefront of her mind, and realization dawned on her like a freight train before she grinned over at him like a Cheshire cat. "This is where we met."

He nodded at her. "This is where you almost hit me with your car."

A chuckle escaped past her lips from his words. "And this is where you saved my life."

"You're probably wondering why I brought you here." When she nodded he turned his entire body towards her, and smiled, softly when she did the exact same thing. "I wanted to come back to the place where everything started—where everything changed for the both of us. I was broken. You wanted to be free, and somehow, we managed to find each other instead. You healed me. I helped you, and we've never been happier since those days."

It was true, she thought to herself, they both had been searching for things, but found each other instead, which happened to be exactly what they were looking for, and neither of their lives had been the same after that.

As much as she was enjoying going down memory lane with him she couldn't help wanting to tease him a little bit about a specific thing that happened that amazing day. "You were so terrified of me."

"Maybe a little bit, but as soon as I realized that I could trust you—that I could be honest with you I knew that my secret would be safe with you, as was my heart, even though we barely knew each other at the time."

She shuffled closer to him with tears lingering in her hazel orbs. "I never felt so deeply for someone until that fateful day, which you now understand why, but my life has only changed for the better, and I'm forever thankful that we met that day. My head was completely and utterly confused. My heart was filled with hatred. My soul was encompassed in pain, but all of that changed when I laid my shocked eyes onto your terrified ones. I found the man that I could be honest with—the man I could fall in love with—the man I could trust myself with. From the very beginning I always knew that we would be together forever, even if it did take us a little while to find our way into each other' hearts."

A chuckle escaped past his lips at her last words before he rested his forehead against hers, softly, and stared deeply into her eyes. "And I found the woman I could trust, love and respect with every fiber in my being. You changed everything for me. I believe that you started healing me from the first moment we laid eyes on each other. It just took me a little while to figure that out." He tilted his head to one side. "Do you know what my favorite part about that day was?"

A teasing smirk spread out across her face. "It wasn't revealing yourself to me in the first few seconds of our meeting?"

He grinned at her comment before shaking his head from side to side. "It was when you wanted a full display of all my abilities."

At his words, everything that had happened in those few short minutes came rushing to her mind. The moment he used his x-ray vision on her car to find several packs of Nicorette gum. The moment he super sped them to the bottom of the bridge, and back to where they were standing right now, which almost resulted in their first kiss. The moment he used his heat vision to burn that dandelion into a fiery crisp.

A frown etched over her features, as she remembered when he had refused to explain how he had managed to do that to the flower, of course she understood how that particular ability worked now, but it did make her wonder what he had been thinking about in that moment. "You never did tell me…"

He frowned at her. "Tell you what?"

"What you were thinking about when you burnt that flower to a crisp in my hands…"

A light, pink blush crept over his cheeks, as that particular image popped into his mind just like it had all those years ago, and even though he had promised himself that he would never, ever tell her that he figured that she deserved to know that she has literally been locked inside his mind from the first moment they had met. "Do you remember who first activated that ability?"

"Yes, I remember," she mumbled, quite miserably.

He chuckled, softly at the expression that was plastered across her face. "Well, I attempted thinking about her, and I'm pretty sure you can guess how surprised I was when that didn't work."

"Who did you think about then?"

"I thought about you, Lois, I wasn't trying to, but the image of you just popped into my head. I couldn't stop myself. You are just so damn beautiful." He stepped closer to her, their bodies only mere inches away from each other. "I pictured your beautiful face shining up at me with those dazzling hazel eyes of yours staring straight into my soul. I imagined running my fingers through your soft, silky long hair." He gripped her waist in his hands, and squeezed, softly. "I imagined holding you right here, as I kissed you with everything I had, Lois, you have literally been the only person that could elicit those particular emotions—those reactions out of me, and you still get under my skin to this day. It's been years since we first met, but you still affect me the same way you did all those years ago."

Those words made her heart beat, frantically inside of her chest, which didn't really surprise her that much since he always had a way of making her heart skip beats from just looking at her, even after all of this time has passed.

He would always be the one and only person that made her feel like this.

Most people lose that connection—than bond after being together for so long, but not them, their love was just as strong and pure as it was back then.

"You've always done the same for me, Clark, there hasn't been a single day that you haven't caused my heart to beat like a jackhammer inside of my chest. You've done it from the first moment we met, and you continue to do it every single day." When he smiled down at her she pressed further, her curiosity getting the better of her. "How many times did you imagine kissing me before you finally did?"

"Too many times to count."

A seductive expression appeared on her face, as she stared up at him with a teasing glint lingering in her eyes before she pressed her body against his, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck, causing him to tighten his hold around her waist. "You know, we almost kissed not only once, but twice that day…I think it's only fair that we finally kiss in the place where it all started."

"I think you're right."

He softly pressed his lips against hers, grinning, slightly when she dug her fingers into his black locks, effectively pushing his head a little closer to hers before trailing one of his hands up her body until it rested on the back of her head, his fingers scrunching her soft hair, gently.

When she moaned against his lips, he wrapped his other hand around her back, pulling her against his body, so there was absolutely no space in between them, and softly nibbled on her lower lip, causing her to moan again.

She practically molded her entire body against his, as their tongues intertwined together, tasting each other, and dancing the all too familiar dance they have done a million times over again.

He slowly pulled away from her, and rested his forehead against hers, attempting to catch his breath from that breathtaking kiss. "Just how I imagined it to be, but I have to say that our first kiss was quite amazing."

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, suggestively. "That was quite a night."

"Yes it was." He pecked her lips, softly before untangling himself from her with a smile gracing his lips. "Come on, we still have a few more hours before we get there."

"You really can't tell me where you're taking me? I mean, we are almost there…"

He shook his head from side to side at her. "All you need to know is that it is a very special place."

"Well, if it's anything like this little pitstop than I'm sure I'll love it."

He just smiled at her, hoping and praying that she did enjoy his next surprise.

* * *

Two hours later, Lois was beginning to become even more frustrated than she was before they had arrived at the bridge, as they continued driving down a narrow road, which they had been on for roughly about forty five minutes now.

It was more than frustrating.

It was irritating, especially since she still had no idea where he was taking her, and it was already starting to darken outside, which really wasn't a problem, mainly because she would stay up all night with him, but she wanted to spend some quality time with the man she loved, instead they were sitting inside of the damn truck.

They literally only had a few days before they had to go back to their crazy everyday lives, which meant worrying about Lex' plans and when Murphy was going to resurface, and that was the very last thing she wanted to think about right now.

She was seconds away from questioning him for the umpteenth time since they had started driving again, but wasn't able to get any words to form in her throat, as they passed a familiar sign—a sign she knew all too well.

Estes Park.

It was all starting to make sense.

The reason he had been so secretive about all of this.

The reason he had taken her back to the bridge.

It all made complete sense now.

For weeks she had had a feeling that he was planning something, and then when he had offered, completely out of the blue, to take them away from Smallville and Metropolis for a few days she had jumped on the chance not only because she really, really wanted to escape with him on an impromptu adventure, but also because she wanted to be completely alone with him when she told him the very news that she has been dying to tell him.

It was the perfect place, she thought to herself.

Instead of taking them to some beach or some romantic country, he had decided to take them back to where it all began, of course she had known that they were in Colorado, but she had figured that they were just going to drive through this beautiful state just like they had drove through most of Kansas.

Obviously, she was wrong.

The mere prospect of being back here—of being back where everything started—where everything changed for the both of them caused her heart to beat, rapidly inside of her chest, as memories of everything that happened in those few short weeks came rushing back to her.

They shared so, so many memories here, mainly happy, exciting ones, but there were some sad and depressing ones mixed in there as well.

After being stuck in that horrible excuse of a town in Kansas for one whole week she had ended up here, where she reunited with the man who had surprised her in every way possible—the man who had changed everything she once believed in—the man she couldn't get out of her head.

They had spent every single day and every single night together, just getting to know each other better, becoming best friends in the process, and in that time allowed their feelings for each other to become deeper and more intense.

They had explored this entire town together.

Their first kiss had been here.

Their first date, and plenty of others had been in this one place.

The first time they made love was here.

For five blissfully happy weeks they had spent here until everything came crashing down around them, destroying everything the had built—everything they had wanted—everything that they had needed, and that was when the sadness and depression had entered into their lives.

They both had been incredibly happy, but all of that changed in the blink of an eye. It took them a hellish long three weeks before either of them could feel that happiness again—could feel that excitement again, and that is when they had vowed to always be honest with each other, mainly because it was the only way they could remain happy, stay free, and be with each other for forever and for always.

If she was being completely honest with herself the sadness and depressing memories that still lingered underneath the surface didn't even compare to the happiness and excitement she was feeling right at this particular moment.

They were back.

They were back where it all began.

This was the perfect place for them to be.

Clark, who has been watching her reaction from the corner of his eyes ever since they passed the welcoming sign, was beginning to feel very, very worried, as she just sat next to him, completely silent, staring out of the window like she was lost deep in her thoughts, and started wondering if this was such a good idea or not.

There was a small part of himself that wanted to stop this car, and apologize for bringing her back to a place that held so many memories for them, but the other part of himself wanted to keep driving until they arrived at their destination, hoping and praying that that would give her enough time to let all of this sink in.

Of course, he had known that this could potentially bring back some depressing memories for the both of them, but he had hoped that their happy memories would override the sad ones.

He prayed to every god imaginable that he was right because he didn't just want this weekend to be all about them—all about their history together, but because he wanted this to be perfect for the both of them.

As soon as he parked the truck directly outside of the hotel—the same exact hotel they had stayed in the last time they were here all those years ago he glanced over at her with concern, once he realized that she was still completely lost in her thoughts just like she had been for the past twenty minutes, and took a deep breath before muttering, "Lois?"

Lois, who had heard him say her name in a worried tone was way too lost in her own thoughts to respond to him at this moment in time, couldn't believe that this was actually happening right now. It wasn't just the mere fact that they were back in Estes Park that was causing her heart, mind and soul to react in such a profound way to these turn of events. It was the fact that he had managed to book them a room in the same hotel that held so, so many memories for the both of them.

Honestly, she only loved him more for everything he had done, and couldn't wait to find out what else her lovely boyfriend had planned for them over the next couple of days.

When she had found out that she was pregnant she had wanted to go somewhere romantic not only because she wanted a little romance on this getaway, but also because she wanted the place where she told him to be nothing but perfect, and she already knew exactly where she was going to do just that.

Their waterfall.

A slow smile graced her lips, as she remember how they had came across that one particular spot in this small-town, and grinned even wider when she recalled all of the times they had spent there, including the first time they had danced together.

This weekend was going to be more than amazing.

She glanced over at him with tears building behind her eyes. "I can't believe you did all of this."

He gulped, silently, and shifted a little closer to her, not able to squelch the worry and fear he was feeling right now. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"It's a good thing, Clark." When he took a breath of relief she frowned over at him, slightly. "Did you really believe that I would be upset about this?"

"Honestly, I wasn't sure whether you would be happy or upset about this, but when you remained silent the moment you realized where we were I started wondering if the sad memories we experienced here was overpowering all of the happy ones we shared together."

A soft smile graced her lips before she moved closer to him, so they were only mere inches away from each other. "Clark, we might have been torn away from each other here, but this is where we found each other after that unforgettable meeting. Our happy memories here mean a hell of a lot more to me than our sad ones."

He rested his forehead against hers, smiling, softly, and stared into her hazel orbs. "I'm so happy that you said that because I'm not sure what I would've done if you were upset about this in any way. You know how much I hate it when your unhappy."

"I know, baby, but you have no need to worry. I'm extremely happy that you brought us here." She pulled away from him, slightly, and tilted her head to one side, questioningly. "Why did you want to come back here? I mean, I love that we are back, but you could have taken us anywhere, so why here?"

Her words caused him to stare at her like that was the most insane thing she had ever uttered to him before he rested his hand against her cheek, enjoying the way she automatically leaned into his touch. "I could never imagine being anywhere else with you, Lois, this one place means so much to the both of us. This is where we fell in love with each other. This is where I reunited with my best friend, lover and soulmate. I might not have known that back then, but now I know that we were always meant to meet on that bridge, and we were always destined for fall in love in this one town."

He took a deep breath, as he stared into her eyes, which were already beginning to fill with tears. "I probably never told you this, but before we reunited here I knew that I needed to leave—that I needed to move on, mainly because I felt like I was still too close to home, but for some reason I stayed." He brushed his thumbs across her cheek bone. "That reason was you. There is no other place I'd rather be. If we would have went to a romantic city in another state or another country it would never, ever compare to Colorado. I wanted to bring you here for one reason and one reason alone…to relive those memories—the memories when we were both so carefree, and this is the perfect place to do just that."

A few tears fell down her cheeks from his words, which he quickly wiped away with the pads of his thumbs. "You always know the perfect thing to say."

"You're the only person that has ever brought out these emotions in me. We both know that I've always been romantic and sappy, but you, Lois, are the one person that brings out the passion in me."

She grinned at him, her heart skipping several beats inside of her chest from the implication behind his words. "You bring out the passion in me as well, Clark, you always have, and you always will."

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you're as happy as I am to be here."

"I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else, but here with the man I love."

"I love you too." He quickly captured her lips in a soft, sweet and passionate kiss, pouring everything he felt for her into that one kiss, and honestly, he couldn't wait to accomplish what he had came here to do.

He had many, many plans for them, one in particular, and this moment right here was just the beginning.

* * *

Later that night, Clark and Lois were walking down the familiar streets of Estes Park just like they used to do every single night, their hands intertwined together with two steaming cups of fresh coffee in their hands, both of them feeling more than a little excited about being back here after it having been so many years since they were able to enjoy a simple walk in this town.

Over the past few hours, they had reacquainted themselves with this town after spending a little quality time in their hotel room before beginning their march over most of the town, reliving all of their greatest memories, as they walked past particular places until they found themselves at the same café they had frequented almost every single day and every single night.

It was incredibly amazing being able to do all the exact same things that they used to do.

Lois released his hand, confusing him, momentarily before she wrapped her arm around his waist, squeezing him, slightly, as she snuggled up against his side, making him smile from the mere movement and thought of her action. "I'm so happy that you brought us here, Clark, I never thought I'd ever be here again, but here we are."

He slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, effectively pulling her closer to him, and kissed the top of her head, softly. "I had a feeling that you'd love being back here, but this is just the beginning, Lo."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll find out."

"Right. I should have guessed that you would have more surprises up your sleeve."

A chuckle escaped past his lips at the clear annoyance that was laced in her voice. It was quite obvious that she was getting very frustrated, mainly because he still refused to tell her anything, even though they were already here, but if he was to tell her anything he had planned it would only ruin the surprises he had for her, and he just wanted to make the most of their time here, in every way possible.

They were both extremely happy.

They were both enjoying being back here again.

They were both relishing in the fact that they could relive everything they had experienced here before.

And, he honestly couldn't wait for her reactions to his other surprises.

It has been a very, very long time since either of them had been here, and even though their sad memories still lingered in the back of their minds, most of their memories were filled with complete and utter happiness.

This is where the found each other again.

This is where they spent all their time together.

This is where they became best friends.

This is where they fell in love with each other.

There wasn't a better place for them to be, especially since this one place in particular carried so many memories for the both of them, but mainly because this was the most romantic spot he could think of, and that is exactly what they needed right now.

Romance.

"Clark? Lois? Is that really you?"

They were seconds away from disappearing into their hotel for the night when they heard a familiar voice—a voice neither of them ever expected to hear again ring out from directly behind them, which caused both of them to stop dead in their tracks, their minds recalling every single moment they spent with this one person.

Joslyn.

Lois groaned, softly and quietly, as she remembered how much she didn't particularly like this girl all those years ago, especially since she had attempted weaseling her way in between their budding relationship before they had even shared their first kiss. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Clark squeezed her shoulders, softly, attempting to calm the fire that was slowly brewing deep within her body, but completely understood exactly how she was feeling right now since he hadn't really liked her that much either once he had realized that she was attempting to push the woman he loved out of the way just, so she could have a chance with him. "Be nice."

"Be nice? How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Just do it." He slowly turned them around, simultaneously, coming face to face with the tall, skinny, red-haired, blue-eyed blast from the past, and couldn't help but notice how much she had physically changed over the years. "Joslyn, what a surprise. We never expected to see you."

She rose a brow at his words. "Really? Last time I checked I lived in this small-town. What are you two doing here?"

Lois tightened her arm around his waist, squeezing him a little tighter than before, and smiled to herself when he started rubbing his fingers across her bare skin, calming down the nerves she was currently feeling at this moment in time. It wasn't that she was still afraid that this woman could attempt to take him away from her, which was something that could never happen, but it was the fact that the mere sight of her brought back all that jealously she had felt back then, and it was definitely a feeling she didn't like. Not at all.

"We're vacationing for a few days, you know taking a little break from life. We both figured that coming back to the one place that meant everything to us was the best place to do that."

Joslyn glanced over at the woman she had disliked to an absolute level all those years ago before smiling at the way they were clinging onto each other, protectively, and completely understood why they both were behaving this way, but it wasn't the only thing she noticed about them.

They both had changed a lot over the years.

Clark had a completely different aura surrounding him. It was like he was more confident in himself, and she had a feeling that the woman standing next to him had a lot to do with that, but it also seemed like he had finally figured out what he wanted in life. When she had known him he had seemed to be lost and broken, but now it was like she was looking at a completely different person.

Lois, on the other hand, was a lot like she was before, but there were some subtle changes in her both physically and mentally. It was quite obvious that she had went through something very major not because of the way she looked, but because of the emotions she could sense in those hazel eyes of hers. It wasn't noticeable, but it was one of her little quirks, the ability to read people without them having to suggest anything.

The most prominent things she noticed was her physical changes.

Her hair was much longer, curlier, and brunette now, which seemed to fit her a lot more than the silky blonde had.

Her hips were wider before, which made it blatantly obvious that she had given birth to a child.

But, more importantly, she was ten times more beautiful than she was when she had known her.

"Lois, it's been a long time, but you certainly have changed over the years. You're more beautiful than ever before."

Her mouth dropped open from her words before closing it again, in complete and utter shock, while Clark just snickered to himself. It was obvious that she had changed a lot more than he had given her credit for. "Um…thanks?"

"Your welcome." She glanced between the two of them before shaking her head from side to side with a soft smile lingering on her face. "I have to say I'm quite surprised to see both of you since I never thought this day would come, but I'm definitely not surprised that you two are still together, even after all of these years. I didn't know it back then, but I know now that you two are literally perfect for each other." She chuckled, softly. "I always held hope that you two would stay together. The connection and bond you two shared before you even started dating was unimaginable, but here you are just as connected as you were back then. For years I've been wondering if you two were still together, mainly because I thought that man had found you, but I'm so glad that he didn't."

Clark frowned at her final words. "What are you talking about?"

"The night you two disappeared." When they just stared at her completely clueless, she pressed further, "I was working in the café when this man came in looking for you, Lois, and being the jealous woman that I used to be I told him where you were staying. I'm glad that you were both gone before he found you."

They both stared at her with narrowed eyes, their emotions growing and growing, as they realized something that had never, ever occurred to them before, and simultaneously spoke, "You did what?"

She took an unsteady step back away from them, as soon as both of their steely gazes landed on her, instantly realizing that she had been wrong in her official assessment. There was a part of herself that wanted to just drop this conversation altogether, but the other part of herself wouldn't allow her to do that, mainly because for years she had felt guilty about that one thing, and this was her chance to redeem herself.

Hopefully, they would understand, she thought to herself.

"I'm guessing from the way both of you are staring at me that he did find you?"

Clark shook away the anger and sadness he was feeling right now, attempting to keep his temper in check, mainly because he didn't want one simple thing like this to ruin their weekend, besides that happened years ago, and there was no way he was going to allow this to spoil anything he had planned for them. "He did find Lois, which forced her to leave me…"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers at that bit of information, but it did raise a few questions, one in particular, and she locked eyes with the woman, who was currently staring at her with a mix of unknown emotions. "I don't understand. He didn't say it out loud, but I got the feeling that he was planning on taking you away from here and away from Clark. How did you manage to stay together?"

"We didn't." Lois, who honestly couldn't believe that this woman had been the sole reason she was forced to leave Clark the first time around, took a small step towards her, intending on berating her, but stopped herself from doing anything rash and took a deep breath when the man she loved squeezed her arm, softly, mentally telling her that she needed to remain calm. "We're together right now because we eventually found our way back to each other. My friend, Wes confronted me, and I managed to escape from him, but I left the man I loved in the process. It took weeks before we were able to be together again." She glared at the woman. "Did you really hate me that much?"

"Lois…" Clark uttered, warningly.

Joslyn shook her head side to side at him. "No. It's alright. I deserve everything she has to say." She locked eyes with the woman she really wanted to make amends with. "I never hated you, Lois, it was the complete opposite…I envied you."

She frowned at her. "Why would you envy me?"

"I envied you because you had Clark. You have to understand that for two weeks I had dreamed of nothing other than spending time with him—hoped that we could be together, but then you showed up, and everything changed. All you two ever did was spend time together, and I can admit that I was jealous of your relationship even when you were just friends. I didn't understand your connection back then, hell, I even attempted tearing you two apart, so when your friend showed up I figured that you would leave, and Clark would stay, but I was wrong."

She took a deep breath. "After you two just disappeared I had thought that he had done exactly what he planned on doing, and I've felt guilty about it ever since. I've been wondering for years if things worked out between you two, and I'm very glad that you two are together, but I am very sorry that I was the reason you were torn apart."

Clark could see the sincerity lingering in her eyes, and knew that she was telling them the truth. She really did feel guilty for tearing them apart, and he understood that she had worried about that night for years, but her worry would never compare to the pain they had felt in those weeks they were apart. There was a small part of himself that wanted to be angry—pissed—upset at her, but there was another part of himself that understood that she had her reasons for doing what she had done, besides none of that mattered now.

All that matter was that things had worked out for them in the end.

"You weren't the only reason that happened. There were other factors, but none of that matters anymore. We are still together, and it's quite obvious that you are doing well for yourself, and I can tell that you have never forgiven yourself for that."

She just smiled at him, feeling grateful towards him, but his opinion wasn't her main concern right now, it was the woman who was being very, very silent right now, and she really wanted to know what was going through her head.

Lois stared at the woman, who had done everything in her power to tear them apart, wanting to blame her for being the main reason she was forced to leave this beautiful town, and to leave the man she had just literally realized she loved, but deep inside she knew that wasn't true. She might have played a part in Wes finding her, but the reality of the situation was that he would have found her whether she had told him anything or not.

They still would have been ripped apart.

They still would have been heartbroken for weeks.

Everything still would have happened the exact way it did not because of circumstances that did or didn't happen, but because it was always meant to happen that way. As much as she hated admitting it to herself, they were always destined to part ways at some point, and honestly, it only strengthened their love, connection, and trust with each other.

She stepped towards her with an understanding smile gracing her lips. "Clark' right. None of that matters anymore. You might have told him where we were staying, but he would have found me whether you told him anything or not. The only person that was to blame was me. I chose to leave when I could have been honest with Clark, but I wasn't." She grabbed his hand, squeezing it, softly, and smiled up at him, which received her with a smile in return. "We might have been apart for a few weeks, but when we found each other again our love was stronger than before." She glanced back at her. "It's been years since those times, so how about we all just agree to move on from that, and start from the beginning?"

She grinned like a Cheshire cat at her. "I think that is a wonderful idea, and I know exactly where we can start." She glanced between the two of them with an excited smile. "I'm sure that you both know that tomorrow is the Fourth of July." At their nods, she continued, "I'm having a little celebration at my house, and I want you both to come."

Clark and Lois glanced at each other, nervously, remembering what her little parties were like, and weren't too sure they wanted to do something like that. Neither of them were much for parties these days, and honestly, they just wanted to spend time together…alone.

"Um, I'm not so sure—"

"I promise that it won't be anything like the last party." She quickly interrupted her. "None of us are teenagers anymore. It's just a little together I throw every year with family and friends. It will give us time to catch up. I want both of you to meet my husband and children, and I'd really like to know what you two have been up to since the last time we saw each other."

How were they supposed to say no to that?

Clark glanced over at Lois, who nodded at him before smiling, softly at the woman. "We'd love to come."

She grinned at them. "Do you remember where I live?"

Lois nodded at her.

"Great! I'll see you both tomorrow night!"

They both watched her disappear from their sights before Clark turned his entire body towards her. "Well, that was something I never expected to happen, but I'm kind of glad that it did."

"Yeah. Me too." She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck, and grinned, widely when he automatically wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest. "So? About this little get together? Feel like going down memory lane?"

"We've been doing that all night, Lois, but it would be nice going back to the place where we finally made our relationship official."

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, suggestively. "And this time, Mr. Kent, you are going swimming with me."

He brushed his nose against hers. "Anything for you, Miss Lane."

They shared a sweet kiss before making their way into the hotel, both of them feeling extremely happy about being back in Colorado.

It had definitely been a good start to their weekend extravaganza.

* * *

The next day, Lois was sitting on a white, wooden bench directly outside of The Stanley Hotel, staring at the beautiful scenery surrounding her, as she waited for her lovely boyfriend, so they could make it to the park for the annual firework show before they headed to Joslyn' house, but of course he was taking his sweet time.

She wanted to get frustrated with him, especially since she was excited about what she had planned for them tonight, but in a way, the waiting gave her time to relish in her memories.

They had visited this one historical hotel many times in those few weeks they had been here, but the most prominent memory was their first time visiting this very large, and very beautiful place.

It had been one of her happiest moments with him for several reasons.

The first reason was the way he had teased her throughout the entire day about being terrified of the 'spirits' that resided here, which of course had irritated her at the time, but now when she thought about that it was obvious that he was opening up more to her—he was feeling more comfortable around her—he was able to be more himself with her.

The second reason was the conversation they had had about marriage right here on this same exact bench.

It was funny, she thought to herself, back then she was so adamant about focusing on her career instead of focusing on falling in love, marrying and having children with someone, but now all of that has changed. If she was being honest with herself it all changed the moment she moved to Smallville.

That is where she reunited with the man she loved.

That is where she started having thoughts and dreams about marrying him—about having children with him, and now they had a very beautiful little boy.

She dropped her hand to her stomach, rubbing it, absently, and thought, soon to be another little boy or little girl.

The third reason was the most significant—the most special not only because it was the one moment that had pushed them even closer together—had allowed them to truly and honestly admit their feelings for each other to themselves, but also because it was one of the most amazing nights of her life.

After leaving this very hotel and having dinner together, just like they did almost every night, he had taught her how to drive his motorcycle, which had led them both to the one and only place that held a very important part in both of their hearts.

Their waterfall.

That one place held so many memories for them, and as soon as they were both ready to leave Joslyn' house that is exactly where she planned on taking him to tell him what has been eating away at her mind for two weeks now.

She hoped and prayed that his reaction to her news would be one of happiness, especially since she knew that this is something he wanted, and honestly, she wanted this too.

She pulled away from her thoughts when she heard giggling, and glanced over her shoulder to find a young couple walking a few feet away from her with their arms wrapped around each other, which only reminded her of all the times Clark and her had done simple things like that when they had first gotten together, especially the first night he ever wrapped his arms around her body.

That thought alone caused her to smile, but it also reminded her that she had been sitting out here for quite a long time, and as much as she enjoyed reliving their memories she wanted to watch the fireworks with him—she wanted to go back to the place their relationship truly began—she wanted to be at their waterfall.

She quickly stood up, and started walking back towards the hotel, intending to find him as soon as possible, so they could get their amazing and unforgettable night started.

Clark walked out of the massive hotel with a humongous smile plastered across his face, his mind recalling everything that had just happened, as he made his way towards the woman, who was probably growing very impatient with him.

When he had decided to sweep them away to Estes Park it wasn't just for the sole reason of proposing to her at the one place that was very special to them, their waterfall, but it was also because he had other days about their big day if she happened to accept.

This was the perfect place.

Years ago, when they had first visited this hotel they had discussed marriage, where she had made it clear that she would enjoy getting married in a place like this, and at the time he couldn't ever imagine getting married here of all places, but all of that changed when she moved to Smallville—when she had found her way back to him.

He had known that he wanted to marry her and have children with her, which they had already accomplished with their beautiful son, who looked exactly like him and behaved exactly like her, but it wasn't until he returned from his training that he remembered that this state—this town—this place held so, so many memories for them, and in that moment knew that this would be the perfect place for them to tie the knot.

The Stanley Hotel.

Back then neither of them had actually believed that they would have made it this far since they had only been friends at the time when they discussed this, but they were together, and have been for several years now.

Over the years, they have been through so many things, and honestly, they both deserved a little happiness, which is what they were both feeling right now, but he wanted—needed their wedding to feel the same exact way.

And, that is exactly what he has been planning for the past thirty minutes.

It was going to be utterly amazing, and hopefully she would want to just as much as he wanted to.

As he was walking towards the bench, he noticed that she was no longer there, instead she was waltzing towards him with a steely glance lingering in her eyes, and it really didn't surprise him all that much since she was just as impatient as she's always been.

One of the many reasons he loved her with all of this heart.

Once he was a few feet away from her he stopped in his tracks. "How did I know that you wouldn't be able to stay put?"

She continued walking towards him until she was a few inches away from him, and narrowed her eyes at him. "You said, and I quote 'I'll only be gone a few minutes.' It's been over half an hour." She smirked up at him, and placed her hands on her hips, in that defiant position he loved so much. "I would think that your minutes would actually be minutes, you know since your faster than the speed of sound."

He rolled his eyes at her. "It's not like I could use my abilities to get the information I needed."

"And what information would that be?"

"You'll find out."

A loud groan escaped past her throat. "I'm getting really tired of you saying that. We're already here, so why not just tell me everything you have up those sleeves of yours."

He chucked at her annoyed attitude, and shook his head from side to side. "That would ruin the surprise." Before she could question him any further he quickly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and practically dragged her towards the main entrance. "Now, I think we just might have enough time to stop at our favorite café before we go watch those fireworks like I promised you."

A part of herself wanted to argue with him about this more since she really, really wanted to know, but the other part of herself couldn't help feeling excited about what she personally had planned for him, and slowly wrapped her arms around his waist, as her other hand found his, intertwining their fingers together. "This doesn't get you off the hook, you know."

"I know."

They continued walking, both of them feeling very excited about the fireworks, and going back to the one place everything had truly started for them, but most of all, they were excited about the surprises they had for each other.

* * *

 _ **I really enjoyed writing this chapter since it is a lot like how this story originally started, and I wanted to bring back that feeling before the bomb literally drops on every single one of them once they return to Kansas. I always knew I wanted them to go back to Estes Park at some point, and I felt like this was the perfect time to do that. The next chapter will be a lot like this one with just a little bit more mushy stuff, and it will be the very last smut chapter. Sadly, there is only six more chapters left in this story, including the epilogue, but every story must come to an end.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter forty nine!**_


	51. Chapter Fifty

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fifty:**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'Amazed' by Lonestar**_

* * *

Clark and Lois slowly walked up the all too familiar wooden porch stairs towards Joslyn' front door, both of their minds unable to stop thinking about the last time they had stood in this exact same spot all those years ago.

At the time, she had already disliked the woman since she wanted her out of the way, while he had just realized that she wanted more than just friendship with him, but things were completely different now, especially after their conversation with her the night before.

They both had a feeling that tonight was going to be a very interesting night.

Joslyn almost immediately swung the front door open as soon as they had knocked, and smiled, brightly at both of them before she widened the door for them to enter. "I'm so glad that you both could make it."

She lead them up the stairs, and once they were standing in the living room she turned towards them, the smile never leaving her lips. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to make it or not. I know that you two would rather spend your time here completely alone, just like you used to all those years ago, but I'm glad that we'll all have some time to get to know each other a little better."

Clark smiled, softly at her. "We didn't mind stopping by for a little bit."

"Besides, I think we got off on the wrong foot, and now this is our chance to remedy that." Lois added with a soft smile.

A wide smile spread out across her face, but before she could say anything to either of them she heard heavy footsteps coming from the hallway, and glanced in that direction to find her three rambunctious children running straight towards her.

The two youngest children, a little boy and a little girl, who had dark ebony hair and emerald green eyes, pulled on her shirt, dramatically, as they pouted and sulked with tears filling in their little eyes.

"Chris is being mean!"

"He won't let us play in his room!"

Chris, the oldest of the bunch, stepped closer towards them with a completely annoyed expression plastered across his face. "They know that they can't go into my room, and they definitely know that they aren't allowed to touch my stuff!"

She took a deep breath, as she glanced at her children. "Taylor, Melissa, you both know that you're not supposed to go into your brother' room unless he says otherwise." When they nodded at her she glanced at her eldest son. "And you, you need to stop treating your brother and sister like a burden. They look up to you and you know that."

He sighed, softly. "I know, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with it."

"As long as you understand." She glanced over at Clark and Lois, who were grinning at all three of them, and had a feeling that they understood this situation in some capacity. "Chris, Taylor, Melissa I'd like you to meet some friends of mine. This is Clark and Lois."

The two youngest, Taylor and Melissa, glanced up at them, curiously before the little boy took a few steps closer to Clark, admiration lingering in his eyes as he stared up at him. "You're very tall."

He simply chuckled at the little boy, his inquisitive manners reminding him of their little boy. Kaleb was just as curious and inquisitive as this child was, especially when he first came back home. "Yes, I am. I'm sure you'll be taller than me one day."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers before he turned towards his mommy, his hopeful eyes staring up at her, questioningly. "Is he right?"

She grinned down at her little boy, who was more like her than the other two. "Maybe. It's quite possible."

The little girl, Melissa, wasn't listening to a single thing her little brother and this very large man said to each other, instead her bright eyes were locked on the most beautiful woman she had ever seen before, and she took a few steps towards her. "You are very pretty."

Lois smiled down at the little girl before crouching down to her level, and poked her little nose just like she had done to her own son a million times, causing her to giggle, slightly. "Not as pretty as you."

"I like you." She stepped closer to her, and stared deeply into her eyes. "Is your daughter just as pretty as you?"

Her words caused her heart to flutter in hope inside of her chest. It was exactly what she wanted, of course she loved giving birth to, raising and spending every single day with her beautiful son, but she hoped that this time around they would have a little girl that would be just as sweet and romantic as her father, and would be just as smart and fierce as she was. "I don't have a daughter, but hopefully one day I will, and she'll be just as sweet, cute and likeable as you are."

She grinned from ear to ear before she locked eyes with her mommy. "She thinks I'm likeable."

"That's because you are, sweetheart."

The eldest child, Chris, glanced between the two strangers and listened to every single thing they uttered to his siblings, especially the way this man Clark seemed to connect with his little brother, but when the woman, Lois, had spoken to his little sister he couldn't stop himself from blushing.

She was absolutely beautiful, and the way she related to his little sister made his heart flutter inside of his chest.

He quickly looked away from her. "I'm Chris." He glanced down at his siblings, who were staring up at the two new strangers with complete and utter admiration. "Okay, squirts, I think it's time we give the grown-ups some alone time." He grinned down at them, mischievously. "I'll allow you to play in my room if, and only if you can beat me there."

Their eyes widened before ginormous smiles crossed their features, and they took off running towards his room, intending to beat him there no matter what they had to do.

They all chuckled, as all three of them disappeared down the hallway before Joslyn grinned from ear to ear at Lois, knowingly. "I think my son has a crush on you."

"He's young. He'll have many crushes over the years."

Clark scoffed at that. "You would be wrong, Miss Lane, you have ruined that poor child."

She glared at him, playfully. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He grinned over at her. "It means that you have the uncanny ability to attract any man of any age. You did it to me the first moment we met, and now you've just done it to that child."

A teasing glint lingered in her eyes, as she smirked over at him. "Are you saying that I ruined you for anyone else?"

"Damn straight, baby."

Joslyn chuckled at them, and shook her head from side to side. "You two haven't changed a single bit. You still tease other just like you used to. It used to irritate me, but now it makes me happy to see that you still have that playfulness in your relationship."

Clark wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into her side, which caused her to wrap her arm around his waist, squeezing, slightly. "This one keeps things exciting."

"You got that right."

She smiled at them. "That is one of the many reasons I invited you here. I want to know everything about you—"

"Babe, have you seen those troublemaking children of ours?" As soon as he was at his wife' side he immediately noticed two people he had never seen in his entire life before, and instantly remembered that she had invited some old friends of hers. "Oh, you must be Lois and Clark, I'm Joseph. My lovely wife has told me all about the two of you."

Lois smirked at her. "Is that right? Well, we haven't heard a single thing about you."

"I'm not surprised by that. She isn't much of a gloater, but I think I can remedy that." He glanced at the man standing directly in front of him. "Would you like a beer, Clark?"

"Sure."

"Good, because I wasn't going to take no for an answer." He practically dragged him away from the women, intending to have a one on one conversation with him not only because he was curious about him, but also because he wanted to know more about the man his wife had been infatuated with all those years ago.

Joslyn shook her head from side to side, and chuckled, softly at the way her husband stole away Clark from them. "Clark has no idea what is about to happen."

Lois chuckled right alongside with her. "I'm sure he can handle himself."

"I don't know about that."

"You might not remember this about me, but I can also be just as inquisitive as you are, hell, our son, Kaleb, is probably ten times worse than all of us combined."

Her brows rose at that. "Your son? You know, I had a feeling that you had a child."

She frowned at her words. "How would you know that?"

"Call it woman' intuition, but I am quite surprised that you two lovebirds aren't married yet, I mean I'm not saying that it's bad to have children before tying the knot since I did the same thing. I don't know I just always got the feeling that he was the type of man that would want to be married before having any children."

"Oh, trust me that is exactly the type of man he is, but things just happened a little differently than either of us expected."

"I know how that is."

"Honestly, our son was the best thing that happened to either of us."

"Sounds like an interesting story."

"More like a long story."

"I think we need some drinks for this conversation." She eyed her, curiously for a few seconds. "If I remember correctly you enjoyed beer more than anything else, is that still the case?"

She chuckled, softly at her. "I probably shouldn't drink anything. One of us has to be able to drive."

She frowned, slightly at her words, but didn't question her any further on the matter, figuring that she had a pretty good reason for not wanting to drink.

Over the next thirty minutes, Joslyn had told her everything that had happened in her life from the moment they left Estes Park, including how she had met Joseph in college only a few months later, how quickly they fell in love with each other, and the happiness each of them felt when they had gotten married and when their three lovely children were born.

Lois, on the other hand, told her everything she wanted to know from the moment they left Estes Park to the moment they had decided to come back to the place that meant a lot to them, including the fact that she was pregnant, which had made her understand why she wasn't drinking any alcohol tonight. Of course, she had left out all the details about Clark' origins, the crazy ordeal she had to overcome with Lex and Murphy, and how Clark had literally just came back into her life.

It would just be too confusing to attempt to explain all of that to her, and honestly, she didn't want to talk about any of those things, besides this woman didn't need to know about every pertinent detail of her life, only the important things, which mostly included the love she felt with Clark, and all the love they both felt for their son.

Joslyn grinned from ear to ear at her. "Have you told him yet?"

She shook her head from side to side. "Not yet. I wanted to wait for the perfect moment to tell him. We've both been through so much over the years, and when he surprised me by bringing us back here I knew that this was the perfect place."

A frown spread out across her face. "Did I ruin anything by inviting you here?"

"No, of course not, we both wanted to come here, but that doesn't mean I don't plan on telling him tonight."

"Sounds very interesting and intriguing."

She nodded at her. "Speaking of, where did my lovely boyfriend disappear to?"

"My dear husband is probably antagonizing him."

"Well, I guess I should go rescue him, besides he did promise me that he would go swimming with me."

"Oh, yeah, since you practically dragged him into the pool with you last time."

She frowned at her. "You saw that?"

"I was a jealous woman back then, but we're both different now."

"That we are."

All of a sudden, a loud, screeching little girl screamed at the top of her lungs, causing them both to glance down the hallway. "Mommy!"

A soft sigh escaped past her lips. "My job never ends."

"Tell me about it."

"Mommy!"

"That would be my cue." She grinned at her with a mischievous glint lingering in her eyes. "You should probably go rescue that boyfriend of yours. Have fun with that."

"Oh, I definitely will." She quickly walked outside before heading down the wooden stairs in the backyard, intending to find the one man she was searching for, but instead of finding him she noticed a familiar metal gate, and very slowly walked through it only to find the very large and very empty swimming pool.

A slow smile appeared on her face, as the memories of that one night in particular came back to her. They had only been friends at the time, but deep inside they had both wanted to be more—they had wanted to be together, and that night was when their dreams—wishes had finally came true.

It wasn't just the mere fact that they had finally revealed their true feelings to each other that was causing her to go down memory lane or to cause her heart to flutter inside of her chest, just like it did every single time she thought about him, it was the events that occurred before they had even shared their first kiss.

She had been nervous before coming out here to meet him, mainly because she was wearing a bikini, but mostly it was because of the feelings she had for him—the feelings she wanted to reveal to him. After seeing her, she had teased him, relentlessly about him refusing to go swimming with her and the new nickname she had came up with in that moment until he had become completely and utterly fed up with her.

That was when things got interesting, she thought to herself, as she remembered how she had practically pulled him into the water with her.

It was more than exhilarating swimming around with him, but it wasn't the most profound memory from that night. It was the moment they had almost kissed for the fourth time since they had met each other, of course their moment had been interrupted, but in the end they both had received that kiss they had wanted so desperately, and the night only got better from there.

She grinned from ear to ear, as she thought about how they went to 'their' waterfall after that romantic, mind-blowing kiss, and had literally spent several hours just talking about their feelings for each other, which coincidentally was what was going to happen tonight.

Her big plan for tonight consisted of her telling him everything she felt for him back then—everything she felt for him now before she revealed the one thing she wanted to confess more than anything.

She couldn't wait for his reaction.

* * *

Clark was standing in the backyard, leaning most of his weight against the fence line, as he listened to Joseph, who had spent the past several minutes asking him question after question about his life, tell him about all the many reasons he was with his wife, how much he loved her and their three children.

It made him smile.

It always made him happy when he heard about other people' lives, but in this particular case it only made him wonder if their life would be anything like the man in front of him and his wife. Would they be married? Would they be extremely happy? Would they have more children?

He didn't know, but he did know that one of those many questions that were rattling through his head would be answered in less than a few hours.

That thought alone caused a thrill of complete and utter excitement to rush throughout his entire body, affecting every single one of his nerves.

A little over ten years ago he had met the woman of his dreams at a time in his life when he wasn't searching for love, in all honestly, he was looking for anything else, but had found his soulmate while being broken and lost.

That was the best thing that ever happened to him.

And tonight, tonight would be about more than him confessing his love to her and asking her the very question he has wanted to ask her for years now it was the night he officially made her his.

He couldn't wait.

Joseph glanced over at Clark, instantly realizing that he was completely lost in his thoughts instead of listening to his long winded story about the love of his life. "Clark?"

He quickly shook himself out of his thoughts, and glanced over at him, knowing that he knew he hadn't been listening to him. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

A soft chuckle escaped past his throat. "It's not important. I was just going on and on about Joslyn and our adorable children." He stared at him, inquisitively. "We've probably talked about everything there is to talk about, including your love life, but I haven't heard much about her personally."

A huge grin spread out across his face. "Lois is a hard person to explain in only a short few words, but I can tell you that she is everything to me, and she feels the same way about me. Just like how you and Joslyn feel about each other. We met in a time in our lives, where neither of us were searching for love, actually we were looking for the complete opposite, but we found each other, and even though we've shared many ups and down over the years we are still as happy as we were the first time we met."

He smiled, softly at him. "You know, they say that the greatest love stories are found within people who were never searching for it."

"They do say that. Seems like we both got pretty lucky on that front."

They both glanced towards the house when they heard someone walking down the wooden stairs, instantly realizing that it was none other than the subject of their conversation, and it was quite obvious that she was searching for him before she found the metal gate to the swimming pool.

Joseph nudged him, slightly. "It would seem that she's intending on making sure you keep that promise you made."

He chuckled, softly. "I guess that means I shouldn't keep her waiting much longer."

"Probably not." He started walking towards the house, but stopped in his tracks, and turned back around towards him. "Oh, Clark, I know that you're excited to take her to your favorite spot in this town, but don't leave without saying goodbye. I would really like to get together sometime, you know, get to know the man my lovely wife has told me so much about; besides I can see us being great friends."

"We won't."

As soon as he disappeared into the house he started walking towards the pool, where he found the woman of his impending thoughts standing near the water, completely lost in thought, and had a pretty good feeling that she was thinking about them—about their past, specifically their past in this one place.

He slowly made his way over to her, quietly before slowly wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest, startling her, slightly, and felt a smile grace his lips when she melted into him just like she always did when he held her like this. "Now, what are you doing out here all alone?"

She giggled, softly at him before twisting in his arms, and resting her hands on the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his dark ebony locks. "I'm not alone now."

"No, you aren't." He tightened his arms around her body, pulling her even closer to him. "What were you thinking about?"

"You. Us. How happy I was last time we were here, and how happy I am now that we are back."

"And this is just the beginning."

She leaned back in his arms, slightly, and quirked a brow at him. "Mind sharing?"

"Not going to happen, Lo, but I do believe that I made a promise to you."

"You would be right." A teasing glint appeared in her hazel eyes. "At least this time I won't have to coarse you."

"You mean, practically drag me into the water with you, you know, that was very sneaky of you."

"It's not my fault that you can be a little slow sometimes."

He glared, playfully at her. "That is not how things happened, and you know it."

"True, but I think it's time that we relive that particular memory, maybe this time we'll get it right."

A magical and suggestive glint appeared in his aquamarine eyes from her implicating words. "We will definitely be doing things right this time."

As soon as they were both undressed and floating in the cool water they swam towards each other, instantly wrapping their arms around each other. "Now, if I remember correctly this was the very night that I came up with your favorite nickname."

"Don't you dare say it."

She grinned, mischievously at him before leaning towards him, captured his lips in a soft kiss, and whispered against his skin, "Clarkie…"

A low growl escaped past his throat. "You didn't."

"I did."

"You know, it's been a very long time since I heard that particular word, and I'd rather keep it that way."

"That isn't going to happen, Clarkie." She quickly swam away from him, ducking under the water, like that would stop him from finding and catching up to her.

For several minutes they chased each other around in the water until he had her pinned up against the side of the pool, exactly like he had done all of those years ago, and smirked, teasingly at her. "Now, this feels very familiar."

She smirked right back at him. "Maybe this time you won't chicken out."

A low sounding growl escaped past his lips before he crashed his lips against hers, and molded every single inch of his body against hers, as his hands rested on her waist, squeezing, softly. "Chicken out, huh?"

She rolled her eyes at him before quickly flipping them around, so he was now the one pinned against the siding of the pool, using a tad bit of her super speed ability, but hoped that he didn't notice anything amiss. "Shut up, farm boy."

At first, he had been quite surprised that she had managed to flip them around so quickly, but all questioning thoughts came to a complete stop when she pressed her lips against his own, kissing him, hungrily.

He quickly wrapped his arms around her body, his hands trailing up and down her bare back, as her hands brushed throughout his soaking wet hair, her fingernails scraping against his scalp, causing him to moan, softly, which she swiftly took advantage of by slipping her tongue inside of his mouth, tasting him. "Now that should have been our first kiss."

His hands tightened around her body, as he pressed her even closer to him. "I think out first kiss was perfect."

"It was, wasn't it?"

As he stared, deeply into her dazzling hazel eyes, which were staring just as deeply into his own he knew that it was time for them to leave not only because he wanted to be completely alone with her, but also because it was time he took them back to the one place that meant absolutely everything to them.

It was time he did exactly what he had came here to do.

"I want to take you somewhere."

She frowned at him, slightly. "Right now?"

He nodded.

"Where are you planning on taking me?"

"You'll find out soon enough, but I can tell you that it is a very special place to the both of us."

That intrigued her, immensely, and she wondered if he was taking her to the same exact place she had planned on taking him tonight.

Probably, she thought to herself, since that one place held a special place in both of their hearts.

"What are we waiting for?"

They quickly pulled themselves out of the pool, dried off and got dressed before heading into the house, both of them feeling more than a little excited about what was going to happen as soon as they arrived at their final destination of the night.

"Clark! Lois!" They quickly spun around towards the two familiar voices, noticing both Joslyn and Joseph making their way towards them, as they held their two sleeping children. "Are you heading out?"

Lois nodded at her. "There is somewhere we need to be, but it was nice seeing you and talking to you again."

She smiled at her, knowingly. "I'm glad I ran into you yesterday."

Joseph struck out his hand, which Clark quickly shook. "It was nice meeting you."

"It was nice meeting you too."

"Maybe we can all hang out again, you know go on a double date or something before you leave town."

Clark sighed, softly at her. "Maybe we'll be able to come back sometime soon, but tonight is actually our last night here."

Lois frowned over at him, wondering what the hell he meant by that since she had thought they would be staying here the entire time, but didn't bother questioning him about it, mainly because she knew that he wouldn't tell her a second thing, and she figured that this was just another thing he had planned for them.

Joseph nodded at him. "That's a shame, but I'm sure we'll all see each other again soon."

After muttering their goodbyes to the both of them they quickly made their way outside of the house, and he led her to an isolated place, where no one could see them before lifting her up into his arms, making her giggle, as she clutched her arms around his neck. "Up, up, and away, Superman."

He rolled his eyes at her before shooting up into the night sky, and once they were high enough in the darkened skies he slowed down, as he flew them to their destination, both of them enjoying the beautiful views underneath them, their minds going back to the first time he took her flying…

 _It had been an extremely long and exciting day not only because he had returned home after eight years, but also because he had gained so many things in a short few hours._

 _He had a son._

 _That was something he wasn't sure that would ever be possible for him, but it had happened, and he couldn't be any happier about it._

 _He stared down at the beautiful woman, who had literally made all of his dreams come true, for a few minutes before he crawled out of bed, and tossed on some clothes, as he made his way outside to their balcony, which was connected directly to their bedroom._

 _His eyes glanced up towards the bright moon, as the cool breeze brushed against his skin, and he curled his hands around the railing, feeling more peaceful than he has felt in a very long time._

 _It was more than amazing being back home, he thought to himself._

 _He felt her slender fingers brush across his bare back before he slowly turned around, and pulled her into his chest, as he closed his eyes, her scent overwhelming every single one of his senses. "I'm so happy to be back home."_

 _She pulled away from him, slightly, but kept her arms locked around his body. "I'm happy you're home too, Clark, I waited a very long eight years for this. When you left I felt like I had lost apart of myself, even though I knew you were coming back one day. The only thing that kept me going was our beautiful son." A soft chuckle escaped past her lips. "I remember when Kaleb was about two or three years old he kept asking questions about you, wanting to know every little thing about you, and it only got worse the older he became. I think we visited those caves every single night."_

 _He frowned, slightly at her words. "You took him to the caves?"_

" _It was the only place I could take him. He felt closer to you there for some reason. Every single night he would place his hand on the wall, as he told you everything that had happened that day. He knew that you couldn't hear him, but it made him feel like you were there with him, and honestly, it made me feel closer to you as well."_

 _Tears filled his aquamarine eyes before he hugged her, as tight as he could possibly manage. "I'm so sorry, Lo, I wish I never had to leave you or our son, but from this point forward we will always be together. Nothing is ever going to tear me away from you again. I think we've had enough of that over the years."_

 _A few tears fell down her cheeks from his words, as she pulled away from him. "Promise?"_

" _I promise, baby." He kissed her softly, sweetly and passionately. "Come on, we should probably get back to bed. We have a long day tomorrow."_

" _Not yet. There is something we haven't done since you came back to me, and I doubt we will have a lot of time for it after tomorrow."_

 _A frown took over his features from her words, not really understanding the meaning behind them, but figured that she had her reasons for saying such a thing. "What haven't we done yet?"_

 _She grinned up at him like a Cheshire cat. "You, Mr. Kent, haven't taken me flying yet."_

 _His eyes widened, slightly at that. "Right now? You want to go flying right now?"_

" _I think it's only fair, I mean I was the person that predicted this, so I do believe that it is my right to be the first person that gets to go flying with you."_

" _The only person." He corrected her. "I guess you have a point. You were the first person to see my true potential. It's no wonder why you're the one for me."_

" _Damn straight. You're mine. I'm yours, but right now I think it's time we go on a little adventure."_

 _He quickly super sped them into warmer clothes before lifting her up into his arms, and shooting up into the night sky, loving the way she clung onto him for dear life. When they were several feet above level ground, high above the thousands of cornfields beneath them he glanced down at her, realizing that she was clutching onto him with her eyes closed. "You can open your eyes, Lo."_

 _She very, very slowly opened them, and was completely amazed by what she was seeing._

 _It was incredibly beautiful, and nothing like she had expected it to be._

" _This is amazing."_

" _It took me a long time to get used to it for reasons you know all too well, but honestly, I love the feeling of being this high up in the sky."_

 _She smirked at him. "Got over that fear of heights, I see."_

 _He nodded at her before an idea occurred to him, and he honestly hoped that she would be alright with this. "I want to try something."_

 _A frown spread out across her face, as she wondered what was going through that head of his, but that question was quickly answered when he slowly dropped her legs, her feet resting on the top of his, while his hands gripped her waist in his hands, and she clung onto him, feeling slightly terrified._

" _Are you okay, Lo?"_

 _She nodded, even though she felt anything but alright at this moment in time, but as she glanced around her surroundings her fear started dissipating almost immediately, and she grinned at the beauty surrounding them. "It's so beautiful up here."_

" _Not as beautiful as you."_

 _His words caused her to smirk at him, as she tightened her arms around his neck. "There's my sappy boyfriend."_

 _He ignored that completely, and kissed her softly and passionately, as they twirled and swirled in the night sky, like they were dancing, neither of them feeling happier than they did right at this moment._

They both pulled out of their thoughts, as he slowly lowered them to the ground directly in the center of a place that meant a lot to both of them.

Their waterfall.

A large, breathtaking smile spread out across her features when she realized where he had taken her, even though she had a feeling that this is exactly where he was planning on taking them. "How did I know that you were going to bring me here?" She shook her head from side to side, chuckling, softly. "It's funny, this is where I wanted to bring you tonight."

He frowned at her words. "You were planning on bringing me here? Why?"

"You're not the only one with surprises up their sleeves."

That intrigued him, immensely, but instead of questioning her more like he really wanted to he didn't, figuring that he would wait until she was ready to tell him what that surprise of hers entailed exactly, besides he had more important things to worry about right now.

For the next several minutes they walked around in circles with their hands intertwined together, as they glanced at everything surrounding them, and noticed a few subtle changes, but all in all it looked exactly the same way it did all those years ago.

She released his hand, as she spun around in circles, feeling extremely happy at this moment in time. "I remember the night we found this place. I think that was one of the best nights of my life."

He smiled at her, loving how happy she seemed to be right now, and hoped that she stayed this happy once he got through this. "It was mine too, Lo, I remember fearing for your safety, but when we found this place I knew that I wanted to take you here every single night. We were both happy here, and I feel more in love with you every single time we came here."

"I did too, Clark." An expression of complete and utter happiness spread out across her face. "Our last time here was filled with so much happiness and love."

"My last memory here wasn't happy, and I definitely wasn't feeling any type of love." He corrected her.

She frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

"After you left town I came back here before I left, and I was feeling anything but happiness or love."

A soft sigh escaped passed her lips, as she stepped closer to him. "I'm so sorry that happened, Clark, we were both so incredibly happy here, but I ruined that."

He shook his head from side to side. "You didn't ruin anything, Lois, most of our memories here were happy, and I didn't bring you here to reminisce about the sadness we felt during those days."

"Why did you bring me here then?"

"This was the place where I fell more in love with you. This is the place where I felt at peace with you. This is the place where I first danced with you. I brought you here because I want to relive all of our favorite memories." He held out his hand towards her. "Will you dance with me, Miss Lane?"

"She quickly slipped her hand into his. "I'd love to, Mr. Kent."

 _ **Every time our eyes meet**_

 _ **This feeling inside me**_

 _ **Is almost more than I can take**_

 _ **Baby, when you touch me**_

 _ **I can feel how much you love me**_

 _ **And it just blows me away**_

 _ **I've never been this close to anyone or anything**_

 _ **I can hear your thoughts, I can see your dreams**_

They pulled each other close, their bodies mere inches away from each other, as they wrapped their arms around each other, and slowly started swaying to the beautiful music surrounding them.

 _ **I don't know how you do what you do**_

 _ **I'm so in love with you**_

 _ **It just keeps getting better**_

 _ **I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side**_

 _ **Forever and ever**_

 _ **Every little thing that you do**_

 _ **Baby, I'm amazed by you**_

They gently rested their foreheads against each other', as their eyes fused together, magnificently, the music ringing in their ears moving their hearts, and connecting their souls together.

 _ **The smell of your skin**_

 _ **The taste of your kiss**_

 _ **The way you whisper in the dark**_

 _ **Your hair all around me**_

 _ **Baby, you surround me**_

 _ **Touch every place in my heart**_

 _ **And it feels like the first time every time**_

 _ **I want to spend the whole night in your eyes**_

They shared a sweet, passionate kiss underneath the moonlight, their bodies pressed together, tightly, as they swayed directly in front of their beautiful waterfall, both of them enjoying the feeling of being back in this one place doing the same exact thing they had done several times in this same exact spot.

 _ **Every little thing that you do, oh**_

 _ **Every little thing that you do**_

 _ **Baby, I'm amazed by you**_

As soon as the last notes to his favorite song died in their ears, he removed the headphones, stuffing the iPod back into his pocket before grasping both of her hands in his, and took a deep, deep breath, slowly building the courage he needed for this moment. "Do you know how much you've changed me?"

A frown etched over her features from his words. "Yes, Clark, we both have changed for the better."

"Before we met I was a broken and lost soul, but that all changed when you almost hit me with your car. You made me believe in myself again. You made me trust myself again, but most importantly, you opened my heart in more ways than one. You are the sole reason I am the man I am today. Those three months we spent together was just the beginning. When you came back to me my entire world changed not only because you were finally back in my life, but also because you made me think of things that had never occurred to me before." He tilted his head to one side, and smiled, endearingly at her. "I love you more than anything in this world, Lois."

Tears filled her hazel eyes at his heartfelt words, even though she had heard him say these things to her a million times over again, especially since he has been back in her life, but she couldn't help wondering why he was speaking like this all of a sudden, and honestly, his words were only causing her heart to flutter inside of her chest.

"I love you too, Clark, we've been through a lot over the years, and even though you haven't been by my side for everything you were always with me inside my heart. You are the only man I have ever loved, and I could never imagine loving anyone other than you." She frowned, slightly at him. "But, we've told this to each other several times, so why are you bringing it up now?"

"I'm bringing this up now because I want you to know how much you mean to me." He pulled her a little closer to him, his thumbs caressing the soft skin of her hands. "I might not have known it back then, but I've loved you from the first moment our eyes met that fateful day. We were always destined to meet. We were always destined to fall in love. We were always destined to be together for forever and for always. When you came back to me I started having dreams and hope for a future with you, but then I left, and ever since I returned I've wanted to make my dreams a reality not only because it's what I've wanted for a long time, but also because it would mold the love we have been building for years now."

He slowly knelt down onto one knee, and pulled out a small black box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring he had made himself before locking his nervous aquamarine eyes onto her shocked hazel ones. "You are the woman I love. You are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. You are the woman I want to build a future with. I couldn't possibly imagine living a single day without you in my life—without you by my side. Lois Joanne Lane, would you do the honor of marrying me?"

Lois was completely and utterly speechless when he proclaimed his love for her, but the moment he had knelt down in front of her the air in her lungs had literally escaped from her body, and honestly, she couldn't believe that this was happening right now.

He was proposing to her.

This entire weekend away had been about this one moment.

The tears flowed down her cheeks at an alarmingly fast rate, as she grinned from ear to ear down at him. "Yes! Yes! I will marry you, Clark Jerome Kent!"

The largest grin spread out across his face, as he slipped the ring onto her finger, and quickly stood up before wrapping his arms around her body, pulling her against his chest, his lips pressing against hers softly, passionately and romantically.

As soon as he pulled away from her he rested his forehead against hers, and tightened his arms around her body. "I love you so damn much Lois."

"I love you too, baby. I can't wait to be called your wife."

"Lois Joanne Lane-Kent."

She grinned at him before pulling away from him, slightly. "You sure make in incredibly hard for me to tell you what I need to tell you, especially after a proposal like that."

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"Here goes nothing." She grasped both of his hands, squeezing them, slightly before she rested them on her stomach, which only confused him to no end, and took a deep, deep breath. "You know how I've been sick for the past few days?" At his nod she continued, "Well, there is a reason for that. I really, really hope that your dreams and hopes for our future include another addition to our already perfect family…I'm pregnant, Clark."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers from her words before he glanced down at her flat stomach then back up to her eyes over and over again until her words finally registered in his already overwhelmed mind.

She was pregnant.

He was going to be a daddy again.

She was going to be a mommy again.

They were going to have a little boy or a little girl.

Honestly, that was the best news he had heard in a very long time.

"Y-you're pregnant?"

She nodded her head up and down, feeling a little nervous since she honestly couldn't tell what was going through that head of his, but that changed in a matter of seconds when he quickly kissed her with fervor, his feelings—his emotions radiating out of his body, and she quickly responded to him, feeling more than happy from his excited reaction.

This was the most excitement he has felt in an incredibly long time, of course her accepting his proposal had been exciting, but the mere fact that she was pregnant—that they were going to be parents again—that he was going to be here for everything this time around brought him more excitement and happiness than anything else ever could.

"Oh my god! Lois, I love you so damn much!"

"I love you too, Clark." She pulled away from him, slightly. "Are you really happy about this?"

He frowned at her words. "Yes, of course I'm happy, baby, I love our son to death. He is everything that I've ever wanted, but having another little boy or little girl is only going to make this family more complete—more whole. Why would you think I wouldn't be happy about this?"

She sighed, softly. "Because I wasn't when I first realized I was pregnant. It was only for a few seconds, but I couldn't help thinking that this was the worst possible time for this to happen, I mean, Lex is a major problem, and Murphy could also be a problem as well. I wanted my next pregnancy to be different. I wanted to enjoy this instead of worrying the entire time."

That made complete sense, he thought to himself, but it didn't change anything.

He was excited about this.

He was happy about this.

And, there was no way he would allow anyone to ruin this for them.

He slowly brought one of his hands up to her cheek, his thumbs gliding across her soft skin, as his other hand rested over her stomach, his fingers rubbing exactly where their little boy or little girl was growing inside of her. "You will, Lois, we both will. I promise you that I won't allow anyone to ruin this for us. We are going to enjoy every second of this pregnancy until the day that he or she is born, and if Lex or possibly Murphy attempt to ruin this I will deal with them myself. You're safe now. Our son is safe now, and I'll be damned if I allow anything to happen to our unborn child."

Tears were running down her cheeks like a waterfall from the determination—the love—the protection he portrayed not only towards her, but towards their children, and honestly, that was the only reassurance she needed from him. "We're going to be parents again."

A large grin spread out across his face. "We're going to be parents to a beautiful little girl or a handsome little boy."

They grinned, widely at each other, their eyes connecting and meshing together before they leaned towards each other, their lips meeting halfway, sealing the love—the happiness—the hope they felt at this moment in time.

As soon as their kisses became more and more intense he wrapped his arms around her entire body, molding every inch of her against him before he lifted her off the ground, slightly, and began swinging her in circles and circles, causing her to giggle against his lips.

There was a part of himself that wanted to just stand here with her in their favorite spot in this small-town just relishing in the thought of having another child with her, but the other part of himself wanted to be completely and utterly alone with the woman he loved with all of his heart.

With that thought in mind, he quickly lifted her into his strong arms, surprising her, slightly, and flew them away. Once they were locked in the confines of their hotel room their lips molded together, perfectly, and their tongues danced together, as they very slowly removed every piece of clothing before making their way to the bed.

Their eyes connected for a few seconds, all of the love and happiness they felt for each other resonating in their emotion filled eyes before they wrapped their arms around each other, their lips crashing together, passionately.

As they made love, they took their time with each other' bodies, wanting this moment to last forever—wanting this moment to never end, and relished in the fact that they were engaged—that they were expecting a little boy or a little girl.

The world couldn't be any better than it was right now, at least in their eyes.

* * *

Several miles away from the happiness and love that was being attained in the small-town of Colorado, Chloe was quickly rushing down the darkened streets of Metropolis towards the very tall building that housed Watchtower, attempting to calm her never ending nerves, as she made her way towards the several people that were patiently waiting for her arrival, her mind replaying what had happened less than one hour ago…

 _It had been a very, very long day at The Daily Planet not only because it was her official first day back, but also because her lovely cousin and best friend weren't there to help her get back on her own two feet after being away from that lifestyle for the past two months._

 _Of course, she had Perry and Jimmy, who were more than willing to give her an extra hand, albeit it would have been so much better if her partners had been there with her, but she completely understood that they needed this time away._

 _As she was making her way towards her car, intending to get back home as soon as possible to be with her husband and little girl, she heard a familiar cold, cynical voice lingering from directly behind her. "Well, someone is in a hurry this evening."_

 _She stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of his voice, and slowly turned around to face the one man she had hoped to never, ever see again, even thought they had all predicted that this would happen they had hoped that he would stay locked in that hell hole, obviously that wasn't how things were going to play out, which only meant nothing but pain and suffering for everyone she cared and loved with all of her heart._

" _Murphy."_

 _He grinned at her reaction to seeing him after all of this time. "Hello, Chloe, it's been a long time, you know, I would have thought that you would have been more terrified, but I guess that having a child changes people. It changed your cousin. She became more ferocious."_

 _The fact that he knew she had a daughter made her skin crawl, but it made complete sense that Lex would be watching their every movement, and even though she was feeling extremely freaked out at this moment in time she wouldn't allow herself to show this man the fear she was currently feeling. "It's called motherly instincts, but you wouldn't know anything about that because you don't know how to love, hell, you don't even have a heart."_

" _Oh, I have a heart—a heart filled with hatred and desires—desires to end all of your pathetic lives."_

 _She purposefully ignored that, not allowing this man to get under her skin. "I'm not all that surprised to see you, actually, we all expected this to happen, but I am wondering why you're confronting me now, I mean it has to mean that you and your evil masterminds must be getting close to initiating your brilliant plan."_

 _He smirked, devilishly, and took a few steps towards her, causing her to unconsciously step further away from him. "You would love to know what we're planning, wouldn't you?"_

" _No, not particularly."_

" _Are you sure about that?" He didn't give her time to respond, instead he took several more steps towards her. "We know that Lois and Clark are not in this lovely state anymore, which kind of ruins everything, but alas we will all get what we want eventually."_

 _They really did watch everything they did, she thought to herself._

" _None of you will get the chance."_

" _Is that right?"_

" _You should have stayed in that hole, Murphy, not only will we be taking down Lex and Steve, but now you're on that list. We were just going to leave you in that hole we put you in, but since you're back that means I can do what I've wanted to do from the moment you were caught red-handed, you know, when you almost beat my cousin to death."_

 _He glared, heatedly at her. "Your plan was foolish back then. You actually believed that throwing me into a desolate hole would stop me, but as you have learned nothing stops me from getting what I want."_

" _You would be right about that." She smirked over at him. "We've learned that you don't know how to stay put, which is why when we successfully take all of you down you won't be going into another hole. I have a much better plan for you, the same one that I never got to finish all those years ago." She stared straight into his cold, piercing brown eyes. "I'll be the one that ends your pathetic life."_

 _A loud, menacing growl escaped past his throat, as he lunged towards her, his hands gripping her arms, tightly before he slammed her entire body against the side of her car. "You won't get the chance, love, you and your friends are the reason I've been stuck in two different hell holes, but that won't be happening again, and you definitely won't be ending my life."_

 _She cringed, slightly from the pain, but there was no way in hell she was going to reveal that to him. "You all think you're so clever with all your planning and plotting, but you'll all be mistaken when we inevitably take all of you down."_

" _You'll all be dead before you even think about making a move against us." He leaned closer to her, his breath brushing across her cheek, as he whispered in her ear, "We're coming for all of you."_

 _She watched him walk away from her, disappearing into the darkness, her heart beating like a jackhammer inside of her chest, and instead of getting into her car she rushed towards Watchtower, calling her husband on the way there._

 _They needed to know what had just happened, and they needed to know right this second._

She quickly shook her thoughts away, as soon as she entered the main conference room, where every single person she loved and cared about was waiting for her, pacing back and forth in the room until they noticed her, and her husband swiftly walked up to her with a worried expression plastered across his face. "Chloe! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just a little flustered." She glanced around the room, immediately noticing that there was one person missing. "Where's J'onn?"

"He couldn't make it since we need someone on patrol right now." Kara had a frown lingering on her face, as she closed the distance between them. "Why did you want us all to come here? I thought we were supposed to take a little breathier from all of this while Clark and Lois were gone."

"That was the plan, but things have changed."

Bruce frowned at her words. "What are you talking about?"

She sighed, softly at him before glancing at every single person in the room. "The one thing we were all hoping wouldn't happen has happened."

Everyone was completely and utterly confused by her words, while Dinah thought about it for a few seconds before realization dawned on her. "Murphy…"

Oliver frowned, slightly at her before his head snapped towards the woman he loved with all of his heart. "Murphy? He's back?"

She nodded.

"Did you actually see him?" Arthur questioned her.

"Oh, I did more than see him I talked to him."

"What happened? Did he touch you?"

There was a small part of herself that wanted to tell him the truth, especially the fact that she probably had some decent sized bruises on her arms, which wasn't that bad since he could have done a hell of a lot worse to her, but the bigger part of herself couldn't do that not because he didn't deserve to know, but because it would only make him more worried than he already was.

"No, Ollie, I'm perfectly fine. He just threw around the same old threats we've all heard a million times over already." She locked eyes with Kara. "We have more important things to worry about right now."

She nodded at her. "What did he say to you?"

"Nothing that indicated what they're planning. He made it perfectly clear that they were coming for us, but other than that he kept his slimy little mouth shut. They know everything we've been doing. They know about Lizzie, and they know that Clark and Lois are out of town."

Bruce groaned, loudly. "That's just great, but at least we know that they won't be making a move against us until they are both back."

"But, it also means that they are getting close to taking what they want."

Oliver frowned at her words. "What makes you think that?"

"Think about it. Every single time Murphy or Lex revealed themselves to any of us it was either hours or days later that they made their move. They showed themselves not even one day before he confronted Lois at the caves. Once Kaleb was born he showed up at the farmhouse. After we managed to get Kara on our side they both showed up at the mansion and killed Alicia. He didn't hesitate on torturing Lois when Lex kidnapped her and Kaleb. Now, he just revealed himself to me, which means that it could be days before they make their move."

Bart stepped closer to them with an expression of worry on his face. "If that's true—if they are really getting closer to enacting their revenge then we need to figure out what we should do about this situation."

"We should have been doing that all along." When every single person glanced over at Victor with frowns on their faces he continued, "The moment we realized that Lex was free we should have ended this, but now we have to deal with Murphy as well, who is a bigger threat to Lois and Chloe. Lex just wants power from Clark and Kaleb, while Murphy just wants Lois and Chloe dead, and Lana, well she is just an obstacle that they both want eliminated."

Bruce nodded, completely agreeing with him. "You're right. We should have dealt with this when we all realized that Lex was released from prison, but we didn't, and now we need to figure out how to end this for good. It's obvious that prison and desolate islands aren't an option anymore."

Chloe stepped towards him with determination lingering in her green eyes. "What do you suppose we do?"

"We need to take out both Lex and Murphy before they have the chance to touch any of us." Kara answered for him.

"And what about Steve?"

"He really isn't a priority."

"What is your brilliant plan?"

"I don't have one yet, but Bruce and I will figure this out before Clark and Lois return. We all need this to be over before it even begins."

As much as she wanted to figure this out right this second, she knew that Kara and Bruce knew exactly what they were doing, and hopefully by the time the two lovebirds returned they would all know exactly what they needed to do to end this for good. "We need to tell everyone."

Kara shook her head from side to side. "Not yet. We will tell Martha, Jonathon, Lana and Pete everything tomorrow."

She frowned at her. "What about Kaleb? He deserves to know."

"Clark and Lois should be the ones that tell him." Bruce intervened before taking another step towards her. "They will be the only ones that can make him understand."

How right he was about that, she thought to herself, that little boy was so connected to his parents, and he would only understand and accept this if they were the ones that told him.

That thought caused her to wonder about her cousin and best friend, who were probably having the time of their lives right now, and that was all going to change the moment they returned home.

Everything they had hoped wouldn't happen was happening, and all the happiness every single one of them has felt over the past several weeks was about to be shattered into a million pieces.

* * *

The next morning, Lois slowly fluttered her eyes open, as the bright sun shined directly into her eyes, causing her to frown, immensely, but her facial expression transformed into one of complete and utter happiness almost immediately when her hazel eyes landed on the handsome man sleeping peacefully next to her.

It was the most beautiful sight.

A slow smile appeared on her face, as she thought about everything that had happened last night, and quite honestly, it had been the best night of her life.

They were engaged.

They were expecting a baby.

They were incredibly happy.

A part of herself just wanted to bask in these emotions—in these feelings forever, and she wanted to relish in the happiness she was feeling with the man she loved with all of her heart, but the other part of herself knew that they needed to get back to reality tomorrow.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard him make a soft noise next to her before she watched, amusingly, as he scrunched up his nose and furrowed his eyebrows together, frustratingly, and wanted to chuckle at the way he was mentally cursing the sun for waking him up, but once his aquamarine eyes met her hazel ones she smiled over at him. "Good morning soon to be husband."

He chuckled, softly at her words before pulling her towards him, and laid a soft kiss upon her lips. "Good morning soon to be wife." He slowly trailed his hands down her body until they were rested on her stomach. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, there isn't any morning sickness, so that's a good sign."

His eyes locked with hers. "I can't believe this is actually happening. You're really pregnant?"

"I'm really pregnant. We're going to have a little boy or a little girl." She rested her hands directly on top of his own. "Which would you prefer?"

A frown took over his features from her words, wondering, slightly what she meant by that, but then he realized what she was exactly referring to. "It doesn't matter to me, Lo, I just want this little one to be here with us."

"Well, you have quite a long time before that happens." She trained her eyes on the ceiling for a few seconds before she glanced over at him. "I think I want a girl."

Her words caused him to remember the conversation she had with Joslyn' daughter the night before, and realized that she had probably been thinking about this from the moment she found out she was pregnant, which rose a few questions in his mind, one in particular. "When did you realize you were pregnant?"

"About two weeks ago."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

She rolled them over, so she was laying directly on top of his chest. "The same reason you decided to wait to propose to me. We both wanted it to be special."

"And, it was very special." He quickly captured her lips in a passionate kiss, and flipped him over before pressing soft, light kisses across her cheek down to her neck, nuzzling her before kissing his way back up to her lips. "You have no idea how happy I am that we are getting married."

"How could I say no?" She frowned, slightly, as a thought occurred to her, and she wondered why she didn't think of this last night. "Clark? Can I ask you something?"

He nodded.

"When did you make the decision to propose, I mean I absolutely love that you did, and I love the way that you did it, but please tell me that you didn't make this decision because you overheard my conversation with Jimmy a few weeks ago."

Figures that that would come up, he thought to himself, before he rolled onto his side, staring down at her, seriously, as he traced a finger down her delicate cheek. "I made this decision when you came back to me all those years ago, but we were way too young at the time, and then when I came back home I knew that it was time. That day at The Daily Planet I overheard your conversation with Jimmy, and it made me wonder if you were really ready for this, but no, Lois, I made this decision long before that."

She grinned from ear to ear up at him. "You have literally made me the happiest woman in the entire world."

"And you have made me the happiest man in the entire world."

They softly kissed before settling more comfortably on the bed together, wrapping their arms around each other, as they closed their eyes, softly, but hers snapped open not even two seconds later when a particular thought occurred to her, and she quickly shot up into a sitting position, startling him, slightly. "Oh my god! We have so many things to do—so many things to plan! The venue, the flowers, the wedding dress. How many people are we going to invite? Who are you going to ask to be your best man? I know that Chloe would love to be my maid of honor, but what about everyone else?"

He chuckled at the pure excitement and enthusiasm that was literally pouring out of her mouth, and honestly, it only made him feel incredibly happy that she was this excited, almost as excited as he was. "Lois…"

She glanced over at him, the words that were on the tip of her tongue came to a complete halt at the way he was looking at her. "What?"

"We have plenty of time to worry about those things. When I decided to propose to you I knew that we would have a lot of things to figure out before we actually got there, but you brought up a good point last night…Lex, Steve, and possibly Murphy are still a problem. We need to deal with them before we even think about our wedding day." At her crestfallen expression he quickly moved closer to her. "But that doesn't mean I haven't already made some preparations."

Her brows rose at that. "What did you do?"

"Do you remember the first time we talked about marriage?"

"Yes, we were only friends at the time, but we were at The Stanley Hotel…" She trailed off, as her own words caused her to have a realization, and knew exactly what he had done. "Is that why you wanted to go back there?"

"Kind of. I did want to go back there because we have a few memories there, but I also had a different reason for wanting to go back. What would you say if I told you that I already had a venue picked out?"

"The Stanley Hotel."

He nodded.

It was a very exciting idea, and it made her heart beat, rapidly inside of her chest, but it raise a few questions, one in particular that she had teased him about all those years ago. "I thought you never wanted to get married in a place like that?"

"Maybe back then I dreamed of getting married in a barn or something like that, but when I fell in love with you, and when I realized that I wanted a more serious relationship with you I knew that this was place was perfect." He tilted his head to one side, slightly, and stared at her, questioningly. "Do you want to, I mean we don't have to I just thought that this place—this town—that hotel would be perfect, but um, we could—"

She quickly pressed her lips against his, stopping his rambling of words, and smiled at him as soon as she pulled away from him. "I think it's perfect, Clark." A frown appeared on her face, as a thought occurred to her. "Is that why you told Kaleb that we would bring him here one day?"

He nodded. "I knew exactly what I wanted weeks before we decided to take this little vacation of ours, but even if we decided that we would rather get married somewhere else I would still want to bring our son here." He placed his hands on her stomach. "And our little boy or little girl. They both deserve to come to the place where their parents fell in love, whether or not we actually get married here."

"You're such a romantic, Clark Kent."

"That's why you love me."

"One of the many reasons." She kissed him, softly. "I want to marry you here, Clark, I want our children to know that this is where our story began—where we began."

"Really?"

"Really." She kissed him softly, sweetly and passionately, which he quickly responded to, and as their mind blowing kisses consumed each other' senses neither of them could think of anything else other than their impending marriage and birth of their child.

One hour later, they were both packing all of their things into his truck, and as soon as they were finished she leaned up against the passenger side door. "You really aren't going to tell me where we're going?"

He walked closer to her until they were standing mere inches away from each other. "Nope. I never planned on staying in this town the entire time. There is one more place that is very special to the both of us, and I intend on staying there until we have to leave tomorrow."

The thought of having to leave brought her sadness, but she knew that they would have to get back to the reality of their lives, and as much as she wanted to stay on this little adventure with him she understood that they had problems back home that they needed to deal with, besides she really, really missed her baby boy.

"Are you sure you can't tell me where we're going?"

"Get it the truck, Lois."

As they were driving down the highway she thought about where he could possibly be taking her, knowing without a doubt that it could only be two possible places, Montana or Washington, and she highly doubted that he would want to go back to the place where they had literally been ripped away from each other for over one year, hell, she never wanted to go back to that place either.

Montana it is, she thought to herself.

That thought alone brought her complete and utter happiness, as thoughts of everything that had happened there came rushing back to the forefront of her mind.

It's where they were reunited.

It's where they professed their love for each other.

It's where their love had become stronger.

It's where their trust in each other had become more absolute.

Being back there brought back so, so many emotions for her, the most prominent one being happiness.

She couldn't wait.

* * *

Several hours later, Clark and Lois were walking hand in hand a few miles away from their cabin in Choteau, Montana, the same exact one they had stayed in all of those years ago, and were both feeling very, very excited to be back here.

As soon as they had arrived here they had went hiking, just like they always used to do, the only difference this time was that she had his superspeed ability, which ensued a race between the two of them, and now they were heading back towards their cabin from the very delicious dinner they just had.

It was incredibly lovely that they were able to relive all of their memories, just like they had been doing in Estes Park, but deep inside they knew that they would have to leave in the morning, and they had a feeling that things weren't going to be as happy and exciting as they had been. It wasn't because they didn't miss their family and friends, because they did, especially their son, but it was because they would have to deal with Lex and possibly Murphy when they returned.

It wasn't something either of them were looking forward to.

Lois glanced over at him, and grinned like a Cheshire cat at the smile that was plastered across his face. "What are you smiling about, farm boy?"

He looked over at her, the smile never leaving his lips. "I was just remembering all the memories we shared here."

A teasing smirk spread out across her face, and she wriggled her eyebrows, suggestively at him. "Which ones? I remember quite a few…"

Her words caused him to roll his eyes at her. "That's not what I meant, but those were good times." Once they reached the porch stairs he stopped walking, and turned his entire body towards her, his eyes shining down into her beautiful hazel orbs. "I loved being in Colorado with you all those years ago, I really did, but if I'm being honest with myself this was the place that healed both of us from our heartbreak—the place that sealed our love for each other—the place where our trust and honestly with each other grew stronger."

A humongous grin spread out across her face from his heartfelt words, and she moved just a little bit closer to him. "I think of this town as the place that made our love and trust for each other stronger and ten times more intense. I will always be thankful that we spent time here, even if it was only for a short time."

"I did promise you that I'd bring you back."

"That you did, and not only to Montana, but to Colorado as well." They both walked into their cabin together, giggling, softly at each other, and intended to enjoy the rest of their time here as much as possible.

Later that night, Clark stared down at the beautiful woman sleeping next to him, and rested his head in the palm of his hand, as his mind replayed everything that has happened from the moment they arrived in Colorado to the moment she fell asleep in his arms a few hours ago.

This little adventure had turned out a hell of a lot better than he thought it would, of course he had known that he was going to propose to her, but he had never imagined that she would tell him she was pregnant, and that had been the one thing that made this entire extravaganza better.

They were going to have a baby, and he couldn't be more excited about that not only because it was something he wanted, desperately, but also because he would actually be here every step of the way.

He would be here the entire time their child was growing inside of her.

He would be here the moment their child was born.

He would be here to help her raise their child.

He would be here to witness their first steps, their first words, and everything that would transpire after that.

He had missed that with his son, but under no circumstances would he be missing it this time around.

He would be here for the woman he loved and their little boy or little girl.

Without double checking to see if his lovely fiancé was still sleeping or not he slithered down the bed before he lifted her shirt, gently, his head a few inches away from her stomach. "Hello, little one, I don't know if you can hear me or not, probably not because your not that big yet, but I want you to know that I'm your daddy. Your older brother, Kaleb, never got to hear my voice, but I promise you that you will know my voice before you enter this world. I only just found out about you, but I already love you to pieces, and I'm going to be here for you, for your brother, and for your mommy."

Lois, who had woken up a few minutes ago, listened, as her handsome, romantic and sappy fiancé whispered to their baby, and honestly it was really sweet of him to want their child to know his voice, but she couldn't stop herself from chuckling, softly at him.

His eyes met hers, shockingly. "You're supposed to be sleeping."

"Well, it's kind of hard to sleep when you're whispering to the baby."

Her words caused his eyes to widen to the size of saucers before he quickly moved back up the bed towards her. "Did I really wake you up?"

A loud bubble of giggles escaped her. "No, Clark, I was already awake before you started talking to our little boy or girl." She rested her hands on her stomach. "Your daddy is right, you know, he will always be there for you, so will your big brother, and so will I."

He grinned at her, widely. "Did you ever talk to Kaleb?"

"All of the time." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. "I would tell him about my day and how much I already loved him, but most of all I told him about you."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I would tell him about the day we met, how we fell in love, how much I loved you, and how I couldn't wait for the day you would meet him."

A crestfallen expression appeared on his face for a slit second before it went neutral. "I still regret not being there for you or our son."

She stared deeply into his eyes. "Clark, you don't need to regret that anymore. Kaleb loves and adores you like he has known you his entire life, and this little one is going to know you from the first moment he or she opens their eyes. You won't miss another moment with us ever again. We are a family, and we always will be."

Tears built in his eyes before he kissed her, softly, of course he had known that their son loved him like he had been there through everything, but it didn't stop the sadness he felt from missing so, so much, and not matter what he wouldn't miss a second of this baby' life. "You hear that? We're a family. I love you very much."

"We both love you, and so will your brother." They smiled at each other before kissing, passionately, both of them wanting this moment to last forever, but knew that tomorrow everything was going to change.

They would still feel happiness, but they would have to tamper down their emotions and feelings until they took care of the problems that were waiting for them back home, but for now they would relish in the happiness—love they were currently feeling, and deal with tomorrow, tomorrow.

* * *

The next day, Clark and Lois slowly walked into the farmhouse, and were immediately greeted by their rambunctious son, who rushed towards them as fast as he could possibly manage, without using his abilities. "Mommy! Daddy!"

They quickly caught him in their arms, hugging him, fiercely. "Hey, buddy, did you have fun while we were gone?"

He nodded his head, excitedly before a small frown spread out across his face. "I missed you a lot."

Lois brushed away the hairs away from his face. "We missed you too, baby."

"Don't ever leave me again," He muttered before leaping back into their arms, feeling extremely happy that they were finally back home with him again.

"We promise," They spoke, simultaneously.

As soon as he felt like he had received enough affection from them he quickly pulled away with a grin plastered across his face. "What did you do? Where did you go? Did you have fun?"

Martha chuckled, loudly at her grandson. "Kal, honey, one question at a time."

They glanced up, realizing that every single person they loved and cared about were standing in the room with them, obviously they all wanted to be here to greet them back home, which made it a lot easier for them since they had great news for everyone.

Lois glanced down at her little boy, who was very impatiently waiting for them to answer him. "We had lots of fun, Kal, we went to a little town in Colorado and a little town in Montana."

His eyes widened. "You did all of that?"

Clark nodded at him. "It would have been better if you were with us."

"Next time."

"That's right, buddy."

Jonathon glanced between the two of them, noticing the excited expressions lingering on their faces, and could literally feel the happiness radiating off of them in waves. "How about you two tell us what you were up to over the past few days, I mean, you mentioned that you were in Colorado, does that mean you went back to Estes Park?"

She frowned from his words before turning towards her fiancé. "You didn't tell them?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I told them about why I was taking you away, but I didn't exactly tell them where I was taking you."

"Figures that you would keep that little detail to yourself."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at them. "Okay. Enough with the secrecy you two. We want to know what happened."

They glanced at each other, and smiled, knowingly before she quickly held up her left hand, revealing the stunning diamond ring. "We're getting married."

Chloe, Lana, Kara and Martha squealed, excitedly before rushing over to her, and practically dragged her away from everyone else, mainly her fiancé. "Oh my god! It's so beautiful!"

"When did he propose?"

"More importantly, where did he propose?" Chloe added.

Martha chuckled, softly at all three of them, and shook her head from side to side. "Alright. Alright. Let her breath."

She smiled at her, thankfully. "We were in Estes Park at our waterfall, which I have told every single one of you about, we danced underneath the moonlight before he literally poured out his entire heart to me, and that's when he got down on one knee."

Lana and Chloe grinned at her widely before simultaneously saying, "Awwwww!"

Martha quickly grabbed her hands, and squeezed them, softly. "I'm so happy for you, Lois, I knew this would happen sooner or later."

Kara grinned at the woman she saw as her sister, knowing exactly how she was feeling right now since she had felt the same way when her lovely husband proposed to her, but wondered what was really going through that head of hers. "How did you react?"

"I was completely shocked, but mostly I felt extremely happy. I've wanted this for a very long time even if I didn't want to admit it to myself."

Clark laughed, loudly, as all the women literally dragged her away from him, wanting details about everything that had happened before he walked over to his father, Pete, Oliver and Bruce, who were all smiling at him.

Jonathon clapped his hand down on his shoulder, and squeezed, slightly. "I'm glad that everything went according to plan, son."

"It did, and then some."

Pete frowned at his words, but didn't dwell on that for too long. "So? What did you say to her?"

A slow smile graced his lips, as he thought about that very, very special moment. "I just told her how much I love her."

Oliver stared at him, blankly and frustratingly. "Is that all you're going to tell us?"

"There's not much else to say."

Bruce rolled his eyes at him. "Come on, man, we all had different ways of popping the question to our lovely woman, and knowing you yours was probably super romantic and sappy, so we need details."

He shook his head from side to side, and chuckled, softly at all three of them. "Okay. Okay. Fine. We spent the entire day going down memory lane before I took her to our favorite spot in Estes Park, the waterfall I've told you all about. We reminisced before I asked her to dance with me. Once I felt like I had enough courage to say the words to her I literally poured out my entire heart telling her how much she has changed me over the years, how much I loved and appreciated her, and then I simply asked her to marry me."

Oliver smirked over at him. "You are a romantic."

"Shut up!"

Every single one of their separate conversations were interrupted by Kaleb, who had been thinking about what this meant exactly. "You're getting married? Does that mean were going to be a real family now?

Clark and Lois glanced over at each other, hearing the soft tone and the emotion that was laced in his before walking over to their son, and kneeling down directly in front of him. "We have always been a real family, Kal."

"All this means is that we're all going to be much closer than we were before. Nothing is going to change."

"Do you remember when your Aunt Kara and Uncle Bruce got married?"

He nodded.

"It's going to be just like that, except probably a little bit mushier and more romantic because your daddy is a big sap."

"Hey!"

Kaleb chuckled at both of them. "She's right, daddy."

He stared at him with wide eyes, feigning complete and utter shock. "You too? I thought you were supposed to be on my side?"

"I am, daddy, but I'm also on mommy' side."

Jonathon chuckled, loudly at the little family moment before stepping closer to them. "Well, I can definitely say that we were expecting this, and I think this calls for a little celebration unless there is anything you need to divulge to the group…"

They glanced at each other, figuring that they might as well tell them everything before they slowly stood up, and intertwined their fingers together, simultaneously saying, "We're expecting!"

Every single person in the room gasped, loudly, completely shocked by this bit of information, while Chloe and Lana glanced at each other before grinning, victoriously. "We knew it!"

Lois frowned at them. "How did you know?"

Chloe grinned from ear to ear. "Well, when we were talking about you and Clark having another baby you had this expression on your face, which I didn't question because I knew that you wouldn't tell me—"

"And as soon as you left with that lovely fiancé of yours we put our heads together, and figured out that you were probably pregnant."

She stared at them with wide eyes before shaking her head from side to side. "You two are unbelievable. I swear sometimes you can be worse than me."

"They are!" Oliver and Pete immediately regretted their words when their significant others glared in their direction, which only caused every one else to laugh at their misery.

Everyone quickly congratulated them, the entire family feeling very, very excited to have some really good news for a change, but couldn't help feeling like the happiness they were feeling right now was going to change in the blink of an eye as soon as they found out that things had gotten extremely complicated in their absence.

Kaleb slowly walked towards his mommy with a slight frown lingering on his face, and placed his little hands on her stomach. "There's a baby in there?"

She chuckled, softly at him before kneeling down in front of him. "Yes, baby, there is a little boy or a little girl in there."

He scrunched up his nose, in complete and utter confusion. "How is that possible?"

Clark chuckled down at his confused son. "Do you remember when your Aunt Chloe was pregnant?" At his nod he continued, "It's going to be just like that, but instead of gaining a cousin you're going to gain a little brother or sister. Do you want to be a big brother?"

As he glanced in between his parents, he thought about that for a few seconds since he had never thought of this happening before, and that's when a horrible thought occurred to him. "Does this mean you'll love me less?"

They shared a worried glance with each other, both of them figuring that he would have fears such as this one since he has always been an only child his entire life, and knew that it would take a little bit of time before he understood this situation.

Clark quickly lifted him up, settling him comfortably in his arms before he stared directly into his emotion-filled eyes. "This wont change how much we love you, Kal."

"Are you sure?"

Lois slowly stood up, and brushed her fingers down his cheek. "Yes, baby, we will love you and this baby equally. You know how your Aunt Lana and Uncle Pete have both Jacob and Jessica?"

He nodded.

"They love them just the same, and that is exactly what will happen when this little one is born."

"Do you promise?"

"We promise," They spoke simultaneously, knowing that it was going to take more than a promise for him to believe them, but this was a first step.

Martha grinned at all three of them before taking a few steps towards them. "Now, it's time for a little celebration." She locked eyes with her soon to be daughter in law, pointedly. "No alcohol for you."

She chuckled, loudly at that before glancing at Chloe and Lana. "That means no alcohol for you two either."

The smiles fell from their faces, instantaneously before they groaned, loudly, as they remembered their little pact they had made, and honestly wished that they would have taken advantage of that in the past few weeks because now they had to go through it all over again.

Chloe glared at her. "Great! This is just great! I haven't been able to drink in over nine months, and now I have to go through that all over again."

Lana glared at both of them. "You have no room to talk, missy, you got enjoy the thrill of being pregnant, while I had to suffer for all of that time, and now I have no choice, but to continue this sober life. You both suck."

Lois chuckled at her. "Don't worry, Pink Princess, I'm sure you'll get your revenge on the two of us one of these days."

That thought brought a small smile to her face not only because she would love to have another child with the man she loved, but also because she could gloat in their faces when they threw tantrums about not being able to drink.

It was going to be great.

A few hours later, Clark and Lois were sitting on the porch with their son, who was sprawled out across their legs, as he slept peacefully, and honestly, they didn't feel any happier than they did right at this moment.

They were engaged.

They were going to have a baby.

They were together.

They had their son.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

Clark gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer to him, and rested his hand across her stomach, as he stared down at his beautiful son. "Does he really believe that we could love him any less?"

She smiled down at her sleepy baby boy before glancing up at him. "Probably. He has spent his entire life as an only child, and now that is changing. I think he is just a little confused and scared, but once he meets this little one the only thing that will matter to him is protecting him or her."

"I'm sure you're right." He rested his head against hers, softly. "I really don't want this night to end."

"Let me guess, you don't want to think about or deal with the one thing we have both been avoiding the entire time we were gone?"

He nodded.

Chloe, Oliver, Kara and Bruce glanced at each other, nervously, as soon as they had overheard the last part of their conversation, and even though they understood that they needed this happiness—this hope that they were currently feeling they also knew that they needed to tell them everything that had happened while they were gone.

"Well, that's exactly what we need to talk to you about…"

Lois turned around towards her cousin, and frowned at her words, but it quickly transformed into an expression of concern and worry when she noticed the expressions that were plastered across every single one of their faces. "What happened?"

Kara stepped towards them before glancing down at her sleeping nephew. "We should probably take this somewhere a little more private."

Clark sighed, heavily, as he stood up with his son in his arms. "I'll take him inside." As he walked towards his old room, which was now his son' room when he stayed the night here, he couldn't help wishing that something wouldn't have happened while they were gone, of course he understood that they needed to deal with this Lex situation, and they needed deal with it soon, but he had hoped that they could have had one more night before everything literally fell apart.

Obviously, he was wrong, he thought to himself.

A few minutes later, every single one of them were standing inside the loft, all of them figuring that this was the best place to have this conversation, especially since none of them saw the point of going all the way to Metropolis for this.

Lois glanced at everyone, worriedly. "Alright, you dragged is up here, so is anyone going to tell us what the hell is going on?"

Kara took a deep breath before locking eyes with her. "Murphy is back…"

"Of course, he is." She quickly started pacing back and forth, as she wondered what this would mean for everyone she loved and cared about, of course she had known that this was a possibility, but she had hoped against all hope that it wouldn't come true.

Lex was a major problem, but dealing with Murphy as well was a colossal disaster.

Clark curled his hands into fists to the point his knuckles started turning white when he heard that name fall from his cousin' lips. For weeks he had kept silent about his true feelings—about his true rage from everything that had happened while he was gone, and he had been able to keep his emotions in check for the most part, but this just made all of that come rushing back to him like a tidal wave.

Lex had been the one that had caused his family so many problems over the years, but Murphy was the one that tortured, beat, and threatened the woman he loved with all of his heart—the woman he was going to marry—the woman he had a future with, and that only caused all his hatred and rage to boil up to the surface.

"When did he show up?"

"The other night. He confronted Chloe when she was leaving The Daily Planet."

Lois snapped her head towards her cousin, at her friend' words, and quickly rushed over to her. "What did he say to you? Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?"

She smiled, softly at her. "He just made it absolute clear that they were coming after all of us."

A loid groan escaped past her lips. "If he confronted you that means that they are getting close to taking what they want, which means every single one of you are in danger."

"And so are you." Clark spoke with such confidence and determination, as he stared at her with an unknown expression plastered across his face. "He won't touch you or anyone else I care about. I won't allow him to come near you or our son."

She glanced over at him, immediately noticing the hatred that was lingering in his eyes, the way his hands were clenching and unclenching by his sides, and heard the pure conviction in his voice, instantly going on alert since she knew that expression on his face all too well.

It usually meant he was planning on doing something stupid.

She quickly walked over to him, and forced him to look directly into her eyes. "I know what you're thinking, Clark, but you can't do anything rash, especially when that is exactly what Lex wants from you."

"I don't care! I'm not going to allow either of them to hurt you like they did before!"

"And they won't." She turned towards Kara, hoping that she had something because if she didn't she wasn't sure she would be able to calm down her fiancé like she was able to last time. "I'm hoping that you have a plan."

Bruce nodded. "We've both thought long and hard about this. It's quite obvious that sending Lex to prison and sending Murphy to another desolate island isn't going to cut it this time. We need to end this for good, and we know exactly how we are going to do that."

"What's the plan?"

Kara took a deep breath before revealing everything they had planned out, precisely in their minds. Instead of waiting for Lex and Murphy to make their move against them they would attack first, ensuring that this really would end for good without anyone getting hurt in the process. Clark and Kara would take care of Lex themselves with the crystal from the Fortress, which would send him to the phantom zone, while J'onn J'onzz would erase every single memory Murphy has about any of them before shipping him off to the worst place on this Earth. Steve, on the other hand, was a loose end that they could easily send to prison since he wasn't really that dangerous and wasn't their main concern.

Lois listened, intently, as she explained her entire plan, and knew that it could work, as long as they made their move before Lex and Murphy did, but there was only one down side…her involvement in all of this. They actually expected her and Chloe to not have a single part in any of this.

Well, that wasn't happening, she thought to herself.

"I'm sorry, but do you actually expect me to just sit here while the rest of you take care of them?"

Bruce stared, intently into her eyes. "It's exactly what you're going to do."

She glared at him. "If you actually think that I'm going to go along with this then you have all gone completely insane. This was my problem a hell of a lot longer than it was any of yours, and I'll be damned if I'm just going to sit on the sidelines."

Oliver sighed, softly at her. "I'm sorry, Lois, but it's better this way."

Chloe immediately noticed that she wasn't going to take that as an answer, and quickly stepped in between them, hoping that if she heard her perspective she would go along with this. "Lois, I know that you don't like this, hell, neither do I, but this is the only way we can protect Kaleb. If things just so happen to go wrong you, me, Lana, Pete, Martha and Jonathon all need to be here with him, while everyone else is ending this."

Her hazel eyes met her green ones. "You can't seriously be okay with this!"

"I'm not, but this is the most effective plan we got. You can't stand there and tell me that you wouldn't despise yourself if you weren't here to protect your son. They already kidnapped him once, and have tried several other times."

Clark listened, intently, as everyone bickered back and forth about this, knowing that this plan could work, as long as every single one of them agreed to every aspect of their plan, which included Lois and Chloe staying out of this altogether. "She's right, Lois." As soon as her anger filled eyes landed on him he regretted uttering a single word since he hated it when she looked at him like that, but she needed to understand that she would be better placed with their son instead of with them. "We need you here with Kaleb, but it's not just that, Lois, you're pregnant now. We can't risk Lex of Murphy figuring that out."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying that I can't be careful?"

This was getting completely out of hand, he thought to himself, before taking a few steps towards her, and rested his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them, softly. "No, Lois, you are the most careful person I know, especially when it comes to protecting people you care about."

"Then let me help."

"I can't risk that, Lo." He rested his hands against her stomach. "I need you to protect our children and yourself. If anything happened to any of you I would die inside, and would become the man you met all of those years ago. You are the reason my heart beats inside of my chest. Kaleb is the reason I keep moving forward. This baby is my hope for the future. I would become a broken, lost man if I lost any of you. I just can't risk losing the people that mean everything to me."

Tears filled her eyes from his heartfelt words, which only reminded her of the night she had been completely honest with him, and even though she knew that he was right about everything there was a part of herself that still wanted to fight this. "You won't lose us, Clark."

"I will if you are a part of this. I can't be out there protecting our family if I'm going to be worried about your welfare the entire time." He rested his forehead against hers, and stared deeply into her eyes. "Please, Lois, please just this once can you listen to me?"

She sighed, softly at the tone of his voice, and knew that he had a point—knew that she needed to protect their children and herself, especially since Lex and Murphy would only up their game if they found out she had abilities—found out she was pregnant, but that didn't mean she had to like this situation one bit. "Fine. I'll stay with Chloe and Lana here at the farm with our son, but if anything goes wrong, and I literally mean anything I want you to call me."

He smiled at her. "I promise."

Kara grinned at the way he was able to talk some sense into her, and knew that no one would have been able to do that, no one except for the man she loved. "Alright. We need to move fast because if Chloe and Lois are right then it could be less than a few days before they make their move."

Bruce nodded. "We'll hit them before they have a chance to make a move against any of us."

Every single one of them glanced at each other with slight smiles lingering on their faces, at the mere thought of this finally being over, and knew without a doubt that within one week this would all be done with for good.

Later that night, Clark tightened his arms around his fiancé and son, feeling like the weight of the world was literally resting on his shoulders, as his mind went over everything that happened tonight.

They had been so incredibly happy several hours ago, but that all had changed in the blink of an eye, and he absolutely hated that this family and friends had to deal with this, especially at a time in their lives where everything was going so perfectly.

But…

It needed to be dealt with, and it needed to be dealt with now.

As soon as every single one of them understood their parts of the plan, perfectly they had taken their son home, who had woken up while they were discussing this in the barn, and both of them decided that it was best to tell him everything, which had upset him, but he understood that they needed to stop the bad men before they could something to the people he loved and cared about.

He glanced down at both of them, smiling, slightly at how peaceful they both seemed to be in this moment in time, and knew that in exactly two days that peacefulness would be something that they all could relish in for the rest of their lives.

They would stop Lex and Murphy.

They would all be able to move forward.

They would all be happy again.

He tightened his arms around the two most people in his life, hoping—praying—wishing that they could end this very, very soon, so they all could live their lives normally again.

He desperately wanted every single one of them to be happy, and he intended on protecting them, no matter what he had to do to keep the people he loved with all of his heart safe.

* * *

 _ **I know that I mentioned that this chapter would include smut, but I decided to cut it out since I felt like that particular scene needed a more emotional and romantic approach. This is a much longer chapter than the last two, and a lot of different things did occur in this chapter. The next few chapters will be pretty intense before they become lighter again, which is the ending of this long story.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter fifty!**_


	52. Chapter Fifty One

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fifty-One:**_

* * *

Lex was sitting down in his office at the mansion, waiting for two very important people to come back here with good news about their plans for this lovely day, with a smug expression plastered across his face, his fingers slowly gliding across the small, cool metal device, which played a crucial part in his plans, as thoughts of what was inevitably going to happen in a few short hours consumed his mind.

Today they would finally get what they've wanted for a very long time.

He would personally dispose of Clark, Kara and Kaleb.

Murphy would get the revenge he wanted against Chloe and Lois.

Steve would eliminate Lana.

But, more importantly, he would get the power he's been searching for by the end of the day, and then he could destroy everything and anything that stood in the way of him taking over this little planet.

This was supposed to happen the night Clark and Lois returned, but that all changed when he had learned of their plans for them.

Two days ago, he had been alerted when they had made their way back to Kansas from their four day extravaganza, and had learned something very, very interesting…they were engaged, except neither of them would be making it to their wedding, but that wasn't what had stopped him from enacting his revenge that very day.

It was the plans they had in store for every single one of them.

As soon as he had realized that they were back he had Steve watch and listen to their every movement—their every word, which had given him the information he had been waiting for…their plan of attack.

It would have been a good plan, but now that he knew every single step they were intending on taking against them he was more prepared than ever before, and there was no way in hell he was going to fail this time around.

For over eight years he's been attempting and failing to get what he desperately wanted, but all of that would change today.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the two very men he was waiting for walk into the room, and glanced up at them with a neutral expression, as he slowly stood up. "Is everything in order?"

Steve nodded. "The warehouse is stocked and ready."

"And what about our targets?"

Murphy grinned, evilly. "The lovely Miss Lane is still complaining about not being able to help with this fool proof plan of theirs, but within the hour they all should be at the Kent farmhouse."

"Good. That's exactly where we need them to be. Clark and his little friends think that they will be safe there, but in reality, that is the most dangerous place for them to be."

Over the next several minutes they discussed every aspect of their plan, making sure that there was no room for error, and he ordered them to leave the room for the time being, every single one of them feeling more than a little excited that this would finally be happening.

As soon as they had disappeared from his sights, Lex slowly walked back towards his desk, and sat down, as he patiently waited for his guests of honor to literally arrive on his doorstep.

This was going to get interesting…

* * *

All the way across town, Kaleb was pouting and sulking, as he sat down at the kitchen table, deliberately picking at his breakfast that his daddy had prepared for him before disappearing back down the hallway, where his mommy was having an extremely hard time accepting this situation.

Two nights ago, the day they had came back home from their little vacation, they had explained to him that the scrawny man was back, which had terrified him a little more than when he had found out that the bald man was back, but after having an in depth conversation with them about it he managed to calm down the fears that have attacked him from the moment his mommy almost left him.

His daddy would protect them.

But…

That was the problem.

His mommy didn't agree with this plan that they had created.

She wanted to help protect them and everyone they cared about, but his daddy wouldn't allow her to help for two reasons. The first being that she was pregnant with his little brother or little sister, and the second being that she needed to be here to protect him just in case things went wrong.

It made perfect sense to him, but if he was being completely honest with himself he wanted to help too. Every since he could remember these men have attacked his family, killing his Aunt Alicia in the process, and he wanted this to be over just as much as his entire family did, but he knew that they would never, ever allow him to help since he was just a child.

A scowl appeared on his face. He absolutely hated that term. He wasn't a child anymore. He was old enough to understand what was happening around him, unlike a few years ago, and he was old enough to help this time around, but he knew that they wouldn't allow him to go anywhere near those three men.

He pulled out of his thoughts before tuning in his super hearing to their closed bedroom door, his curiosity getting the better of him, and listened, as they bickered back and forth down the hall…

Clark and Lois were standing on complete opposite sides of their bedroom, glaring, heatedly at each other, as they argued about the same exact thing they have been bickering about for the past two days. Their plan for Lex, Murphy and Steve, and the fact that she wouldn't have a single part in it.

It was beginning to become very tiresome, he thought to himself, as he completely ignored what she was currently spewing to him at this moment in time. He needed to be at Watchtower right now, instead he was standing here arguing about something that wasn't going to change. He would be leaving without her, and she would be going to the farmhouse with their son.

There was no question about that.

"That's enough!" He yelled at her, growing completely and utterly fed up with her arguments before taking a few steps towards her, as his posture showed pure confidence, his voice was stern, and his facial expression revealed that he wasn't changing his mind about this. "Dammit Lois! I don't have time for this! You will be staying with our son at the farmhouse. No matter what. I don't care how bad you want to help. I'm not going to allow you to put yourself in danger."

She glared ever harder than before, at his words, and took several steps towards him until she was standing mere inches away from him. "You're not going to allow it? Are you being serious right now? You can't keep me there! I want to help, and I don't care if I have to go through you to do just that."

"You won't be able to."

Her eyes narrowed at him, dangerously. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what I said. You wont be going anywhere except the farmhouse. Is that understood?"

"Are you telling me what I will or will not be doing?"

"Yes. You need to listen to me, Lois, for once just listen to me. You have to protect our son, our unborn child, and yourself if this all falls apart."

Admittedly, she understood that she needed to be there to protect her son, but that didn't mean she agreed with this plan of theirs whatsoever, actually, she despised it, and she definitely didn't care for the attitude he was giving her at this moment in time. "Are you forgetting that I dealt with this on two different occasions?"

He sighed, softly. "No, I'm not forgetting, but I'm here now, and I'm not letting you risk yourself just to protect the people we all care about."

She whispered, under her breath, "I did just fine without your help…"

A sharp pain spread out through his heart from her words, but he knew deep inside that she was just pissed off right now, and he wouldn't allow her harsh words to affect him anymore than they already were. "Your right, but tell me, Lois, how will did that work out for you?"

As soon as the words had escaped from him he regretted them not only because of the hurt—pain that crossed over her features, but also because he didn't mean them, honestly, they were both worked up, and were saying things that neither of them meant. "Lois…"

She took several steps back away from him, as his words caused a sharp pain to wreck her entire body like nothing ever has before. "Did you just say that to me? Do you think I wanted to be kidnapped? Do you think I wanted to almost die? Do you think I wanted our son to be in danger? Do you think I wanted to be beaten by Murphy?"

"Lois, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I know you had no control of any of that happening, but you're being completely unreasonable right now. Just pl—"

"Leave."

He frowned at her. "What?"

Her anger-filled hazel eyes glared, heatedly at him. "Leave. I don't want you here right now. I don't want to talk to you right now. I cant even look at you right now. Just leave."

A soft sigh escaped past his lips from her even harsher words, and took a few more steps towards her, but her heated gaze made him stop dead in his tracks. "I'm sorry, Lois, I didn't meant that."

"Leave."

"Lois, please, just promise me you won't do anything reckless."

That was definitely not the right thing to say. "Dammit Clark! Just leave!"

He sighed, heavily before walking out of the room, knowing that their argument had been more heated than the others, and hoped that this was finished sooner rather than later, so they both could make up for the harsh words they had spoken to each other.

As he walked into the kitchen, he realized that his son hadn't eaten a single thing. "Kaleb? Why aren't you eating." When he simply shrugged his shoulders, despondently he narrowed his eyes at him, immediately realizing what was bothering him since it was practically written all over his face. "You heard."

He nodded. "You upset mommy."

"We both upset each other, but it'll be alright, Kal, I promise." He softly kissed the top of his head. "I love you, buddy.

"I love you too, daddy." He watched him fly up into the sky before disappearing from his sights, and slowly made his way towards his mommy, as thoughts of everything he had just overheard rampaged through his mind.

His daddy just wanted to make sure that they were going to be safe, but he also knew that his mommy wanted to help keep everyone safe, and that was the problem they were having. Honestly, he wanted her to stay with him, instead of out there with the rest of his family not only because of what had happened a few years ago, but also because he was terrified that if she left she wouldn't be coming back to him.

That was the last thing he wanted.

As soon as he walked into their bedroom he found his mommy pacing back and forth, muttering nonsense about his daddy going to get a piece of her mind when he returned.

That wasn't good, he thought to himself.

"Mommy?"

She immediately stopped pacing when she heard his soft voice, and slowly walked over to him with a fake smile gracing her lips. "Are you ready to go? Did you finish your breakfast?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I'm not hungry."

That was surprising, she thought to herself, before she noticed that something was seriously bothering her little boy, and slowly kneeled down in front of him. "What's wrong, Kal?"

"You and daddy are mad at each other."

A soft sigh escaped past her lips. "You heard all of that?"

He nodded. "I know that he said some really mean things, and so did you, but don't stay mad at him. He just wants to protect us."

"I want to protect both of you too."

"And you will, but don't leave me." He stared at her, inquisitively. "Do you remember when you promised me that you would never leave me again."

She nodded. "Yes, baby, but this is different."

"No, it's not. If you leave you might not come back, and I'm not sure I could handle that. Please, mommy, don't leave me."

Just like that everything changed in the blink of an eye.

It had never occurred to her how this entire situation was affecting her son, and now she knew that it had been upsetting him more than she had realized.

He was terrified.

Her little boy was terrified of losing her, and so was Clark, but she was too stubborn to realize that they needed her just as much as she needed them.

She quickly pulled him into her arms, loving how he practically crawled into her lap, and hugged him, fiercely, as her hands rubbed up and down his back over and over again. "I'm not going anywhere."

He pulled away from her, slightly. "Do you promise?"

"I promise, baby."

"And, I'm here to make sure of that."

They both turned towards the door when they heard her voice, and Kaleb grinned from ear to ear before running full force towards her. "Auntie Chloe!"

She quickly wrapped her arms around his small body, while his own wrapped around her legs. "Are you ready to go? Your cousins are waiting for you."

Lois watched her son walk out of the room before slowly standing up, and took a few steps towards her cousin. "What are you doing here? I thought we were all meeting at the farmhouse?"

"That was the plan, but after I Put Lizzie down for her morning nap Clark stopped by the farmhouse. He wanted me to come by and check on you."

"You mean, he wanted you to make sure that I made it to the farm." She shook her head from side to side. "What did he think I was going to do? Walk our son into the line of fire?"

"He's just worried about you, Lo, you can't blame him for that."

A loud groan escaped past her lips. "No, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to give him a piece of mind when he does come back."

"I figured you might."

They both quickly got Kaleb settled in the car before heading towards the farmhouse, where they would all be safe until Clark, Kara and The Justice League ended this for good, hopefully this would all be over before the day was over.

* * *

Clark rushed into the main conference room at Watchtower, where Kara, Bruce, Oliver, Dinah, Arthur, Victor and J'onn J'onzz was waiting for him, feeling a little worked up after his argument with Lois, and was regretting more than half the words they had spoken to each other, but he refused to worry about that right now.

Once this was over, he would make it up to her.

As soon as Kara noticed him she walked towards him with a worried expression plastered across her face. "Where have you been?"

He sighed, heavily. "Arguing with Lois…"

Oliver made a face. "She still doesn't agree with the plan, does she?"

"Oh, she agrees with the plan, but she doesn't agree with the fact that she won't be helping us." He took a deep breath. "And, I might have made the situation worse than it already was."

Bruce frowned at him. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter." He quickly took several steps towards every single one of them. "Are we ready. Where is Lex?"

Dinah nodded her head towards the several computers. "At the mansion. All three of them are there."

J'onn J'onzz stepped closer to him. "You two take care of Lex, and as soon as he has been sent to the Phantom Zone I'll take care of Murphy."

Victor nodded. "And we have everything we need to send Steve away for life."

Clark smiled, softly at all of them. "Good. Let's get this over with."

Kara quickly walked over to Bruce, and kissed him, softly, which surprised him, slightly. "I'll be back soon."

He kissed her again. "Be careful."

"I will be. I love you."

"I love you too."

Clark and Kara quickly shot up into the sky, as soon as they had made it outside of the building, and flew to the mansion in a matter of minutes, where they found Lex sitting at his desk, twisting a small metal device in his hands, but before either of them could utter a single word he glanced up at them with a devilish expression plastered across his face. "About damn time you two showed up."

Kara frowned at him. "You were expecting us?"

"That, my dear, is for me to know, and for you to find out." He slowly rose from his chair, and made his way towards them. "You two think you're so clever, don't you?"

Clark reached into his back pocket, grasping the crystal in his hand, and kept it hidden behind his back, attempting to not make it seem obvious. "Your reign is over Lex."

His brows rose at that. "Is that what you think?"

"It's what we know."

He glanced down, noticing that Clark was hiding something behind his back, and smirked over at him, knowing exactly what was going through that head of his. "Do you really think that crystal of yours is going to work?"

He frowned, slightly before revealing the large, light blue crystal. "I guess we'll find out."

"No, we won't." He pressed the button on the little metal device in his hand, and watched in utter amusement, as the panel on the wall opposite of them slowly opened, revealing a room stock full of green Kryptonite, which caused both of them to groan, loudly in pain before collapsing to the ground. "It's more satisfactory when you realize what is actually happening." He quickly grabbed the crystal off the floor, and stared down at it for a few seconds before tossing it into the room. "We won't be needing that."

Clark slowly rolled onto his back, hoping to move further away from the Kryptonite room, but scrunched up his entire face in complete and utter agony, as the effects of the meteor rock traveled throughout every inch of his body. "H-h-how did you-you know?"

A wide grin spread out across his face, as he knelt down directly beside him, and roamed his eyes over his entire body, enjoying the fact that he was feeling immense pain before his eyes met his. "I'm glad you asked that, Clark, you see, I've been doing a little thinking since I came back. Last time I didn't have to deal with you, and when I realized that your son had abilities just like you I had to figure out something that could weaken you."

Kara attempted moving closer to her cousin, but every single time she moved an inch the pain became worse and more intense. "W-w-we removed it all…"

His eyes roamed over to her. "That you did, but you didn't dispose of all of it. It took me a few weeks to figure out these green rocks were harmful to you, but when I did finally get my hands on one of them I just had to test my theory."

Clark' eyes widened, as soon as the words had came out of his mouth, instantly remembering the feeling of pain he had gotten at the bar the night Lex baited him. "You were test-testing me?"

"Yes, Clark, I was testing your weakness, and honestly, I don't know why I never figured it out beforehand, I mean you always used to get sick around this stuff, but that was back when I didn't pay attention to such details."

He slowly stood up, and walked over to his desk, pressing a little black button before turning back around towards them, enjoying the fact that they were writhing in pain on the floor. "Now that you know I've known about your weakness for weeks, you're both probably wondering how I could have possibly expected your arrival here today. It's really simple. I've been tracking and listening to every single thing since the moment I was released from prison. To say I was surprised when I heard your plans for me is an understatement, but alas I learned everything I wanted to know, and it only made my plan of attack that much easier."

Kara glared at him. "You won't get away with this. Our friends will find us."

A loud cynical chuckle escaped past his throat before he stepped even closer to her. "I'll have what I want before they can even find you." He locked eyes with Clark before taking a few steps towards him. "Within the hour I'll have that feisty fiancé of yours, your best friend, and your son in my grasp. You really shouldn't have left them at the farmhouse all by themselves."

His eyes widened.

This is exactly what he had wanted. He knew that he would was planning on leaving them at the farm, all by themselves, and now they had the perfect opportunity to take them.

It was all his fault.

"No…"

"Yes, Clark, but don't worry you'll get to see them one last time before I end all of your pathetic lives."

Before either of them could utter a single word, Murphy and Steve walked into the room, and shot them both with Kryptonite laced darts, rendering them both unconscious.

"I think I got my point across." Lex grinned at the two of them. "Get them into the truck, and then go take what is ours."

Two down, he thought to himself, as he watched them being dragged out of his office.

This was only the first part to his brilliant plan, and as soon as Murphy and Steve retrieved his other targets he would be more than ready to finish what he started over eight years ago.

* * *

Lois, Chloe and Kaleb slowly made their way into their farmhouse, all of them feeling a little dejected for completely different reasons, where they found Martha, Jonathon, Lana and Pete sitting at the dining room together enjoying a nice conversation, but all stopped speaking when they noticed them.

Martha glanced at every single one of them, knowing that they weren't happy for their own separate reasons, but when her eyes landed on her daughter she immediately noticed how irritated she seemed to be, and knew that something more serious was going on with her.

It was written all over her face, she thought to herself.

"Lois? Honey? Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy."

Lana quickly realized that something was seriously bothering her best friend—something that had nothing to do with what all of their family and friends were doing right at this moment. She quickly called her children, Jacob and Jessica, into the room before grabbing Kaleb' hand, and took them all outside, knowing that none of the children needed to hear this conversation.

Chloe frowned at her, as she left the house before locking eyes with Martha. "Can you watch Lizzie for me?"

"Of course, sweetheart."

She quickly walked out of the house, wanting to keep her nephew in her sights at all times, and also because she had a feeling that her cousin needed to spend some time alone with the two people she saw as her parents.

Hopefully, they would be able to get through to her in ways that she couldn't, she thought to herself.

As soon as they had left, Pete glanced at the three of them, instantly realizing that they needed to be alone right now, and quickly excused himself before making his way upstairs, where his little niece was sleeping, soundlessly.

Jonathon frowned at his daughter. "What's wrong, Lois?"

She sighed, heavily. "I'm just frustrated with this entire situation. I want to help Clark, but I know that my son needs me more than anything right now."

Martha smiled, softly at her, knowing that she has been having a hard time with this since the moment they found out Murphy had returned, but she also knew that something else was going on. "There's something else, isn't there?"

"You know me too well." She slowly took a seat with them at the table, and leaned back in her chair, attempting to keep her emotions in check. "Clark and I had a fight before he left."

Jonathon moved a little closer to her. "What did you fight about?"

"The same thing we've been arguing about the past two days, but this time was different. We were really pissed off at each other, and we might have told each other some things that we didn't really mean."

Martha reached across the table, and grasped her hands in her own, squeezing them, softly. "What happened?"

"I might have told him that I had dealt with this just fine before, which I regretted saying the moment I did, but then he practically threw it in my face that those situations didn't really end that well, like he was blaming me for everything that had happened."

"He didn't meant that, you know that, right?"

She nodded at her. "I've had plenty off time to cool off, but our argument isn't what is bothering me."

Jonathon frowned at her. "What is?"

"I didn't tell him I love him before he left, and neither did he. It's something we always do no matter if were only going to be away from each other for a few minutes or for a few hours. I can't help thinking that we could have at least put our argument aside to do that."

Martha squeezed her hands a little tighter. "You both know that you love each other. A simple argument isn't going to change that."

"I know that, but I just want him to know that I forgive him for what he said to me, and I want him to know that I'm sorry for everything that I said to him."

Jonathon smiled at her, reassuringly. "He knows, Lois, you'll be able to talk about that when he comes home."

"I hope so." She groaned, loudly, and dropped her head onto the table. "I wish I knew what was going on. I wish I knew that he was alright. I wish I could be there with him."

"Well, you can't."

They all turned towards the foyer when the heard the familiar voice of her father before she slowly stood up, and walked over to him with narrowed eyes. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay home."

As soon as they had created this plan to take down Lex, Murphy and Steve she had called her father, knowing that he would want to know about this, and explained everything to him, which they had all agreed that he would be safer if he stayed home since he was just as much of a target as they rest of them were.

"Did you really think that I would leave you here unprotected?"

"I'm not unprotected, besides nothing is going to happen."

"Clark and Kara might believe that, but I was raised to believe that things aren't as easy as they seem to be, and this just seems too easy."

As he spoke to her she had actually believed him for a split second, but then she had noticed this flicker of dishonestly in his eyes, and in that moment knew the real reason he was standing here. "Clark sent you, didn't he?"

A sigh escaped past his lips. "He's just worried about you, Lo."

"He isn't worried about me, he's worried that I'll do something reckless." She started pacing back and forth, unable to believe that he had actually done this to her. "I can't believe him! First, he refuses to let me help him, then he has my cousin come to my damn doorstep, and now he has sent you to babysit me!"

"Not babysit, Lois, I'm only here to make sure you don't leave."

She glared at him. "That is the definition of babysitting!"

Martha quickly walked over to her, hoping to calm her down. "I'm sure that he just wants to make sure you're going to stay safe."

"That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm staying safe by being here with my son instead of out there with him."

Jonathon stepped closer towards her. "Lois, honey, you do realize that he probably made this decision before he had a chance to calm down from your argument, right?"

That had never occurred to her before, and it made complete sense, but that didn't mean she liked what he had done, actually, she planned on telling him just that as soon as she saw him. "Your probably right."

Sam smiled, softly, feeling more than a little thankful that she didn't seem to pissed off about his presence here. "Well, what are we going to do to pass the time?"

Lois rolled her eyes at him. "You can do whatever you want. I think I need some fresh air."

She quickly walked away from all of them, not able to believe that the man she loved had actually involved her father in this, and even though she had a feeling that this was one of those things he regretted doing she was still pissed off about it.

* * *

Chloe and Lana were a few miles away from the farmhouse, standing near a beautiful field, which was covered with breathtaking flowers and was shrouded by many trees, watching Jacob and Jessica run around like nothing was wrong in this world, while Kaleb was sitting on the ground, picking the flowers before he threw them away from him.

It was quite obvious that he was sulking.

They had hoped that keeping him away from the house would help cheer him up—would help keep his mind off things, especially since he was just as worried about this situation as they all were, but obviously nothing was going to stop their little nephew from worrying.

Lana whispered, "Is he doing alright?"

She shook her head from side to side before whispering back, "I overheard him telling Lois that he didn't want her to leave him. I think that this is affecting him more than any of us thought."

"Poor kid. He's been through so much over the years, hopefully Clark, Kara and The Justice League can end this sooner rather than later."

"I'm sure everything is going to be fine." She slowly walked over to her sullen nephew before sitting directly next to him, and bumped her shoulder against his, gently, attempting to get some kind of reaction out of him. "Hey there, sport, why are you sitting over here all by yourself?"

He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Kaleb." Once he looked at her she stared deeply into his emotion filled baby blues. "Talk to me, Kal, I remember a time when you enjoyed talking to me more than your mommy."

That made him smile, but it quickly fell. "I'm scared."

"Why? Your daddy and Aunt are going to take care of this, besides this is nothing you need to be worrying about."

"Yes, I do. Mommy and daddy were upset with each other before he left, and I'm terrified that something is going to happen to them."

She gripped his face into her hands, forcing him to look at her. "Your daddy is perfectly fine, Kal, your mommy isn't even a few miles away from you. Nothing is going to happen to them."

"But what if the bad men get to daddy and Aunt Kara? What if they come for me like they did before? What if they hurt mommy again?"

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. His fears were very sincere and very real, but she honestly believed that everything was going to work out the way they all hoped it would. "That isn't going to happen, so instead of sitting here thinking about things that you can't control you go play with your cousins."

"I don't want to."

This was going to be harder than she thought. "Do you want to go back to the house? Spend some time with your mommy?"

He nodded.

They both quickly stood up, and started walking away, but stopped dead in their tracks when they heard a familiar voice—a voice they knew all too well lingering from directly behind them. "Aww. That's adorable. Too bad none of you are going anywhere."

Lana gasped, slightly at the sight of him. "Jacob! Jessica! Get over here right now!"

They quickly rushed over to her, feeling completely confused, as they stared at the stranger, who was standing directly in front of them, and he didn't look very nice. "Who is that, mommy?"

"A bad man."

Chloe slowly turned around towards the man she never expected to see today or any other day, and rested his hand on her nephews shoulder, slowly pushing him behind her, slightly. "Murphy. What the hell are you doing here?"

He stalked towards her with a smirk plastered across his face. "I'm here to take what is ours."

Kaleb glared, heatedly at the man, who had hurt his mommy on more than one occasion. "We aren't yours! You cant take us! My daddy will stop you!"

A loud, cynical chuckle escaped from the back of his throat, as he moved closer to them. "You've gotten mouthier since the last time I saw you. I guess you get that from your mommy, but your daddy isn't coming to your rescue." He glanced up at Chloe. "I suggest that you both leave with me right now."

"That isn't happening."

"Why do you and your cousin always have to make this so difficult?"

She smirked at him. "You wouldn't have enjoyed us so much if we were easy targets."

He glared at her. "You know, I think I'll just eliminate you right here and right now."

Kaleb growled at him, his eyes staring straight into his soul. "You won't touch her!"

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do to stop me?"

Before he could utter another word or make a move towards this man, Chloe quickly pushed him behind her, forcefully. "He isn't going to do anything, but I am."

"Is that right?"

"If you want to take us them it'll have to be with force because we aren't leaving with you willingly."

"I thought you might say that." He slowly brought his fingers up to his lips before whistling, loudly, confusing every single one of them, but their confusion died almost instantaneously when they heard Lana gasp, loudly, and turned around towards her to find that Steve was holding a knife against her throat, as his other arm secured her against his body. "I brought reinforcements."

As soon as all three children were standing directly behind her she glared over at him. "Let her go!"

"That's not going to happen, so you might as well give up already, and come with me right now."

Kaleb growled low in his throat at this man, feeling nothing but complete and utter anger towards him. He was sick and tired of this. He was absolutely done with these bad men coming after the people he loved and cared about.

"Let her go!" He started charging towards him, faster than humanly possible, before this man had time to utter a single word, hoping that his abilities would stop him from hurting his Aunt or taking them, but was completely shocked when he revealed a strange looking green rock, and instantly knew what it was when he felt an unimaginable pain surge throughout his entire body before he collapsed to the ground.

His entire family, especially his mommy and daddy had warned him about these rocks, but he had never, ever imagined that it would be this painful, and he really, really wished that the pain would just go away.

"KALEB!"

Chloe rushed over to his side, sliding down onto the ground directly beside him, and pulled him into her arms, immediately noticing how sweaty and pale he already looked, as she brushed her fingertips across his forehead. "Kaleb? Are you alright?"

His pain filled aquamarine eyes met her concerned emerald ones, as he panted, breathlessly. "I-I-It hurts."

"I know, baby, it's going to be alright." She glared up at Murphy. "What the hell is wrong with you! He's just a child! Get that the hell away from him!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You know that I can't do that, Chloe, this child could easily take both of us down with his abilities. I won't allow him to ruin our plans."

Lana wanted to scream, kick, and fight back, but there wasn't a single thing she could do while this man was holding a knife to her throat, and she didn't want to scare her children anymore than they already were. "Just let us go, Murphy, you know that Lex is going to kill you and Steve as soon as he gets what he wants. You are both just pawns in his little game."

He stalked a little closer to her. "You were once one of those little pawns, Miss Lang, but you turned your back on us, and you will pay for that."

She glared at him. "You can go straight to hell, Murphy!"

"Been there. Done that. Never going to happen again."

Lana noticed that Chloe was starting edge towards him, intending to attack him from behind, and attempted keeping his attention on her, but he quickly spun around right before she could attack him before slapping her across the face, hard, causing her to collapse to the ground.

"Aunt Chloe!" She quickly shook off the pain she was feeling right now, knowing that she needed to stay strong for her nephew, and crawled back over to him, pulling him back into her lap.

Murphy moved closer to them, enjoying the way Kaleb started writhing in even more pain. "Nice try, but you won't be getting the drop on me." He knelt down directly in front of her, and grabbed her arm, squeezing, as hard as he possibly could when she attempted backing away from him before he pressed the Kryptonite against his cheek.

Kaleb attempted twisting away from him—away from the green meteor rock, but it was too painful to move, and being this close to it only made his body weaker and weaker by the second. "P-p-please stop."

"Never going to happen, kid." He pressed the rock harder against his skin before locking eyes with one of the women he hated more than anything, who had tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain her nephew was currently experiencing. "Now, you have two choices…leave with us right this second, and I won't kill your friend or refuse, and I kill her before I forcefully take both of you."

There was a part of herself that wanted to refuse, but the other part of herself was too worried about her nephew, who was getting weaker, and her friend, who's life was literally in danger. There was only one choice to make. "Fine! Just please get that away from him!"

"Good choice." He slowly stood up, and took several steps away from them before turning towards Steve with a smirk plastered across his face. "Do it."

He grinned from ear to ear, feeling more than a little excitement before he plunged the knife directly into her stomach. "AHHH!"

"MOMMY!" Jacob and Jessica screamed out, as they rushed over to her side with tears rolling down their cheeks faster and faster.

Chloe glared at him. "I told you we would come with you! Why the hell did you do that?"

He turned back around towards her. "She had to pay for what she did to us all those years ago, and this was the only way her story ended. Come on, Chloe, you know better than anyone that my word means absolutely nothing."

"You got that right."

"Come with me right now. I believe you have a few friends waiting for you…"

She glared, heatedly at him. "What friends? You only want us there so Lex can run his experiments on my nephew!"

"I never said that Lex was the friend waiting for you."

A frown etched over her features before realization dawned on her. "Clark and Kara."

"Ding! Ding! Ding! They were so easy to capture, I mean they literally walked or rather flew right into the lions den."

Kaleb' eyes widened to the size of saucers before whispering, "Daddy…Aunt Kara…"

They had taken his daddy, his aunt, and now they were going to take them, but even though the pain he was feeling was making him lose hope in being saved—in getting out of this he knew that they didn't have his mommy, and she would save them.

She had to.

Murphy stepped closer to them. "We're leaving now, or the children are next."

There was no choice in the matter, she thought to herself, before quickly lifting her nephew into her arms, who clung onto her for dear life, as she stood up, and could instantly tell that he wasn't doing so good. His skin was pale, sticky and he looked like he was about to pass out. She glanced over at him. "We'll go with you, but please, please just put that away. You're killing him."

"That's the plan."

He nodded at Steve, who slowly turned around towards the two hysterical children. "Do you understand what happened here?" At their nods he continued, "Good. Now, go tell your Aunt Lois what has happened."

They glanced down at their mommy, who was starting to look very pale and sickly before they rushed towards the farmhouse, hoping that their Aunt could help their mommy and save their family from those two very, very bad men.

Murphy quickly pushed them forward, and watched them with a careful eye, making sure that she didn't do anything reckless, but doubted that she would since she was too worried about the little boy in her arms—the little boy that would be dead very soon.

As they were walking Kaleb stared deeply into her eyes, and whispered, "W-wh-what are we-we going to do?"

She pulled him tighter against her chest, hugging him, fiercely, and whispered back to him, "It's going to be alright, Kaleb, I'll get us out of this, but I need you to hang on for me. No matter what they do to you. Keep fighting."

He nodded at her, believing that someone would save all of them before anything bad happened.

It was quite obvious that things had majorly turned for the worst, she thought to herself, which was something none of them had believed would happen since they had planned this out perfectly, but obviously they were wrong, and the only thing that mattered in this moment was protecting her nephew, even if that meant dying to save his life.

Clark couldn't help.

Kara couldn't help.

Oliver and Bruce couldn't help.

The Justice League probably had no idea what was going on.

Lois was about to find out what was going on, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be much help either. Not because she wouldn't come to their rescue, but because she would, and that was the problem. As soon as Lex realized that she was pregnant—realized that she had abilities she would become just as vulnerable as the rest of them.

No matter what happened she would protect the people she loved and cared about.

Her nephew needed her to be strong for every single one of them, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Stay strong.

* * *

Lois was standing in the loft with her hands gripping the wooden beams a little harder than humanly possible, as she glanced out the window, her mind repeating the event that have happened from the moment Clark left to the moment she realized her had sent her father to keep an eye on her over and over again.

It was completely and utterly ridiculous.

She knew that he was currently out there somewhere stopping Lex, Murphy and Steve from causing any more people pain, but she couldn't help feeling like he didn't trust her enough to keep their son safe—to keep their baby safe—to keep herself safe—to not do anything reckless, even though she knew that they both had spoken a lot of words that neither of them meant.

"Aunt Lois! Aunt Lois! Aunt Lois!" Her thoughts were interrupted by the panicked and shrilling screams coming from her niece and nephew, and when she glanced out across the cornfields she noticed that they were running full force towards the barn.

In that moment she knew that something was terribly wrong not only because they were hysterically screaming out her name over and over again, but also because her cousin, best friend and son weren't with them.

Something had definitely happened, she thought to herself, before she rushed down the stairs and around the barn until she was standing directly in front of them. "Jacob, Jessica, what's wrong? What happened?" They started speaking at the same exact time in a hurried and terrified voice, which made it nearly impossible to understand them. "Shh. Shh. It's alright. Just tell me what happened. One at a time."

"Our mommy. She's hurt."

"A man stabbed her."

Her eyes went as wide as saucers from their words. "What? Where did this happen?"

"In Kaleb' favorite field. They took them. They took Kaleb and Aunt Chloe."

"They wanted you to know that they took them," Jessica added.

When she had first saw them running towards her she had figured that something bad had happened, but she had never, ever imagined that it would be this since she had been absolutely positive that Clark, Kara and the rest of The Justice League would have taken care of them by now.

Obviously, something had really gone wrong, she thought to herself, the mere thought of something happening not only to the man she loved, but to her cousin and son cause emotion after emotion to consume her entire being.

"Go inside right now." As soon as they disappeared from her sights she quickly super sped to the exact same spot they had just been in, immediately realizing that one of the closest people in her life was laying on the ground, bleeding out from her stomach, and it brought back so many memories, but she quickly pushed those thoughts away before she dropped down to her knees directly next to her best friend. "Lana…"

She was so still.

She was so pale.

She was so sickly looking.

Her head dropped, as the tears cascaded down her cheeks like a waterfall. "I'm so sorry, Lana, I should have been here to protect you like you've been there for me so many times in the past. You have been one of the best people in my life. I'm sorry that they did this to you, but I promise you I won't let them get away with this."

Lana slowly blinked her eyes open, the sharp pains in her stomach feeling more like a freight train had crashed right into her instead of a knife, and heard her friend speaking, softly to her before she managed to place her shaky hand on top of hers. "Lois…"

Her head snapped towards her, her eyes roaming over her face, realizing that she was awake—that she was alive, and felt a multitude of emotions surge through her, but the most prominent one was complete and utter relief. "Oh god! Lana! I thought you were dead. You're going to be just fine. The ambulance should be here soon."

She shook her head from side to side. "No. You have to help them—you have to save them."

"Shh. Don't worry about that. We'll get Chloe and Kaleb back."

"N-n-no you don't under-understand…they have Clark and Kara…"

Her words caused her heart to beat like a jackhammer inside of her chest, and her body started trembling, slightly at the mere thought of what was going to happen to them, but all thoughts of them escaped her when Lana smiled, softly at her before her eyes closed, her body going limp.

"Lana! Lana! Lana!" When she didn't respond to her she gripped her arms in her hands, and started shaking her, as hard as she could. "Lana! Come on, you need to wake up! Please! You can't die on me! I've already lost one of my friends I can't lose another! Please! Your husband needs you! Your children need you! I need you! Please!"

She slowly dropped her head onto her chest, the tears pouring down her cheeks faster and faster, as she felt like she had just lost one of the most important people in her life, and that broke her heart into a million pieces, but she quickly lifted her head when her phone started ringing and vibrating from her back pocket.

As soon as she answered the phone without checking the called ID she heard his arrogant, cocky voice ringing in her ears. "Hello, Lois."

"Lex."

"I'm guessing at this point in time you have realized that I have your fiancé and friend. I'm also sure your aware of the fact that your son and cousin are on their way here as we speak."

She slowly stood up, determination and confidence consuming every single part of her body, as an expression of pure hatred crossed over her features. "I'm going to kill you."

"Ooo! Feisty! I like it! I can tell that you become ruthless when the people you care about are in danger."

"You think that you're going to get away with this, but I'm going to kill every single one of you."

"You know, your cousin made that same threat a few nights ago to the very man that took your son, but he's still standing, and from what I heard she didn't put up much of a fight. It must have been that green Kryptonite affecting your son that stopped her from making a move against him."

Her heart literally stopped beating for several seconds before it started pounding, relentlessly inside of her chest. He knew about their weakness. He had the one thing that could kill her family. He had used it on her son. He was probably using it on Clark and Kara as they spoke. "Y-y-you didn't…is he…" She trailed off unable to say the words that were causing her heart to break inside of her chest.

"Don't worry, Lois, your family is still alive, but they won't remain that way." It was silent for a few seconds. "This is what is going to happen…you're going to come to the address I've just texted you, and I'd hurry if I were you."

Before the line ended she heard her fiancé screaming out, "Don't come Lois!"

As much as she wanted to listen to his words, she couldn't, everyone she loved was in danger, and she wasn't going to allow anything to happen to them, even if that meant putting herself in the mix of danger they were all in.

This was a trap.

This exactly what they had been waiting for.

The moment they all felt confident in their own plan was the exact same time they had decided to attack.

It wasn't a coincidence.

She glanced down at her friend. "I'll make them pay. I promise."

She quickly super sped away after getting the address Lex had sent her, hoping that she could save her family before they managed to do anything to them.

Her fiancé was in danger.

Her cousin was in danger.

The woman she saw as her sister was in danger.

Her son was in danger.

There was no way in hell she was losing the people she cared about and loved with all of her heart.

* * *

 _ **This was such an emotional chapter to write, and the next chapter is going to be ten times worse. I don't know why I chose to write such a sad, emotional and heart breaking story, but when the ideas come you just have to write them. Four chapters left to this story, and the next two are doozies for sure.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed chapter fifty one!**_


	53. Chapter Fifty Two

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fifty-Two:**_

* * *

"Don't come Lois!" Clark screamed out, loudly, hoping that the love of his life could hear him, and prayed upon every god imaginable that if she did hear him she wouldn't come. The last thing he wanted was this man to find out about his unborn child, and he wanted her to stay safe, even though he was in quite a predicament himself.

Lex grinned, widely to himself, as he ended the phone call with the lovely Lois Lane, knowing full well that she would come, even if her fiancé had attempted stopping her from coming he knew that she would anyways not only because she would do whatever it took to protect the people she cared about, but also because she didn't have a choice in the matter.

It was a trap.

She knew that, but that wouldn't deter her, and it was exactly what he expected from her. She would walk straight through those doors just like Clark and Kara had done.

He glanced over at Clark and Kara, who were standing in their separate steel cages, and walked towards them, his menacing gaze landing on him. "You shouldn't have done that, Clark, you just might have ruined my perfect plan."

He glared, heatedly at him. "You and your plan can go straight to hell!"

Kara gripped the steel bars in her hands, tightly, attempting to muster enough strength to break them, but every single one of her abilities were too weak. "You're sick, Lex, this plan of yours isn't going to work. She wont come."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." He smirked, devilishly between the two of them. "She is quite fierce and protective on a normal day, but I have a feeling that her emotions are a little off today. She'll make the right choice."

Kara frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that she isn't just worried about your welfare she also wants revenge, and she probably believes that's what she's going to get once she arrives, but she would be wrong about that."

Clark furrowed his brows, in confusion. "What do you mean she wants revenge?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. "She didn't just realize that the man she loves, the woman she sees as her own sister, her cousin and son were taken, but she also found her best friend…dead."

Kara took several steps back until her back bumped against the concrete wall, his words causing her heart to break inside of her chest, as thoughts of her friend consumed her mind. It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was referring to.

Lana.

She shook her head from side to side, vehemently, the tears rolling down her cheeks, as she whispered, "No…"

For five years she had bonded with her, watching her transform into the loving mother and caring wife that she was. In that time they had experienced so many things together. From the first moment they met she saw a light inside of her heart—a light that had been buried until she had found herself, and now she was gone.

Her friend was gone.

That thought alone caused a multitude of emotions to consume every fiber in her being, but the most prominent one was pure anger.

She charged towards the bars, gripping them, tightly in her hands, as she glared at him. "What the hell did you do?"

"I can see that I've hit a nerve, but I didn't do anything to the lovely Miss Lang, but she is dead because I ordered it. It was time she payed for turning her back on us."

"She didn't deserve to die!"

Clark staggered backwards from the realization that was slowly dawning on him, and honestly, he couldn't believe that this was happening. He not only kidnapped almost everyone he cared about, but he also had the woman he was slowly starting to become good friends with killed.

It was unreal.

From the moment he was ten years old he had a crush on the small, bubbly brunette until he realized that she wasn't the one for him, but even though they had been estranged before he left for his training she was just starting to become someone he could trust—someone he could see being a big part of his life, but now she was gone.

Dead.

His emotion filled eyes landed on the man responsible for everything, and glared, heatedly at him before slamming his entire body against the steel bars, wanting nothing more than to escape and strangle this man with his bare hands. "What the hell is wrong with you? She was a mother! She was a wife! She was my friend!"

He rolled his eyes at him. "Like that is supposed to bother me. She betrayed me, and she payed for it with her life. It was always going to end this way, Clark."

"It's going to end, but not the way you think it is. When I get out of here, and I will escape I'm going to end your pathetic life."

Lex laughed, coldly and cynically before his expression transformed into a more serious one. "I'd like to see you try."

"I will."

"No, you won't. You won't because it goes against every moral inside of your body, but your fiancé on the other hand doesn't hold the same moral grounds as you do. She wouldn't hesitate to kill me or Murphy. She's tried killing him before, but it doesn't really matter since none of you will survive long enough."

Kara glared at him with an expression of pure venom spreading out across her face. "You won't get what you want, Lex, we'll stop you."

His eyes landed on her before he stalked towards her. "Really? That seems like an impossible dream, sweetheart, these cages are built to withhold your abilities. There's no way your getting out…alive."

Clark growled low in his throat. "You won't get away with this, Lex."

"I will and there's nothing you can do to stop me." He slowly walked away from them towards the wall directly across from them, and flipped the large metal switch, activating the Kryptonite radiation in their cages.

"AHHH!" They screamed, loudly in pain before collapsing to the ground, every inch of their bodies feeling like it was being electrocuted over and over again, as the effects of the meteor rock caused them to squirm, relentlessly on the floor, both of them wishing that the pain would just stop.

A slow smile spread out across his face, as he watched them scream and squirm in complete and utter agony before he turned off the radiation, and walked back over towards them. "That should keep you down for a while."

Kara slowly reached through the bars, grasping his hand in hers, and squeezed, smiling, faintly when he squeezed back, both of them mentally telling each other that they were alright. She glanced over at him. "Y-y-you can hurt us all you want, but it won't change any-anything. You're still going to d-die."

He chuckled at her. "Keep dreaming. You'll both be dead before any of your friends come to your rescue."

A loud beeping sound came from one of the computers on the far side of the room, alerting him that one of the several security cameras had picked up movement on the property. He quickly walked over to see his first guest of honor standing nearly a mile away from the warehouse.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Lane herself. I wonder how she got here so fast without a vehicle." He smirked over at Clark, who had a terrified expression plastered across his face. "You don't waste any time, do you?"

He glared at him. "Leave her alone!"

"I can't do that, you see, she was probably expecting to sneak in here to save you both, but she is about to get one hell of a surprise." He opened a drawer, and pulled out a large chuck of green Kryptonite before making his way out of the room, feeling more than a little excited about catching the lovely Miss Lane off guard.

Clark slammed his fists against the bars several times. "Dammit Lois!"

Kara quickly rested her hand on his arm, and squeezed, reassuringly. "It's going to be alright, Clark."

"How is this going to be alright? He knows that she's pregnant. Why couldn't she have just listened to me?"

"When does she listen to any of us? She is just trying to protect you, Clark, she probably thought that she could hide the fact that she was pregnant."

A soft sigh escaped past his lips. "I know what she was trying to do, but now she's in danger, and I can't do anything about it."

She smiled over at him. "We'll all get out of this. I promise you Lex won't get away with this."

He smiled back, knowing that she believed her confident words, and so did he, but the fact that his fiancé was walking into a more than dangerous situation terrified him like no other.

It didn't matter, he thought to himself, she was only trying to protect him, and he intended on doing the same, but first they needed to figure out a way to escape from the confines of these cages.

* * *

Lois came to a complete stop roughly about a mile away from the warehouse, her eyes scrutinizing her surroundings before she slowly started walking towards her family and friends.

It was extremely risky using her superspeed ability to get here as fast as she had, knowing full well that Lex and Murphy could easily figure out the truth, but she hadn't exactly been thinking clearly after she had found her friend bleeding out on the field.

But, she was now.

It was obvious that this was a trap, and she was walking straight into it, but if she could manage to trick them into believing that she didn't have any abilities—that she wasn't pregnant than maybe, just maybe she could get her family out of this very dangerous situation.

Hopefully it worked, she thought to herself.

As soon as she was standing a few feet away from the warehouse she narrowed her eyes at the building, wishing that she had super hearing or X-Ray vision since it would make this a lot easier to find them, but she didn't, and knew that she would have done this whether she had any abilities or not.

Her family was in danger, and she'd be damned if she allowed anything to happen to them.

All of a sudden, she felt a sharp, painful stirring in the pit of her stomach, and clutched her hands across her stomach, wondering what the hell was going on, as the pain started getting worse and worse by the second. She slowly turned around, shock filling her hazel orbs, as soon as she had realized that Lex was stalking towards her with a large chunk of green Kryptonite in his hands.

In that moment she knew that her plan had literally been shot to hell.

He knew.

The closer he moved towards her the more intense the pain became. It was slowly spreading throughout her entire body, mainly her stomach, and her head was beginning to feel lightheaded, but quite honestly, she wasn't worried about her own well-being she was worried about the child growing inside of her.

"AHH!" She screamed out in pain when he was a few feet away from her before collapsing to the ground, her hands clutching her stomach.

Lex smirked down at her, as he kept moving closer and closer to her. "I have to say that your little plan was creative, you know, walking the rest of the way here to convince me that you had actually driven here, but the mere fact that you arrived before your cousin and son only proves that you have abilities—that your pregnant."

She glared at him.

"Your fiancé looked at me the same way when he found out, except he was a little more terrified than you are, but I guess that's why you make a perfect match. Your fierce and he's not. You balance each other out. Too bad that connection is going to end very, very soon."

"W-w-where are they?"

He crouched down next to her, purposefully bringing to Kryptonite closer to her body, enjoying the way she scrunched up in her face in pain and twisted her body, attempting to move away from him. "Don't worry, Lois, I'll bring you to them. Clark was right. You shouldn't have come, but now that you're here we can get started."

He quickly pulled her off the ground, and wrapped his arms around her body, pressing the Kryptonite against her stomach, knowing that they only reason she was feeling any pain was because of the baby growing inside of her.

As he dragged her into the building her entire body felt like it was on fire, every single nerve inside of her was burning with a sharp pain she had never felt before, and knew that even though she was the one feeling pain her baby was the one that was in danger.

There was a part of herself that wanted to struggle—wanted to escape from this man, but the other part of herself couldn't muster the strength to do anything.

The pain was agonizing.

All thoughts of her pain vanished in the blink of an eye when she noticed the man she loved, and friend locked up inside steel cages directly next to each other. "Clark! Kara!"

Kara roamed her eyes over every inch of her body, instantly realizing that the Kryptonite was affecting her, but mostly it was her little niece or nephew that was being harmed. "Get that away from her!"

Clark curled his fists around the steel bars, his eyes staring deeply into her own before he glared, heatedly at Lex. "Let her go!"

He slowly removed the meteor rock from her body, and pushed her down to the ground, hard, causing her to groan, loudly in pain. "You might as well say your goodbyes."

She quickly crawled over to the two people she loved with all of her heart, the pain lessening the further she moved away from him, but could still feel a dull pain spreading throughout her entire body, and once she reached the cages she reached through the bars, grasping his hand in hers. "I'm sorry, Clark."

He squeezed her hand, reassuringly, and rested his other hand on the side of her face, immediately feeling how sweaty her skin was. "You shouldn't have come, Lois."

Several tears fell from her eyes. "I know, Clark, I'm so sorry. I couldn't leave you hear with him." She glanced over at Kara, who was smiling, softly at her. "I couldn't leave either of you here. I had to do something. I tried to stop him from finding out, but he knows."

His eyes fell down to her stomach, worry lingering on his face before his eyes collided with hers. "Are you alright?'

More and more tears cascaded down her cheeks, as she shook her head from side to side. "T-t-the baby…the Kryptonite is so painful. What if something happens to—"

"Shh." He attempted moving closer to her, but the bars were making it impossible. "Nothing is going to happen, Lo, but you shouldn't have come. You would have been safer that way."

"I'm so, so sorry, Clark."

"I promise you, Lois, we will get out of this. All of us will."

She nodded at him, believing every would that he was speaking before she glanced over at her friend. "Kara are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Lois. What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. I was in the barn when Jacob and Jessica came running from the field. They told me that Murphy and Steve stabbed Lana before taking Chloe and Kaleb. I wanted to stay with her, but I knew that the ambulance would be there soon. I needed to come to the both of you."

Kara' eyes widened, slightly. "Do-do you think she's still alive?"

"I don't know. She was when I left. I can't lose another person close to me."

Clark squeezed her hand. "We're all going to get through this."

Lex grinned ruefully at the family moment, knowing that this was going to be their very last moment together before he slowly walked over to the metal table, preparing the Kryptonite laced syringe he was planning on using on Kaleb.

It might not kill her, but it would slowly kill her baby within hours, and that is exactly what he wanted.

The last thing they needed was another one of them running around this planet, he thought to himself.

"Lois!"

Lois quickly spun around when she heard her cousin' voice lingering from directly behind her, her eyes widening when she noticed that she was holding her nearly unconscious son, and rushed over to them, pushing down the pain she was feeling before glancing down at her little boy, who smiled, faintly up at her.

"I-I-I knew you'd come for me, mommy."

"I'll always come for you, baby." She glanced at her cousin, roaming her eyes over her entire face, and instantly realized that she had a pretty decent sized bruise on her cheek. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Kaleb isn't doing so good."

Her eyes landed on her little boy, and noticed how pale and sticky his skin seemed to be before she brushed her fingertips across his forehead. "It's going to be alright, Kal, I promise."

He stared deeply into her eyes, the tears rolling down his cheeks. "I don't feel good." He slowly stretched his arms out towards her, wanting nothing more than to be in her arms right now, and clung onto her for dear life, as soon as she had picked him up, his eyes landing on his daddy and aunt when she started walking towards them.

Clark quickly reached through the bars as soon as he was laying on the ground directly in front of him, and glided his fingers across his heated skin. "Kaleb…My baby boy…"

"Daddy, I thought they were going to hurt you."

"I'm alright, and you're going to be alright too. We all are."

He glanced over at his aunt Chloe before locking eyes with his mommy. "I promised that I would fight, and that's what I'm going to do."

"That's my boy." She clutched him tighter to her chest, hugging him, fiercely, and rocked his body back and forth, hoping that they could get out of this situation before she lost anyone she loved.

"Well, that's all the time that we have." Lex smirked at them, as he walked closer to her, and injected the needle into the side of her neck, causing her to gasp, loudly before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her body slowly crashing onto the cold ground.

"LOIS!" Chloe screamed out before she started running towards her, but was stopped by Steve grabbing her arms, holding her in place against his chest. "Let me go!"

Clark slammed his body against the bars, attempting to get as close to her as possible, and grasped her hands in his, squeezing them, softly. "Lois! Lois, baby, please!"

Kaleb slowly crawled over to her, staring down at her with tears building in his little eyes. "Mommy! Mommy! Please come back to me! Please! Don't leave me!" When she didn't respond to his cries he glared over at the man responsible for this. "You hurt her!"

"And you're next." He nodded his head towards Murphy and Steve. "Get them out of here."

Murphy smirked, as he walked over to her, and lifted her limp body into his arms before making his way out of the room towards another room on the other side of the warehouse with Steve walking directly next to him with a struggling Chloe in his grasp.

Kaleb quickly stood up, ignoring the pain inside of his weak body, and rushed towards the open door, intending to go after them, but stopped dead in his tracks when Lex stood directly in front of him, blocking his way, holding a meteor rock in his hands. "I don't think so."

He staggered backwards when the affects from the Kryptonite surged throughout his entire body before collapsing onto the ground next to his daddy, and glanced at him with curious and worried eyes. "W-w-what's going to happen to mommy?"

That he didn't have an answer for.

A part of himself wanted to tell him that everything was going to be alright, but the other part of himself wasn't sure that was true anymore. She was already weak from the Kryptonite exposure, and now she had it running through her veins, probably harming both her and their child.

"I don't know, Kaleb."

Kara slowly moved closer to her nephew, and stretched her hands through the bars, grasping his little hands in her own. "Your mommy is going to be alright. I promise you that we'll all get out of this."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Lex quickly flipped the switch on the wall, and watched in amusement, as all three of them screamed, loudly in pain, their bodies twitching on the ground.

It was a beautiful sight, he thought to himself, before quickly turning off the Kryptonite radiation, and walked over to Kaleb, lifting him into his arms. "Say goodbye to your son, Clark."

Clark quickly stood up, fighting off every inch of pain that was encompassing him, and slammed his body against the bars over and over again. "No! Stop! Don't do this! Lex! Please! Just take me! Take what you want from me! Leave my son out of this! He's just a child! Please!"

Kara widened her eyes at her cousin. "Clark…"

Lex stepped a little closer to him with an inquisitive gaze lingering in his eyes. "You would sacrifice yourself for your son?"

"Yes. I've lived a full life, but his has just begun. Please just leave him alone."

He pretended to think about that for a few seconds before smirking, evilly at him. "Sorry, Clark, that would beat the purpose of seeing your face when you realize that I have murdered your only son."

Clark banged up against the cage over and over again, attempting to escape—attempting to get to his son, as he walked out of the room with him. "No! Kaleb! Kaleb! Dammit Lex! Bring back my son!"

His heart pounded, rapidly inside of his chest, as he slowly collapsed to the ground, the tears rolling down his cheeks faster and faster, and whispered, "My son…"

Kara slowly reached through the bars, and grabbed his hand, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me, Clark, we're going to get them back. We're going to stop him."

"How? We're locked inside this damn cage! We have no powers! How the hell are we supposed to save my son—save the woman I love?"

"I don't know, Clark, but we will." She glanced around the room, hoping to find something that could help them get out of this situation, but there was absolutely nothing they could get their hands on.

They were weak.

They had no abilities.

They were completely helpless.

She lifted her head, slightly, staring up at the ceiling for a few seconds before she closed her eyes, softly, and prayed—wished that someone would find them sooner rather than later.

It was the only way they could save the people she loved with all of her heart.

It was quite obvious that their friends and family would have figured out that something had went horribly wrong, but the question was…did they know where they were?

She didn't know, but she wasn't going to lose hope now.

They would be saved.

Lois and her baby would survive.

Chloe would make it through this.

Kaleb would be alright.

They just had to be.

* * *

Bruce, Oliver, Bart, Arthur, Victor, Dinah and J'onn J'onzz were standing in the main conference room at Watchtower, every single one of them feeling more and more worried as the minutes continued to tick by without any contact from Clark and Kara.

They had started to become nervous thirty minutes ago, but now that it's been a little over an hour they were becoming more and more worried, all of them wondering if something had went terribly wrong.

The plan was simple.

But…

They still weren't back yet, and even though they had tried keeping a calm composure it was quite obvious that something was wrong.

Bart groaned, loudly. "What the hell is taking them so long? They should have been back by now."

Arthur nodded, completely agreeing with him, and glanced over at Dinah. "Check the security systems again."

She sighed, heavily, knowing that nothing was going to change since she had been watching them very carefully, but did it anyways, and frowned at what she was seeing. For the past hour Lex had been sitting in his office, while Murphy and Steve had been in another room down the hall, and the systems still showed the same thing.

At first it had seemed completely normal, but now it was peculiar, and she had a pretty good feeling what was going on. "I think we have a problem."

Victor frowned at her before walking towards the computers, and immediately noticed the same exact thing she had. "It's on a loop."

Oliver furrowed his brows, in confusion. "Are you telling me that Lex knew we would be watching?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Arthur narrowed his eyes at them. "How did you not notice this before."

She glared at him. "It doesn't matter. We need to figure out what is really happening over there."

"Can you hack into the computer systems, and override their program?"

"No, I'm not Chloe. She's the one that was able to hack into their systems."

Bruce stepped closer to every single one of them, feeling a deep fear starting to overtake his entire body, but quickly pushed it down. "If Lex purposefully put a loop on his own security systems than that means he is probably gone, and it's safe to say that Murphy and Steve are gone too. What about Clark and Kara?"

"I'll find out." J'onn disappeared in the blink of an eye, reappearing inside the mansion not even one minute later, and glanced around the room, his eyes narrowing at everything, but as he walked further and further inside he realized that something wasn't right.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

There wasn't a single person here, which was weird since Lex usually had people scattered all over the place.

He quickly made his way into the office, where he was supposed to be, but was pleasantly surprised when all he found was an empty room. He slowly walked over to the desk, and picked up a small metal device before pressing the miniscule button on the side of it, his eyes widening when a side panel on the wall across from him opened, revealing a Kryptonite room.

It didn't make any sense.

Lex wasn't supposed to know about their weakness, but as he made his way closer to the room he noticed the crystal laying on the ground, and it had turned from a light blue color to a dark grey from the exposure of Kryptonite.

It wasn't much, but it did answer many of the questions that were rattling through his head.

He had gotten the upper hand on them.

He had been expecting them.

And, now every single one of them were gone, but where did they disappear to?

"We have more than a little problem," He muttered, as soon as he had arrived back at Watchtower.

Dinah stepped closer to him with a worried expression plastered across her face. "How bad?"

"Lex must have gotten the drop of them. They are gone. I found a Kryptonite room in his main office. I'm guessing that he somehow figured out their weakness, and waited until they came to him before making his move."

Bart groaned, loudly. "What about the crystal?"

He slowly revealed the defective crystal. "I found this in the room. The Kryptonite destroyed it."

Victor sighed, heavily. "What the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Find them."

Dinah glared at him. "Like that's going to be easy. He could have taken them anywhere."

Bruce started pacing back and forth, completely ignoring the words coming from them, as his emotions were beginning to get the better of him, which was something that never happened, but when it came to his wife he had absolutely no control over it, especially when she was in danger.

She had brightened his darkened world.

She had brought him out of the shadows and into the light.

She was everything to him.

He couldn't lose her.

The mere thought of losing the one person he needed the most caused his breath to catch in his throat before he staggered backwards until his back brushed against the wall, and slowly slide down to the ground, as emotion after emotion consumed his heart, mind and soul.

He whispered, "No…Not my Kara…"

Dinah quickly walked over to him, and rested her hand on his shoulder, reassuringly. "We'll get her back, Bruce, we'll get them both back."

Oliver sympathized with his friend, knowing that she has been the only woman he has ever loved this deeply, and slowly started walking towards him, wanting to console him, but stopped dead in his tracks when a horrible thought occurred to him. "If Lex was able to capture them than that means…"

He trailed off, as thoughts of his family consumed his mind, and quickly pulled out his phone, dialing her number, but when it continuously went straight to her voicemail a deep fear consumed him before he chucked his phone against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces. "Dammit! She isn't answering!"

Bart walked towards his friend. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Just like Clark and Kara are fine? She always answers my calls. Something is wrong. I swear to god if he touched her I'm going to—"

"You're not going to do anything." Bruce interrupted him, as soon as he came to his senses, and locked eyes with J'onn. "I need you to go to the farm. If Lex was able to take Clark and Kara than it wouldn't be hard for him to take Chloe and Lana, possibly even Lois and Kaleb."

J'onn nodded before disappearing, and as soon as he reappeared directly in front of the barn he noticed an ambulance a few feet away from him, along with several EMTs rushing around the house. He quickly rushed over to find his friend, Lana, laying on a gurney, unconscious.

It was quite obvious that something had happened.

"J'onn? What are you doing here?"

He quickly turned around towards him, confusion lingering in his eyes, as he made his way over to him with a slight frown lingering on his face. "Pete, what the hell happened?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. "Steve stabbed her."

His eyes widened, slightly. "What?"

"I don't know, man, Jessica and Jacob came running into the house after it happened."

"They were there?"

He nodded. "I guess they were all in the field a few miles away from here when Murphy and Steve showed up. He stabbed her before taking Chloe and Kaleb."

This wasn't good, he thought to himself, not only did they have Clark and Kara, but they also had Chloe and Kaleb.

"What about Lois? Is she here?"

"No, she's gone too. Jacob told me that she went out to the field, but by the time we got out there she was already gone." He quickly started walking towards the ambulance. "Look, I need to get her to the hospital, but please, call me if you find them."

"I will."

Pete quickly jumped into the back of the ambulance with his two crying children, and wrapped his arms around their bodies, as they cried into his chest, while he stared down at his pale wife, hoping and praying that she would be alright because he wasn't sure if he could get through any of this without her by his side.

As soon as he walked inside the farmhouse he found Martha, Jonathon and Sam having a very heated argument in the kitchen. It was quite obvious that their emotions were all over the place.

Just like everyone else, he thought to himself.

"I knew this was going to happen! It was too damn easy, and now that bastard has my niece and grandchild!

"Sam, you need to calm down. We'll get them back."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that? They were supposed to be taken care of already!"

Martha was about to put in her two sense when she noticed J'onn standing a few feet away from them, and walked towards him with a slight frown on her face. "J'onn? What are you doing here?"

He took a few steps towards them. "Oliver and Bruce wanted me to check on everyone, but it's obvious that we have bigger problems than we had before."

Jonathon frowned at his words. "What do you mean bigger problems? What happened?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. "Lex somehow knew what we were planning. He took Clark and Kara as soon as they arrived at the mansion."

"He took them? How is that even possible?"

"Green Kryptonite."

Martha gasped, slightly. "How did he even find out?"

"I don't know, but we need to find them before anything happens. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Lois went after them, but how did she know where to go?"

Jonathan sighed, softly. "I don't know. According to the children, she was with Lana, but when we finally got out there she was already gone."

That's exactly what Pete had told him, he thought to himself, it didn't really answer any of his questions, but he had a pretty good idea where they could start.

"Do you have her phone?"

She shook her head from side to side. "I'm guessing that she still has it."

"Good. We can track her that way, and hopefully it will lead us to the others."

Sam took several steps towards him with complete and utter determination lingering in his eyes. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not." When he attempted arguing against that he stared at him with a serious and affirmative expression. "Look, Lana needs all the support she can get right now. All of you should get to the hospital. We'll handle this." He locked eyes with every single one of them. "I promise you we will bring them home."

He quickly left the house, intending to get back to Watchtower as soon as possible not only to tell the rest of them team what had happened here, but also to find their friends and family, and he knew exactly what they needed to do.

It was time they ended this for good.

* * *

Chloe stared down at her pale, sickly looking cousin with tears filling her emerald eyes, as she squeezed her hands, hoping that she would just wake up—hoping that she would survive this—hoping that her little niece or nephew would survive this.

She slowly pulled her cousin into her arms, the tears slowly cascading down her cheeks. "Lois, please. Please, I need you to wake up. I can't do this without you. I need your help. Please, come back to me."

There was a part of herself that was starting to wonder if her cousin was going to wake up, but the other part of herself refused to believe that. Not only because she believed that she would come back to her, but also because she had faith that her cousin—that her niece or nephew would fight this.

Her eyes fell down to her stomach, where she knew that little baby was fighting for their life, and hoped against all hope that her cousin was able to fight off the Kryptonite poisoning because that would mean that her little niece or nephew would survive as well, but the only way that could happen was if she opened her eyes.

"Come on, Lo, you have to fight this. I can't do this without you. Just open your eyes, please."

They needed to get out of this.

They needed to escape from this room.

They needed to save the people they loved.

They needed to end Murphy and Lex for good.

But…

The only way they could do that was if she had her partner—her cousin—the only person that has literally been there through everything.

They would get out of this, she thought to herself, no matter what they had to do.

Several minutes later, Lois slowly blinked her eyes open, gradually becoming aware of her surroundings, but quickly snapped them closed when an unimaginable pain surged throughout her entire body, causing her to groan, loudly.

Chloe snapped her head towards hers. "Lois? Lois?"

She slowly opened her eyes, and rested them on the worried face of her cousin. "Chloe? What happened?"

"Oh my god! You're awake!"

An expression of confusion crossed over her features before she started pulling herself off the ground, which Chloe was quick to help her settle her back against the wall behind her, and glanced around her surroundings, realizing that they were in a small, confined room. "What the hell happened?"

"Lex injected you with Kryptonite."

Her eyes widened before she placed her hand on her neck, exactly where he had injected her with that needle, her mind instantly remembering what had happened, and rested her other hand across her stomach. "Oh my god! My baby!"

Chloe glanced down at her stomach with a worried expression plastered across her face. "Are you feeling alright?"

"No, Chloe, I'm not feeling alright. I was injected with Kryptonite." At the look she received from her cousin she took a deep breath, calming down her nerves. "Sorry. I'm a little worked up. I'm in pain, but it's manageable." Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as a horrible thought crossed her mind. "What if something is wrong with the baby? What is Lex killed him or her?"

"Shh. Lois, I don't think you'd be in pain if that little one wasn't alive, but that doesn't mean they aren't in danger, which is why we need to get you the hell out of here."

A part of herself knew that her cousin was right, but the other part of herself knew that she couldn't leave until she found her family—until she stopped Lex and Murphy.

She slowly stood up, feeling a little dizzy, but quickly shook it off. "No. Not yet. I need to find Clark and Kaleb."

"Woah! Lois, just hold on a second!" She rested her hands on her shoulders. "You need to relax for a few seconds. You were just unconscious—"

"I can't, Chloe, I can't just sit here and wait for them to kill my family. I have to stop them."

"And we will."

She frowned at her. "You have a plan?"

A grin spread out across her face. "Of course, I have a plan, but first we have to find something that we can use that could help us."

"Something like this." She slowly lifted her jeans, revealing a switchblade that was holstered against her calf. "Even though I was positive that this plan would work I still decided to carry this just in case, and good thing that I did."

"I guess we can thank Uncle Same for raising you the way he did."

A soft chuckle escaped past her lips before her expression became more serious. "How the hell are we going to do this?"

"We're going to kill him, Lo, he was carrying a gun on him when he dragged us in here. If we can get the drop on him then we can end this, and get the hell out of this room."

"We could save them."

"And end Lex."

They smiled at each other.

It was a good plan, and one they were more than willing to commit to. For years they had dealt with Lex and Murphy, and even though their original plan was more proactive this was their only option left, honestly, they wanted this over as soon as possible.

As soon as he walked through those doors they would be prepared to end this for good this time around.

* * *

Lex, Murphy and Steve were standing in another room, staring down at their subject with menacing, vindictive eyes, as he was strapped down to a metal table, squirming, relentlessly, attempting to escape from them.

"You'll never escape."

Lex grabbed his arm, tightly before shoving a Kryptonite needle into his arm, making him, groan, loudly in pain. "Have any last words, kid?"

Kaleb glared, heatedly at him, attempting to wiggle his out of the straps that were pinning him down to the table, but every single time he moved more and more pain surged throughout every nerve in his body, making it hard to breath. "My family will hurt all three of you!"

Murphy and Steve laughed, coldly at him, while Lex grinned down at the little boy. "You would be wrong, you see, your daddy and aunt are weak, and your mommy and her child are already on the brink of death. As soon as you take your last breath my friend here is going to hurt both your mommy and aunt really, really bad before he kills them, and then I'm going to kill your daddy and aunt. There is no escaping your fate. You're all going to die."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers, his hot, sticky tears cascading down his little cheeks at the mere thought of what was going to happen not only to him, but to his family. "No…No…No…"

Lex ignored his cries and pleas, and turned on the switch on the very large machine, which made a loud clunking sound before it started draining the blood from his body.

"AHHHHHH!" He wiggled back and forth, side to side, attempting to escape, as he could feel the blood from his body being drained, and it was so, so painful.

"The more you move the faster you bleed out."

He stopped moving, the tears rolling down his cheeks faster and faster, as his hope to be saved started to relinquish from him.

He was going to die.

His mommy was going to die.

His daddy was going to die.

Everyone he loved was going to die.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening.

A sliver of himself wanted to keep fighting, just like he promised he would, but it was getting harder and harder to hold on.

He croaked out, "P-p-please stop."

"This is where your story ends."

Kaleb stared up at the ceiling, feeling his strength slowly disappearing—felt his body becoming weaker and weaker—felt his heart lessen in beats, and knew that he wouldn't be able to see his mommy or daddy again.

"I love you mommy…I love you daddy…" A faint smile graced his lips before his eyes slithered closed, his body falling limp against the metal table.

As soon as Kaleb closed his little eyes Murphy frowned down at him. "Is he dead?"

Lex quickly shut off the machine, unhooking it from him, and grabbed the one thing that would make the last part of his plan possible. "No. Not yet. But, he will be soon." He glanced over at Steve. "Take this to the lab and get everything prepared."

He nodded, and quickly left the room.

He glanced over at Murphy. "I think it's time you paid your little friends a visit."

A satisfied smirk spread out across his face before he walked out of the room, feeling excitement rush throughout his entire body at the mere thought of torturing those two women, who had ruined his life all those years ago, one last time.

A few minutes later, he slowly unlocked the door, and walked into the room with an evil smirk plastered across his face, as thoughts of what he was going to do to them before he ended their lives consumed his mind. His smirk grew even wider when he noticed them both standing on the other side of the room, leaning against the wall.

"Well, look who is finally awake. This is going to be so much more fun with you aware of your surroundings."

She glared, heatedly at him. "Go to hell, Murphy! You're not going to touch either of us!"

"Is that what you think?"

Chloe glared at him. "It's what we know."

He started making his way towards them, wanting his first victim to be the mouthier one, but when her cousin stepped directly in front of him he quickly slapped her across the face, sending her flying to the ground.

"CHLOE!" She rushed towards her, but he quickly grabbed her, pulling her into his chest before knocking her down to the ground, causing her head to bang, violently against the concrete floor, and smirked down at her, as he loomed over her.

"Now this is more like it."

She glared at him, ignoring the pain that was throbbing through her head, and tightened her hand around the blade, waiting for the opportune moment to make her move against him. "You won't get what you want, Murphy."

"Oh, but I will."

"No, you won't." She quickly headbutted him, causing his head to fall backwards, and loosen his grip around her body before she plunged the knife deeply into his chest.

"AHH!" He screamed out in pain, as he rolled off her body onto the cold ground, and attempted pulling the knife out, but Chloe appeared above him, her foot stepping on the knife, sinking it deeper into his chest.

He yelled out, "You bitch!"

She smirked down at him. "Doesn't feel so great when you're the one that's getting tortured, does it?"

"Screw you!"

Lois slowly crawled over to him, pushing her foot away from him before pulling the knife out of him. "You deserve to die, Murphy."

"I'd like to see you try."

"This is for everything you've done to my family." She plunged the knife back into his chest, causing him to scream out in pain, and when he attempted to reach for her Chloe quickly grabbed his arms, pinning them to the ground above his head. "I don't think so."

Lois smirked down at him, as she twisted the knife deeper and deeper into his chest. "How does it feel getting a taste of your own medicine? You beat me. You tortured me. You stabbed me over and over again. And now I'm going to relish in the fact that you're finally going to experience what that was like."

She twisted the knife even deeper into his chest, causing him to scream out in pain. "I should have done this years ago, but you stopped me—you beat me a bloody pulp, and that ruined me for years. Do you have any last words?"

To say that he was surprised by their sneaky attack was an understatement, actually, he hadn't expected this at all, but it didn't matter if they killed him right here and right now it didn't because they had already taken away the most important person in her life. "Your too late…"

They both frowned at each other, both of them wanting to drag the answers out of him, but when they glanced back down at him he was already gone.

He was dead.

Lois pulled the knife out of his chest before slowly standing up, and glanced over at her cousin with a worried expression plastered across her face. "What the hell did he mean by that?"

"I don't know, but it's finally over, Lo, he's really gone from our lives forever."

She grinned at her. "About damn time too. Now, let's get the hell out of here, and save our family."

She nodded before grabbing the gun from his waistband, and rushed out of the room with her cousin, intending to end this for good and save their family.

Not even five minutes later, they were rushing down one of the many corridors heading towards the room they had last seen Clark, Kara and Kaleb when they noticed the very man that was next on their list walking a few feet ahead of them. They glanced at each other, knowingly before Lois chucked the knife directly into his back, a move she had learned from her father no less.

"AHH!" Lex screamed out in pain before collapsing down to the ground, and slowly turned his head, feeling completely and utterly surprised by the two women, who had literally caught him off guard. "I'm guessing that Murphy is dead."

Lois quickly closed the space in between them, and ripped the knife out of his back, making him groan in pain, loudly before she kicked him onto his back. "I killed him."

A strained chuckle escaped past his lips, as blood poured out of the corners of his mouth. "I knew you had it in you, Lois, I even told your fiancé that. I wonder how is he going to feel about this new and improved you."

"Where are they?"

"Wouldn't you like to know…"

Chloe glared down at him before pointing the gun directly at his head. "You're done, Lex, might as well just give up now. Where are they?"

"You're both so worried about them, but they aren't the ones that are in the most danger." He locked eyes with the woman who had literally stabbed him in the back. "You should be more worried about your son."

Her heart started beating, rapidly inside her chest, as thoughts of what his words actually meant, but quickly pushed them down, believing that her son was alright.

He had to be.

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing he didn't deserve."

Chloe growled, menacingly at him before cocking the gun, but right as she was about to pull the trigger, and end his miserable life she heard a familiar voice screaming from down the corridor. "Chloe! Stop!"

She slowly turned towards him, feeling emotion after emotion consume her from the sight of her husband and friend, and lowered the gun, slightly, as she looked between the two of them, who had worried expressions plastered across their faces. "Ollie, I can't just let him live. He has caused every single one us so much pain."

Oliver took several steps towards her. "We can deal with him another way."

Dinah took several steps towards her. "J'onn can erase his memories. He can send him far away from here. None of us would ever see him again."

Lois shook her head from side to side. "That might have been the plan, but plans change, and there is no way in hell we're letting him live another day."

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. "This has to end…now."

He glanced between the two of them, his heart beating like a jackhammer inside of his chest from the mere thought of them doing something that neither of them could come back from. "Lois, Chloe, just stop and think about what this is going to do to you. It will ruin you forever."

He locked eyes with his best friend. "Lois, think about Clark and Kaleb. They are both believers of having morals that stop them from doing anything like this. What are they going to think when they find out that you blindly killed someone? No matter who that person is."

He glanced at his wife. "Think about our daughter, Chloe, this isn't only going to affect her, but this will change you too. Trust me, I know, and you know exactly what that did to me."

There was a small part of herself that wanted to listen to his words, knowing that he had a very valid point, but the other part of herself wanted this over with, and she wanted it over right now.

"I'm sorry, Ollie." She raised the gun, aiming it directly at his head, and pulled the trigger, the bullet going straight through his head, his body collapsing to the ground, unmoving.

It was silent for several minutes, as they all stared down at his lifeless body, and even though this was finally over, none of them felt any better about what had just happened, especially Chloe and Lois, who knew this was going to affect them later on, but right now they didn't care.

It was finally over.

Oliver quickly closed the space between them, and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Are you alright?"

Her facial expression didn't change. "I'm fine. We're both fine. Where is Clark, Kara and Kaleb?"

"I don't know. Bruce and J'onn are looking for them."

Lois frowned, slightly. "Where is everyone else?"

Dinah took several steps towards her. "Outside. They are ensuring that none of them escape. Where is Murphy?"

She stared directly into her eyes with a resolve she had never, ever seen before. "I killed him."

Dinah and Oliver shared worried glances with each other, knowing that they were probably in shock right at this moment, and also knew that as soon as this was over that all consuming guilt was going to hit them like a freight train, but no matter what happened they would be there for them.

Just like the rest of their friends and family would be.

"Let's go find our family."

All four of them rushed down the corridor, wanting nothing more than to find the people they loved with all of their hearts.

* * *

Clark and Kara were sitting down, in complete and utter silence, with their backs leaning against the wall, as their minds thought about the situation they were in.

They needed to get out of here.

They needed to save Kaleb.

They needed to save Chloe.

They needed to save Lois and her baby.

But…

There was nothing they could do.

They could feel their strength—their bodies—their abilities beginning to become stronger and stronger by the second, but they still weren't strong enough to get out of these cages.

It was irritating as all hell.

Clark banged his head up against the wall, and sighed, heavily. "Anything yet?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, Clark, I feel the exact same way I did two seconds ago when you asked."

"Sorry, I just want out of here. I need to get to my son and Lois before Lex and Murphy have a chance to hurt them anymore than they already have."

"We will."

"How? We're still locked up in these damn cages, even if we do get out we don't even know where to look for them."

A soft sigh escaped past her lips. "We'll find them. We just have to have a little faith. Everything is going to be alright."

They stopped talking, almost immediately, and turned their heads towards the door when they heard faint voices—voices they recognized all too well lingering directly outside of the door before Bruce and J'onn walked inside, stopping in their tracks when they saw them sitting in cages.

As soon as Bruce saw the love of his life sitting on the ground, locked up in a cage he rushed over to her, screaming out, "Kara!"

She smiled, softly at him, as she stood up, and walked closer to him, her hands finding his. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Clark glanced between the two of them, and smiled, softly, as he made his way towards the confining bars. "About damn time you got here."

J'onn quickly walked over to him. "We've been looking for the both of you."

He frowned when he noticed there were a few missing people. "Where is the rest of the team?"

"Oliver and Dinah are searching for Lois and Chloe. Everyone else is doing perimeter watch."

"Good. Now, will you get us the hell out of here."

His eyes narrowed, slightly at the cages, analyzing them before he gripped the bars in his hands, and ripped them off their hinges, sending them crashing into the other side of the room.

Kara quickly rushed out of the cage, and into her husband' arms, who tightened his arms around her body, lifting her off the ground, slightly, twisting her from side to side, as pure and utter happiness consumed him. "Oh god, Kara, I thought I was going to lose you."

She pulled away from him, slightly. "I'll never leave you, Bruce, you're stuck with me for life."

They kissed, softly and tenderly, pouring everything they had felt while being away from each other and everything they felt now that they were back in each other' arms into that one kiss.

Clark smiled, softly at them, feeling extremely happy for his cousin and friend, but honestly, it only made his heart break inside his chest from the fact that he didn't know where the woman he loved, or son was, and quickly started rushing out of the room, intending on finding them as soon as possible.

Steve appeared in the doorway before he could escape with an aggravated expression plastered across his face. "You're not going anywhere. Your fiancé and best friend might have ended this, but I won't go out until you're dead."

He frowned at his words, wondering what the hell he meant by that, but his thoughts escaped from him when he pulled out a gun, and fired it directly at his chest.

J'onn immediately realized that it was Kryptonite bullets, and quickly shoved Clark out of the way, causing him to crash into the wall before he appeared directly in front of him, his hand hovering over his head, as a red beam shot out of him, knocking him unconscious. "I'll take care of him."

The three of them nodded at him before rushing out of the room, intending to find Kaleb as soon as possible, and when they made it to the room he was in they were completely and utterly speechless. Kara and Bruce stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of him, their hearts shattering into a million pieces, while Clark felt like the entire world was crashing down around him when he saw his son laying on the metal table, unconscious.

"KALEB!" He screamed out before rushing towards him, and quickly ripped the straps off his body before lifting him into his arms. "Kaleb! Kaleb! Come on, buddy, you need to wake up!" When he remained limp in his arms he collapsed onto the ground, holding him close to his chest, as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Please, Kaleb, come back to me…"

As he glanced down at his little boy his heart dropped into his stomach when he noticed just how horrible he looked.

He was so cold.

He was so sickly looking.

His little chest was barely moving.

He dropped his head down to his chest, listening for his heartbeat, and it was faint.

He was dying!

His son was dying!

The tears rocked his entire body, as they streamed down his cheeks, and he clung onto his son for dear life. "Kaleb…Kaleb, please come back to me. You can't die on me. Please, baby boy, don't leave me…"

He couldn't lose him.

He had just found him.

He couldn't die.

He needed him more than anything.

He was the light in his life.

He couldn't lose his son—his baby boy.

The feel of a hand on his shoulder caused him to tear his eyes away from his son, and up into the emotion-filled eyes of his cousin. "I can save him. My abilities have returned. I'll take him to the sun. It's the only way to heal him."

"Save him, Kara, I can't lose him."

She quickly lifted him into her arms, holding him close to her chest before super speeding away, hoping against all hope that this would save his life.

Her nephew had to survive.

Bruce walked closer to his friend, unable to imagine what he was feeling right now—what was going through his head or heart right now, but had faith that his nephew would survive.

He had to.

His wife would save him.

He rested his hand on his shoulder. "He's going to be alright, Clark."

He just nodded, wanting to believe that with all of his heart, but couldn't get the image of his dying son out of his head.

Lois and Chloe rushed down the corridor with Oliver and Dinah directly behind them, searching for the people the needed—wanted to make sure they were alright—alive, and came to a complete stop when they entered the room, where Bruce was attempting to comfort a distraught Clark.

"Clark!"

Clark quickly glanced up when he heard her voice, happiness encompassing throughout his entire body, as soon as he had laid his eyes on her, and quickly stood up, catching her in his arms. "Oh god, Lois, I thought-thought I was going to lose you."

She pulled away from him, slightly. "I'm right here, baby, I'm never going to leave you."

He glanced down at her stomach. "Are you sure you're alright? He injected you with Kryptonite."

"We're fine, Clark."

It was a lie, of course, but she didn't want to worry him anymore than he already was, even though she could feel a sharp pain spreading throughout her entire body she wanted—needed to make sure that her family was alright.

"Where's Kaleb? We need to find him."

An expression of pure dread crossed over his features, at the thought of what he had to tell her before he glanced to the table where he had found his son. "I-I-I found him on that table." He locked eyes with hers, tears filling his aquamarine orbs. "He was barely breathing, Lois, he was so cold. I-I thought he was g-g-gone, but Kara took him away. She's going to save him."

Her heart clenched in the worst pain she has ever felt before, at the mere thought of her son dying, whether or not her friend was able to save him or not.

Her baby boy was dying.

Tears filled her hazel orbs before they cascaded down her cheeks, and screamed out, as she slowly collapsed to the ground, "No…No…Not my baby boy…Not my little Kal…Not my son…"

He fell down to the ground with her before pulling her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her body, as he cried into her shoulder, and whispered, "He's going to be alright, Lois, he has to be."

Chloe, Oliver, Dinah and Bruce were feeling completely and utterly heartbroken at what they were witnessing right now, but every single one of them held hope that he would be alright.

He had to be.

There was no way they were going to lose the one person who brightened all of their lives every single time he smiled at them.

Chloe stepped towards them, cautiously. "I think you should get home. Wait for Kara to come back with him. We'll clean this mess up."

As soon as Lois stood up her head became extremely dizzy, the pain she had been ignoring hitting her like a freight train, causing her to clutch her stomach in her hands, as her vision faded into complete darkness before slowly collapsing to the ground.

"LOIS!" Clark caught her in his arms before she hit the ground, and stared down at her beautiful face with more and more tears streaming down his cheeks. "Lois! Lois! Baby, please! Please, wake up!"

Chloe quickly rushed over to her, kneeling down next to them, and felt her skin, realizing that she was a lot worse than she had claimed to be. "You need to get her to the Fortress, Clark, she told me that she fine, but I think the Kryptonite is affecting her and the baby more than she claimed it was."

He didn't hesitate.

He quickly swooped her up into his arms, super speeding them away, praying—wishing—hoping that his biological father could help them, and as they were soaring through the sky, high above the clouds he whispered, "Lois…Lois…Baby, please come back to me…"

* * *

 _ **This was such an emotional chapter to write, even editing it got me all emotional. It might seem a little harsh or out of proportion to kill Murphy and Lex, but that was how I always pictured their story ending, besides Chloe and Lois would be the one people who were capable of doing it, especially after everything they've been through. The next chapter is the wrap up to everything that happened in this chapter, and the next two are much lighter.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter fifty two!**_


	54. Chapter Fifty Three

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fifty-Three:**_

* * *

Chloe, Oliver and Bruce walked through the front doors of the hospital with worried and concerned expressions lingering on their faces, as they rushed towards their friend, who has been fighting for her life from the moment Steve stabbed her.

They all wished—hoped—prayed that she was alright, but even though they had faith that she would be alright they couldn't stop imagining all of the horrible possibilities once they reached her room.

Would she be awake? Would she be sleeping? Would she be in a coma? Would she be in surgery? Would she even be alive?

As soon as Clark had disappeared with the woman he loved—with the woman they all hoped would survive, every single one of them had cleaned up the entire warehouse, disposing of anything and everything that Lex, Murphy and Steve had used for their little plan.

The Kryptonite and their nephew' blood being the main two things they had to dispose of. No one could really know what happened here today. Even if the entire would knew about the planet Clark and Kara originated from they didn't know about their weakness, and it needed to remain that way.

After Oliver and Dinah explained to everyone what had really happened to Lex and Murphy they came up with a good enough cover story for them, even though it was self-defense no one else would see it the way they did, before they alerted the police of the situation, who arrested Steve right on the spot.

It would be months before his trial, but eventually he would be locked away in prison for a very, very long time. Even if he did manage to get released and make a move against them they would deal with him. Just like they dealt with any kind of danger to not only their family, but to the world.

It was over.

Lex and Murphy were gone.

Steve was going to prison.

It was all finally over.

All three of them quickly rounded the corner of one of the many corridors of the hospital, and came to a complete stop when they noticed Sam, Jonathon and Martha, who was holding a happy, active Lizzie, sitting in the waiting room.

As soon as Martha spotted them she stood up with a small smile lingering on her face, and walked towards them, as feelings of complete and utter relief surged throughout her entire body. "You have no idea how worried we've all been. I'm glad that you're all okay."

Bruce smiled, softly at her. "It's finally over."

She was about to question that, but every single one of them turned their attention towards the little girl, who made a cute little gurgling noise, as she looked at her parents with fascination before she outstretched her little arms towards them.

Chloe quickly picked her up, and held her close to her chest, rocking her back and forth, as she kissed the top of her head. "Oh my baby girl. I'm so happy to see you."

A few minutes later Oliver picked up his little girl, loving the way she automatically rested her head on his chest, just like she did every single time he held her, and rested his hand on her back, rubbing, soothingly before he glanced between the three of them. "I was so worried that something was going to happen to her."

Martha smiled, reassuringly at him. "She was sleeping in her crib the entire time. She only woke up a few minutes ago."

"I'm glad that you're all alright."

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. "What about Lana? Where is Pete?"

Jonathon took a few steps towards them. "She's out of surgery. It was touch and go there for a while, but the doctors were able to patch her up. Pete' in there with her now."

"She's awake?"

He nodded.

That's all she needed to hear before she started rushing down the corridor, intending to get to her best friend as soon as possible, but stopped in her tracks when she rounded the corner at the sound of her husband' voice lingering from behind her. "Chloe! Wait!"

She slowly turned back around towards him, and slowly closed the space between them. "What?"

Oliver kept his hand on his daughter' back, as his other hand rested against her cheek, his fingers gliding down the bruise on her cheek. "You should get checked out by a doctor."

"I'm fine, Ollie, it's just a bruise. I've dealt with worse."

A scowl appeared on his face from her words. He didn't need a reminder of what that disgusting man had not only did to her today, but in the past as well. "That's beside the point. You could have a concussion."

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. "I don't have a concussion, Oliver, I don't even have a headache. I'm fine. I promise. The ones we should be concerned about is Lois and Kaleb, but since we can't do anything to help them I'm going to see my best friend. She deserves to know what happened and so does Pete."

He grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him when she attempted walking away from him. "If you don't want to see a doctor that's fine, but Chloe, you need to talk about what happened. You can't just ignore it."

"You want me to talk about the horrendous memory of being kidnapped? You want me to talk about watching those monsters hurt my family? You want me to talk about what I felt when I thought I was going to lose every single one of them?" She shook her head from side to side at him. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it."

"I'm not talking about that, and you know it. We need to talk about what you did." He lowered his voice to a soft whisper, "You killed him, Chloe."

She glared, heatedly at him. "We won't be talking about that…ever."

He watched her walk away from him with a worried expression slowly spreading out across his face, as he wondered what was going through that head or hers or if she was even thinking at all. It was quite obvious that she was still in shock from everything that happened, but no matter what he had to do he would get her to open up to him, and when she broke down he would there for her.

As soon as he walked back into the waiting room he sat down on one of the hard chairs, sighing, heavily, as his mind was consumed with everything that had transpired today. From the moment he realized that Murphy and Steve had kidnapped his wife and nephew to the moment he watched her murder Lex.

The world was a better place without either of them in it, but that didn't mean death was the answer. They had so many other options, but they had taken matters into their own hands. He knew that his wife would feel guilty—would hate herself sooner rather than later, and so would his best friend if she survived.

That thought alone sent shivers up and down his spine. He had already almost lost both of them once before, and now it was happening again. He hoped that they would make it out of this not only because he needed them in his life, but also because he wasn't sure he could deal with losing them.

Martha sat down next to him. "Oliver? Are you okay, sweetie?"

"No. Not really."

Jonathon sat down on the other side of him. "What happened?"

He took a deep breath before telling them everything that had happened, including The Justice League saving Clark and Kara, finding Lois and Chloe baiting Lex before they killed him, and the fact that Steve would be going to prison, but purposefully left out all the details about Lois and Kaleb fighting for their lives.

They needed to know, but he just couldn't say the words out loud yet. He needed a little more time to process everything, besides they were already worried, and he didn't want to worry them even more than they already were.

Martha couldn't believe that all this had actually happened, and even though she didn't particularly like that they had taken matters into their own hands she understood that every single one of their emotions had been scattered all over the place at the time.

She was just glad that it was finally over.

They could all live normal lives again.

"I'm glad that everyone is alright."

Jonathon immediately noticed the way he cringed, slightly, and the expression on his face was telling him that he had more to tell them. "Everyone is okay, right?"

"Not exactly."

Sam frowned at him for several seconds before he realized that he hadn't uttered a single word about Lois, Kaleb or Clark for that matter, and that worried him…immensely. "Where are they?"

He glanced over at him with a dreadful expression plastered across his face. "We saved everyone, but it was too late…"

Martha' heart literally dropped into her stomach at the mere thought of something horrible happening to three of the most important people in her life. "Are they…Did they…"

When she couldn't even manage to get the words out of her mouth he squeezed her hand, comfortingly. "I don't know. All I know is that Lex almost killed Kaleb. According to Clark, Kara was taking him to the sun to heal him. He lost a lot of blood and was surrounded by Kryptonite the entire time."

He took a deep breath. "L-L-Lois was fine she was walking, talking, and functioning normally, but then she just collapsed. Lex injected her with Kryptonite, but she had told all of us that she fine. Clark took her to the Fortress. I-I-I don't know if they are going to make it."

Tears filled his eyes, as he stared down at the ground, and whispered, "I can't lose them…"

Every single one of their hearts shattered into a million pieces, as they listened to the prognosis of their daughter and grandson.

Sam staggered back several steps before he collapsed into the nearest chair, and whispered, "No…"

Jonathon couldn't believe this was happening right now. For years they had attempted protecting them, and now they were both fighting for their lives, even his little granddaughter or grandson was fighting for their life.

Even though he could feel the dread consume every fiber in his being he refused to believe that they were going to die. They would survive.

"Clark and Kara will save them. Our family is going to be alright. They have to be."

Martha nodded, absently, not really paying attention to anything anyone was saying. This was her worst nightmare come true. For the past three years their lives have been good—have been happy, but then Lex and Murphy returned, ruining that for them.

Even though they were all gone from their lives she couldn't help wondering if it was all for nothing. Would she ever see her daughter or grandson again? Would she see her unborn granddaughter or grandson? Would all three of them make it out of this…alive?

Bruce, who had listened and watched, silently, as every single one of their hearts broke inside their chests quickly stepped towards them. "I need to find Clark."

Oliver frowned at him. "He's at the Fortress."

"He won't be there forever. If her veins are filled with Kryptonite he won't be able to be with her when or if Jor-El is able to help. He's going to need someone to talk to."

Sam quickly stood up. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because he needs someone that just wants to comfort him when he needs it the most not someone who is just going to question him about the one thing he doesn't want to think about."

When he attempted rebuking his words he quickly moved closer to the man with a dead serious expression on his face. "His head and his heart are all over the place right now. None of you were with him when he broke down with his son in his arms. You didn't see the look on his face when he caught the woman he loves in his arms. He doesn't need someone badgering him. He needs someone who can relate to what he's going through right now. I'm the only person who can do that."

Before any of them could utter a single word, he walked away, intending to find his friend as soon as possible, and he had a pretty good idea where he was going to be.

It was the truth when he told them that he was the only person that could understand what he's going through right now. Years ago, he had fallen in love with a beautiful woman, Rachael Dawes, only to lose her from death, and he had refused to allow anyone into his heart after that until his beautiful wife came around.

It wasn't the same. He had lost the woman he loved. Clark hadn't lost them yet, and he hoped that he didn't not only because it was the worst pain imaginable, but also because it changed a person in more ways than one.

He would help his friend through this.

No matter what it took.

* * *

Clark flew faster than ever before, as he soared through the skies, high above the clouds, his arms clutching the love of his life to his chest with several tears rolling down his cheeks, hoping and praying that she would survive—that their baby would survive—that Jor-El would save them.

It was the only possibility.

He wasn't going to lose them.

No matter what he had to do.

As soon as he made it to his Fortress of Solitude he slowly lowered her unmoving body down to an ice platform a few feet away from the main console, and stared down at her, his fingers brushing the hair away from her beautiful face.

She looked so pale.

A few more tears fell down his cheeks from the sight of her, but before he could utter a single word the entire Fortress became warmer and warmer by the second. Even though he couldn't exactly see it was obvious that he sensed that someone was in need of help—in need of warmth.

"Kal-El, my son, this is no place for a human. Why have you brought her here?"

He very slowly stood up, and glanced at the main console. "She-she is dying. Our baby is dying. Please, Jor-El, I need your help. I can't lose them."

It was silent for a few seconds before he watched her body being lifted off the platform, as a bright, white light cascading around her entire body before she was softly lowered back down to the platform. "The Kryptonite is harming both her and the child, Kal-El, the pregnancy is what is causing the Kryptonite to affect her. The child isn't strong enough to fight off the poison."

His heart literally dropped down into his stomach before he croaked out, "C-c-can you save them?"

"I can extract all of the Kryptonite from her body, but I can't guarantee that they will both make it out of this alive."

There was a part of himself that wanted to order his father to save both of their lives no matter what, but the other part of himself understood that he could only do so much, and even though he didn't want to admit it to himself he knew that it was possible that he could lose one or both of them.

"You must leave now."

Complete and utter confusion took over his features before he shook his head from side to side, vehemently. "No, I'm not leaving her."

"You have no choice in the matter. When the Kryptonite is being extracted from her body you'll feel the effects. You must leave."

He nodded his head, softly, knowing that his father was right, even though he wanted to stay with her until she woke up—until she came back to him, but he knew that he couldn't do that. "I-I need to say goodbye."

"Very well, my son."

He dropped down to his knees beside her, his eyes scanning over every inch of her body, as one of his hands rested on the side of her face, while his other hand rested against her stomach, and very softly pressed light kisses all over her face, the tears falling down his cheeks at an alarmingly fast rate.

She was so pale.

She was so sickly looking.

"Lois, baby, I need you to come back to me. If you can hear me, please, just hold on a little longer. I'm going to make you and our baby better. We promised each other forever and for always, remember? That means you can't leave me or our son. We both need you. I need you and our baby to come back to me."

More and more tears streamed down his cheeks, as he softly kissed her lips. "We're supposed to get married, Lo, we're supposed to raise Kaleb and this little one together. I can't do that alone. Please, baby, please come back to me."

He whispered against her lips, "I love you, Lois, please come back to me. Come back to our son. Please."

After staring down at her for a few seconds he slowly stood up, and turned towards the console. "When can I come back?"

"You can't. I'll send her home if I can heal her."

His eyes glanced over at the love of his life one more time before he took off into the blue skies, hoping that his father could save both of their lives—hoping that he would be able to watch their child grow inside of her—hoping that he would see her beautiful face and hear her mesmerizing voice very, very soon.

As soon as he walked inside of their house he came to a complete stop when he noticed his friend sitting in the living room, completely lost in thought. "Bruce? What are you doing here?"

Bruce glanced over at him with a serious expression plastered across his face. "I'm here to make sure that you're doing alright."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"I don't want to talk about it."

He sighed, heavily, as he slowly stood up, and moved closer to his friend. "You might not want to, but you need to. You can't just keep it all bottled up inside of you forever."

"Watch me." He quickly brushed past him, and slowly collapsed down onto the couch, his hands covering his face, as he attempted to think of anything else, but it was nearly impossible.

It wouldn't leave his mind.

He just wanted it all to disappear, but he knew that it wouldn't until he had his family back in his arms.

Bruce watched, as he mentally broke down in front of him for a few seconds before he lowered himself down next to him. "You know, I've been right where you are right now. It's not the same thing or the same situation, but I lost the woman I loved."

He slowly lifted his head and glanced over at him with a confused expression. "You did?"

He nodded. "It was a long time ago, but I had truly loved this woman. She was engaged to another man, but that didn't really matter to me. All that mattered was that I loved her."

"What happened?"

"She died, Clark, she died before I could save her, and that wrecked me for years. After that happened I vowed that I would never allow myself to feel that way again, of course that all changed when I met Kara, but the point I'm attempting to get across is that I've always been terrified that I would lose someone I loved again. You're scared too. You just won't admit it to yourself yet."

Figures that he would bring it back around to his current dilemma, he thought to himself, before falling against the couch cushions. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You need to talk about it. I lost the woman I loved, but that doesn't mean you'll lose the people that you love."

His eyes locked onto his. "But I already have. My son might not make it. My fiancé might not make it. My unborn child might not make it."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do." He quickly stood up, and started pacing back and forth. "Kara is going on a whim to save my son, and Jor-El—"

"And Jor-El what?" He interrupted him, as he stood up and walked closer to him. "What happened at the Fortress?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. "Nothing happened. My father is going to try to save both of their lives, but I could lose one or both of them. I feel completely useless. I can't be there when or if she wakes up. She needs me, and I can't be there."

He smiled, softly at him. "She'll be fine, Clark, she's a fighter. She always has been. She came back to us when Murphy almost beat her to death. She came back to us when Lex and Murphy almost tortured her to death. She will come back from this too. She will come back to you. I promise."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know her. She will fight this tooth and nail, even if she is unconscious right now I can guarantee that she is fighting for her life, and so is that child of yours."

Those words brought a small smile to his face for a few seconds before it fell. "What happened after I left? I mean I figured that they had been taken down before I-I-I found my…" He trailed off unable to say the words out loud. "How did you stop them?"

Here we go, he thought to himself, he didn't want to tell him the truth not only because he was already in so much pain, but also because he didn't want him to worry about this on top of everything else. This would definitely send him over the edge, but he deserved to know.

"We didn't…"

He frowned at him. "What do you mean you didn't?"

"I mean The Justice League weren't the ones that took them down…it was Lois and Chloe…"

Those particular words coming out of his mouth surprised him more than anything else, but it also made him remember something Steve had muttered to him before he attempting eliminating him, and even though he didn't really understand what that meant at the time he was starting to understand it now.

"What did they do?"

"They killed them…"

His eyes widened to the size of saucers, as his heart pounded like a jackhammer inside of his chest. "They did what?"

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips. "According to Oliver, Lois took out Murphy when he came back to the room he had them locked up in. It's how they managed to escape. Chloe, on the other hand, took care of Lex right in front of him and Dinah. They both attempted talking her out of it, but they were determined to end this on their own terms."

"They didn't…" He slowly collapsed back down onto the couch, and covered his face with his hands, as his mind went over everything he had just learned.

It was more than a little upsetting that they both had committed a crime—that they both had done something so damaging, but that wasn't what was worrying him it was what this was going to do to them.

It would wreck them.

There was a sliver of himself that wanted to be angry with them for this, but the much bigger part of himself understood that they both had their own reasonings for doing this. Murphy has beaten and tortured them for years. Lex had made their lives a living hell for years.

It wasn't right for them to take matters into their own hands, but in a way, he understood that this was the only way they believed they would feel safe again. It didn't matter to them at that moment, but he knew without a doubt that they would both feel guilty about this as soon as the shock wore off.

Well, one of them, he thought to himself.

That thought alone caused his heart to clench in an unimaginable pain, but he quickly pushed it down, not wanting to think of the worst case possible.

She would come back to him.

His son would come back to him.

Their baby would survive.

That was the one and only thing he could focus on right now everything else would have to wait until he had his family back in his sights—back in his arms.

"Daddy!"

Clark quickly snapped his head towards the front door when he heard his son' soft voice, and felt his heart drop into his stomach from the mere sight of his son sitting in his cousin' arms. "Kaleb!"

Kaleb squirmed from her arms before he rushed straight to his daddy with tears streaming down his little cheeks, who quickly caught him in his arms, lifting him off the ground, and clung onto him for dear life, as he swung him from side to side. "Kal…My baby boy…"

He giggled softly, loving how happy and excited his daddy was to see him, and honestly, he was feeling very happy and excited too. He had thought that he was going to die. He had that his family was going to die. But, they were all still alive, and he couldn't be any happier about that.

"I missed you, daddy!"

"I missed you too, buddy, you have no idea how much." He slowly placed him back down on the ground, and crouched down to his level, his hands resting on his shoulders, as his eyes roamed over every inch of his body. "Are you okay? Do you feel alright?"

"Aunt Kara saved me." A frown took over his features. "I was confused. I was in that room with the bad men, and then I was at the sun."

"I'm sure you were, Kal, but your better now, and I'm never going to allow anything like that to happen to you again."

"Cause the bad men are gone?"

"Yes, but also because I won't ever let anything bad happen to you again. You're safe. We're all safe now."

A few tears fell from his eyes before he launched back into his arms. "I love you, daddy!"

Clark held him as close to his chest as possible, and softly closed his eyes, as he breathed in his familiar scent. "I love you too, Kal, I love you so much."

Kara smiled, widely at the family reunion, feeling thankful that there was a happy ending to this horrible story, and took a few steps towards them. "I wasn't sure it would work since he isn't full Kryptonian, but it worked just like it would work on either one of us."

He smiled, softly at her. "Thank you, Kara."

She smiled at him, but that smile quickly turned into a frown when she glanced around her surroundings, instantly realizing that a particular person was missing. "Where's Lois?"

Bruce and Clark cringed, outwardly from her words.

As soon as he heard his mommy' name, Kaleb squirmed from his arms, and started rushing throughout the entire house calling out her name over and over again, which only broke Clark and Bruce' hearts into a million pieces, while it made Kara question why she wasn't here.

When he couldn't find her he walked back over to his daddy, who had tears building in his eyes, and stared at him, inquisitively with a frown set in place. "Where's mommy?"

A soft sigh escaped past his lips, as he lowered down to him. "Kal, there is something I need to tell you."

Bruce quickly grabbed her arm, attempting to pull her away from them, intending on telling her himself, but she wouldn't move an inch. "Come on, Kara, I'll tell you what happened."

She glared at him. "No. I want to hear what he has to say."

This wasn't going to be good, he thought to himself, not only because this was going to affect his nephew in more ways than one since he had already experienced this once before, but also because his wife wasn't going to take this very well. They were best friends, and he wasn't sure how she would handle the news.

Clark stared deeply into his eyes, unable to hid the multitude of emotions he was feeling, and rested his hands on his shoulders, squeezing, slightly, as more and more tears filled his aquamarine eyes. "Kaleb, your mommy was hurt like you were. Do you remember when they injected her with that Kryptonite needle?"

He nodded.

"Well, when we were leaving the warehouse she collapsed. I-I took her to your grandfather, Jor-El, he is going to try to heal both her and your little brother or sister, but-but I don't know if they will ever be coming back to us."

"No…No…No…" His heart clenched, painfully inside of his little chest, as tears fell down his cheeks from the mere thought of his mommy being gone—of his brother or sister being gone, and took several steps backwards. "No! This can't be happening! I need to see mommy! I need to see mommy right now! Take me to her!"

Several tears cascaded down his cheeks from the obvious pain that his son was feeling. "We can't, Kal, we can't be near her right now."

"Why?"

"The Kryptonite is too dangerous for the both of us, but if your grandfather can heal her then she will come home to us. I promise."

More and more tears rocketed his entire body causing him to tremble before he collapsed to the ground, and screamed out, "No! No! Not my mommy! I want my mommy!"

Clark quickly pulled him into his arms, and whispered, "It's going to be alright, Kal."

He shook his head from side to side, vehemently before he pulled away from him, and stared deeply into his eyes. "I-I-I can't lose her daddy. I almost lost her once. I can't do that again."

"I know, buddy, me either."

Kaleb slowly crawled back into his lap, his head resting against his chest, as he cried harder and harder from the thought of her never coming back to him, and whispered, "I can't lose her…"

"It's going to be alright."

Kara stared at them, feeling her heart shatter into a million pieces, as tears cascaded down her cheeks. "No…"

Bruce quickly wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her into his side, and rubbed his hand up and down her bare arm. "She'll make it out of this."

After allowing him to comfort her for a few minutes she pulled away from his grasp, her emotions overtaking every single nerve in her body. "I-I'm sorry. I can't."

Before he could even attempt to stop her from making a move she super sped out of the house, shooting up into the sky, needing to be alone right now to think about everything she had just learned.

She didn't want to lose the one person that meant everything to her—the one person that had helped her acclimate to this strange world—the one person that had helped transform her into the person she was today.

She couldn't lose her.

Several hours later, Clark was sitting at the end of the bed, watching as his son slept, peacefully, and couldn't stop himself from smiling at how perfect he looked at this moment in time.

It had taken him a very long time to calm down his overwhelmed son, and even though he was feeling the same exact things he was he needed to keep his mind off things, which is exactly what he had attempted doing.

After telling Bruce that they would either stop by the hospital tonight or tomorrow morning he had spent the remainder of the day spending time with his little boy until he had fallen asleep in his arms while telling him a story he has heard a million times, and for the past hour he has been watching him sleep.

He was so peaceful—so at ease like this, and he wanted him to stay this way for the rest of his life, but he knew that things would change in the blink of an eye when he woke up, especially if his mommy wasn't back here. His little boy had almost lost her once, and he understood his fear of it happening again, hell, he was more than a little terrified.

He slowly stood up, and walked over to him before leaning down towards him, kissing the top of his head. "She'll come back to us."

After staring down at him for a few more seconds he quickly left his room, and plopped down to the couch when he made it to the living room, his eyes trained on the ceiling, as he thought about the love of his life.

Just a few days ago they were incredibly happy in Estes Park and Montana, but now she was in critical condition several miles away from him, and he couldn't help wondering if he was ever going to see her again—if he was ever going to meet their baby boy or baby girl.

It had been hours since he left her at the Fortress, and there wasn't a single sign of her returning to him, but he would give up hope.

Jor-El would save them.

She would come back to him—come back to their son.

* * *

Lois slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling incredibly groggy, but that grogginess quickly transformed into a feeling of confusion and wonder as soon as she realized that she was laying down inside of a palace of ice.

It was the most beautiful thing she has ever seen in her entire life.

She slowly stood up, glancing around the entire place with wonder and amazement lingering in her hazel eyes before she whispered, "What is this place…"

"Lois Lane."

Every single fiber in her body froze when she heard a loud, booming voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at the exact same time, as she turned around in circles, searching for the voice. "Who's there?"

"Jor-El."

That name immediately sent chills spiraling up and down her spine since she knew that was the name of Clark' biological father, which meant that she was standing in his Fortress of Solitude. "Jor-El? What am I doing here? Where is Clark?"

It was silent for a few seconds before he responded, "Kal-El brought you here. He is waiting for your return."

And that's when she remembered everything that had happened from the moment she found her best friend bleeding out on the ground to the moment she felt an immense pain before everything faded into a dark abyss of darkness and nothing.

Her hands quickly went to her stomach, as fear consumed every single part of her heart. "I-I-is my baby okay? What did you do?"

"I healed you, Lois Lane, your baby will live. I advise you to be more careful around green Kryptonite. That procedure can only be used once on a mere mortal. It's very rare that the individual survives."

"Right. Like I purposefully injected myself with green Kryptonite."

Silence.

"Obviously, you don't understand humor or anything else for that matter."

Silence again.

No wonder Clark didn't have too many good things to say about his biological father, she thought to herself, not only did he ruin his life for the first few years of his teenage years, but he also didn't have any sense of humor or excitement.

"Can I go home?"

"Step forward."

She slowly stepped towards the platform, nervously, and glanced around her surroundings, wondering what was supposed to happen, of course she understood that he was capable of many things since he had managed to heal both her and her child, but how the hell was he supposed to send her thousands of miles away?

"Until next time, Lois Lane."

Next time?

Before she could question him any further a bright, white light surrounded her, making it hard to see anything, and snapped her eyes closed, as a weird feeling encompassed her entire body.

A few seconds later, she slowly blinked her eyes open when she felt a little different than she was feeling a few seconds ago, instantly realizing that she was standing on her front porch, and rationalized that he was capable of more things than she previously realized.

She took a deep, deep breath before she opened the front door, her breath catching in her throat when she found her handsome man sitting on the couch with his head leaning back, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, and felt emotion after emotion consume every fiber of her being from the mere sight of him.

It was like seeing him for the first time.

"Clark…"

Clark, who had been completely lost in his own thoughts, snapped his head towards the door when he heard her soft, beautiful voice, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets from the sight of her standing in front of him.

It was a dream come true.

He grinned from ear to ear before jumping off the couch, and rushed towards her as fast as he possibly could. "Lois!"

They quickly crashed together, their arms wrapping around each other' bodies, as their fingers clenched around their clothes, their eyes closing, softly at the feel of each other, feeling happier than they've ever felt before.

Several minutes later he pulled away from her, slightly, his eyes roaming over every inch of her body, as his hands rested against her stomach. "Are you alright? Is the baby—"

She pressed her finger against his lips. "We're fine, Clark, he healed us."

A huge grin spread out across his face before he pulled her against his chest, tightly, lifting her off the ground, as he swirled and twirled them in circles over and over again. Once he placed her back on the ground he didn't move a inch he only clung onto her tighter and tighter. "Oh god, Lois, I thought I was going to lose you."

"Never, baby, I promised you forever and for always. I'll never break that promise."

They pulled away from each other, simultaneously, and stared deeply into each other' eyes, as their emotions radiated out of their bodies before they leaned forward, their lips connecting in a sweet, passionate kiss.

Everything was going to be perfectly alright.

She quickly pulled away from him with worry lingering in her eyes. "Where's Kaleb? Did Kara heal him?"

He nodded. "Come on, someone has been waiting quite a long time to see you."

As soon as she noticed her son sleeping, soundlessly on his bed the tears cascaded down her cheeks from the mere sight of him. She had been so worried about him, hell, she had thought she had lost him, but here he was sleeping like nothing mattered in the world.

It filled her heart with so much happiness and fulfillment.

She slowly walked towards him, and sat down next to him on the bed, her fingers brushing across his heated skin before she whispered, "Kal, baby, Kal, wake up."

Kaleb slowly blinked his eyes open when he heard her familiar voice calling out to him before they snapped open, widely when he realized that she was looming over him, and quickly leaped into her arms, loving how she automatically clutched him to her chest, tightly. "Mommy!"

"My baby boy…"

He pulled away from her, slightly, and stared deeply into her eyes. "He healed you?"

"Yes, baby. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Aunt Kara took me to the sun and healed me." His eyes fell down to her stomach with a worried expression slowly spreading out across his face before he placed his little hands there. "What about my baby brother or sister? Are they okay?"

"He or she is just fine."

A face-splitting grin spread out across his face before he lunged back into her arms. "I was so scared mommy. I thought I was going to lose you."

"Shh. That would never happen, baby, I'm never leaving you or your daddy."

"Good."

Clark smiled, softly, as he watched them reunite. It was the most beautiful and amazing thing he has seen all day. He had been thrilled when he saw her again, but their son was simply ecstatic, which made complete sense because for most of his life it had just been them, and he had been absolutely terrified at the thought of losing her.

Luckily, she was back where she belonged.

He had his family right where he wanted them to be.

"As much as I'd love to just stay here with the both of you all night long there are a few people that would love to see you."

Lois frowned, slightly before her facial expression transformed into one of realization. "Oh my god! Lana? Is she okay?"

"She's in the hospital. Everyone is there with her, and I believe that there are quite a few people that will be more that excited to see the two of you."

They quickly gathered their belongings, and left the house, intending to spend as much time with the several people, who were probably worrying sick about them.

It was time they reunited with their family, and put this horrendous memory behind them.

It was time they moved forward with their lives.

Later that night, Clark was standing in the kitchen of the farmhouse with his parents, who had practically ordered them to come home with them not only because they wanted them to be close, but also because they didn't want any of them to leave their sights for a very long time.

Martha eyed her son, curiously. "Are you doing alright, Clark?"

"I'm fine."

Jonathon stared at him with a serious expression, knowing that he was lying straight though his teeth right now. "Be honest, Clark, we know that you're not okay."

He glanced between the two of them before taking a deep, deep breath. "I'm fine. I promise, but I can't help thinking about what they did to them. They almost killed them. I almost lost both of them. How am I supposed to get over something like that?"

"You're not." At his frown she continued, "You're not going to just forget this happened. None of us are, but you need to focus on the good things instead of the bad. You have your son and your fiancé back. You're going to have a little boy or a little girl. You need to just focus on the things to come not things of the past."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

Jonathon sighed, softly at his son. "Your mother is right. It's over. It's part of the past now. Neither of them will ever hurt them again. You have your family right upstairs. You have a little baby coming in a few months. Everything is going to be alright now."

As much as he wanted the believe their words he couldn't stop himself from thinking about what his son looked like when he held his cold body in his arms or how scared he had felt when he took the love of his life to his biological father.

They were alright.

Their baby was alright.

But…

He couldn't stop the memories from flooding to the forefront of his mind.

"I-I-I almost lost them. I don't know what I would have done if they didn't come back to me. I can't lose any of them. They are my world—my rock. I'd be lost without them in my life."

Martha and Jonathon quickly wrapped their arms around him, simultaneously, and glanced at each other, worriedly, as he completely broke down in their arms, hoping—praying that one day this would only just be a memory.

They needed their family to be perfectly intact.

No matter how long it took they would help them through this.

Upstairs, Lois was staring down at her beautiful son, watching him sleep, peacefully next to her, feeling incredibly thankful that they were both alright—that they were both alive not only because they had so much life they still had to live, especially her little boy, but also because she knew that Clark needed them just as much as they needed him.

As she stared down at him memories of what her and her cousin had done came rushing to the forefront of her mind, and she attempted pushing them down into the deepest part of herself, but it was nearly impossible.

Ever since she had arrived at the hospital she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it.

She had killed someone.

She had taken someone's life.

It didn't matter if he was a monster she shouldn't have taken matters into her own hands. It wasn't the mere fact that she had actually murdered someone that was haunting her—that was taunting her it was the reality of what her family would think if they found out what she had done.

Would they not trust her anymore? Would they look at her differently?

A low sounding groan escaped past her lips from the questions rattling through her head before she quickly jumped out of bed, careful not to wake up her sleeping son, and rushed down the stairs, intending on telling them herself, hoping—praying that they would find it in their hearts to forgive her, but came to a complete stop at the bottom of the stairs when she overheard her fiancé say, "I-I-I almost lost them. I don't know what I would have done if they didn't come back to me. I can't lose any of them. They are my world—my rock. I'd be lost without them in my life."

It shattered her hear into a million pieces.

The tears cascaded down her cheeks from the emotions he was revealing before she took a few unsteady steps towards them. "Clark…"

Clark slowly pulled away from his parents when he heard her voice, and turned towards her with tears streaming down his cheeks. "Lois, I thought you were sleeping."

Instead of responding to him she quickly rushed towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist, tightly, wanting him to feel every inch of her—wanting him to understand that she was here with him and that she was never going anywhere.

"I'm right here, Clark, I'm not going anywhere."

He slowly wrapped his arounds around her body, pulling her flush against his chest, and buried his face into the crevasse of her neck, his tears rocking his entire body, as they fell faster and faster down his cheeks. "I-I-I almost lost you, Lo."

Martha and Jonathon glanced at each other, knowingly before heading upstairs, discreetly, wanting them to have some much needed privacy right now.

Lois clung onto him tighter and tighter. "But you didn't. I'm right here. Our son is upstairs sleeping. Our baby is going to be born happy and healthy. Everything is going to be alright now."

"But—"

"No!" She quickly interrupted him before slowly pulling away from him, her fingers wiping away his fallen tears, as she stared deeply into his eyes. "No, Clark, listen to me. We're right here. We're not going anywhere. Things have been so difficult for us from the moment we met, but we've always conquered through anything that got in our way. That's exactly what we're going to do now. I'm here with you. Kaleb is here with you. We're going to get married. We're going to be happy. Okay?"

His forehead rested against hers, softly. "Please, Lois, don't ever leave me. I can't deal with it. When I thought you were going to—"

"Shh. I'm not going anywhere. I promised you forever and—"

"And for always."

They smiled, softly at each other before their lips crashed together, passionately sealing the promises they had made and the love they felt for each other into that one kiss.

A few minutes later she pulled away from him, her heart beating, rapidly inside of her chest from the words she was about to speak to him, and took a few steps back away from him. "Clark, there is something I need to tell you…I killed Murphy…"

He sighed, heavily. "I know, Lois."

She frowned at him. "You know?"

"Bruce told me. I didn't want to bring it up, but I know that you've been thinking about it ever since we arrived at the hospital."

The tears fell down her cheeks faster and faster. "I'm so, so sorry Clark. I never thought that I would be capable of doing something like that and neither did Chloe. I'm sure she feels just as guilty as I do. I could see it in her eyes at the hospital. We just wanted this to be over, but now that it is I can't help feeling like I've made a horrible mistake."

"Shh. Stop it, Lois, you and Chloe only did what you thought was right at the time. I might not agree with it, but I understand why you did it."

"You do?"

"That man beat you, tortured you, and almost killed you twice. I understand that you were only doing what you believed was your only option in that moment. Don't feel guilty about this, please, baby, I know that it's going to haunt you for a very long time, but I need you to know that I'm going to help you through this. We're going to get through this together."

The tears streamed faster and faster down her cheeks. "Do you see me differently now?"

Those words literally broke his heart into a million pieces.

He grabbed her hands, squeezing them, softly, as he pulled her closer to him. "No, Lois, I don't see you differently. You are the woman I love. You are my fiancé. You are the mother of my children. You are the woman I'm going to marry."

She stared deeply into his eyes. "You promise?"

"I promise, baby, I love you nothing is ever going to change that."

"I love you too, Clark."

They slowly wrapped their arms around each other, clinging onto the other with as much strength as they could possibly manage, and relished in the fact that they were together—that they were both alright—that they were going to get through this one step at a time.

"NOOOOO! MOMMY! DADDY!"

They quickly ripped away from each other when they heard their son screaming at the top of his lungs, and without hesitating they rushed up the stairs, where they found him sitting in the middle of the bed with his arms wrapped around his little body, as he cried harder that he's ever cried before.

Lois made her way over to him with a worried expression plastered across her face. "Kaleb? What's wrong?"

His terrified eyes locked onto her concerned ones before he crawled into her hap, clinging onto her for dear life. "T-th-the bad men they-they were here they-they took you away from me." He locked eyes with his daddy. "They took you both away from me. I-I-I was all alone…"

Clark quickly sat down next to his son, and stared deeply into his tear-filled eyes. "It was just a nightmare, Kal, we're right here. We're not going anywhere. You'll never be alone."

"Promise?"

"I promise, buddy."

Clark and Lois glanced at each other, worriedly, as they wrapped their arms around their little boy, who was very slowly starting to calm down, both of them knowing that it would be quite a long time before he healed from this trauma completely.

It would take all of them a very long time.

A few hours later, Clark held his family in his arms, as he thought about everything they had been through over the years, and even though he despised that they had went through any of that he knew that things could only get better from here.

This is where their life truly began—where they could live without fear—where they could just be happy, and he couldn't wait to truly start living life with the family that meant absolutely everything to him.

* * *

 _ **Originally this chapter was supposed to include scenes with Lois and Kaleb reuniting with the family, and a scene where Chloe broke down from what she did to with Oliver, but I really just wanted to focus on Lois, Clark and Kaleb. There is only one more chapter and an epilogue left to this story.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter fifty three!**_


	55. Chapter Fifty Four

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Chapter Fifty-Four:**_

* * *

 _ **ONE YEAR LATER…**_

"All done."

Lois slowly stood up as soon as her cousin stepped away from her, and walked over to the long wall-hanging mirror on the other side of the room, her lips curling into a small smile at the way she looked right at this very moment.

Her dark brunette hair was braided and twisted into a tight bun with two single strands hanging loosely on the side of her face.

Her makeup was a more natural look.

Her dress was pure white with lace sleeves and embroidered white gems spreading down from below her chest to the bottom of the dress. It hugged her upper body, tightly, while the rest of the dress hung loosely around her legs all the way down to her feet.

It was absolutely beautiful.

"Wow…You guys really went all out."

Chloe chuckled at her, as she appeared behind her in the mirror. "It is your wedding day, Lo, you're going to shock him like no other."

She slowly turned around towards her. "You think he'll like it?"

"Like it? He'll love it!"

Kara nodded her head in agreement with her friend. "My cousin wont know what hit him. You look absolutely breathtaking."

A soft smile appeared on her face before she turned back around towards the mirror, her eyes glancing over every inch of her appearance. "I can't believe this is actually happening."

Lana rested her hand on her shoulder. "You've both been waiting one year for this day. We've all been planning and preparing for this day. It's okay to feel a little nervous about all of this."

"Nervous? I'm not nervous about marrying the man I love. I'm just anxious. It's like you said we've waited one year for this, but now that it is actually happening I can't believe it." A wide grin spread out across her face. "I'm getting married today."

Chloe grinned, widely at her. "Yes, you are, Lo."

"About damn time too."

Kara rolled her eyes at them. "Okay. Okay. Let's give her some time to calm those nerves she claims she doesn't have, and check on that lovely groom of yours, you know, make sure he isn't freaking out about marrying the woman he loves."

Lois chuckled, softly as all three of them left the room, and rationalized that he was probably more nervous than she was. Ever since he was a teenager, hell, probably even before then he had thought about his weeding day, while she had just focused on what was happening in her life right at that moment, and now that this day was actually happening he was probably freaking out, at least a little bit.

Of course, she was too, but not for the same reasons as him.

He was probably freaking out over the fact that they were finally getting married. She was a little nervous about that too, but mostly, she was freaking out over the fact that after they said their vows and after their honeymoon everything they had both ever wanted would have been achieved. What would they look forward to now?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her baby girl, Krislyn Joanne Lane-Kent, babbling away in her crib, and glanced over to find her entertaining herself with several toys.

Clark, Kaleb and the rest of the family sure enjoyed spoiling the little one, she thought to herself, as she walked over to her daughter with a soft smile lingering on her face, and couldn't stop herself from thinking about the eventful day she came into their lives.

 _ **A LITTLE OVER THREE MONTHS AGO…**_

Lois was sitting in the living room of the farmhouse with her hands softly clutching her large stomach, hoping that that would stop the painful contractions she was feeling right now, but she knew that it was completely and utterly useless.

She knew exactly what was happening.

She was in labor.

There was a small part of herself that wanted to grab her son, call her cousin, and have Jonathon take her to the hospital, but the other part of herself was holding a little hope that the man she loved with all of her heart would return to them in the next hour or so before she had this baby.

A little over one week ago he had been called away on a natural disaster happening in China, and even though she wanted him here right now she understood that those people, who were in mortal danger needed him—needed Superman even more.

During this entire pregnancy they had promised each other that he would be here this time around, but it was beginning to become clear that that might not be possible. She was in the beginning stages of labor and he was miles and miles away from her.

No matter what she wanted she wouldn't want him to deal with the guilt of leaving all of those people just to be at her side when their little girl was born, even if that's exactly what she wanted.

A sharp, agonizing pain surged throughout her body, causing her to grip her stomach even tighter, and yell out, "Ahhh!"

She took a deep, deep breath as soon as the pain was gone, and whispered, "Come on, baby girl, I need you to just wait a little bit longer. We promised your daddy that he would be here this time around. We can't break that promise."

Not even two minutes later an even more agonizing pain shot through her, causing her to scream out, loudly in pain, and felt a warm, wet sensation between her legs.

Great, she thought to herself, just great.

It wasn't that she wasn't ready or prepared to see her baby girl because she was, but it was the fact that she wanted him to be here, and as much as she had attempted pushing down the pain she had been feeling the past few hours she knew that she would be having this child without the man she loved by her side.

Kaleb, who had been playing outside with Shelby, rushed inside when he heard his mom yell out in pain. "Mom? What's wrong?"

She smiled, softly at him. "Kal, I need you to listen to me, okay? I need you to go get your grandpa, and tell him that the baby is coming."

His eyes widened to the size of saucers before he nodded and rushed outside.

As soon as he was gone she quickly grabbed her phone, and dialed a familiar number. "Hey, cuz, I need you to meet me at the hospital."

It was silent for a few seconds. "What? Right now? The baby is coming right now? No. No. No. This can't happen right now. Clark, Oliver and Bruce aren't back yet. He can't miss this again."

She rolled her eyes at her words. "Well, I can't really do anything about that. I'm not going to put our baby being born ahead of all those people that need his help, besides neither of us will be able to get a hold of him or anyone else for that matter."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. Kara should be done with that mission in Africa by now. You might not be willing to move Heaven and Earth to get him here, but I am."

"What are you planning on doing, Chloe?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you real soon, cuz."

Before she could utter a single word, the line clicked in her ear, and she hoped against all hope that her cousin didn't do something stupid. Of course, she wanted him here, but that didn't mean she wanted him to stop doing what he was best at…saving people.

Over the past couple of months, he had become more and more involved with The Justice League when he wasn't helping her with news-breaking stories at The Daily Planet, even going on a few dangerous missions with them, and even though she hated the idea of him being in danger she was very, very proud of everything he was doing.

Ever since the day she met him all of those years ago she knew that he was meant for bigger and better things, and in the past few months he had achieved that. He had become the hope that this world desperately needed, and no matter what she didn't want the fact that she was currently in labor to jeopardize the way the people—the world looked at him.

A hero.

He has always done what was right for people above himself and that wasn't going to stop all because she wanted him by her side. She just hoped that her cousin wasn't planning on forcing him back home when he was obviously needed somewhere else.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the front door swinging open before two of her favorite men rushed inside of the house, and she smiled at both of them, as Jonathon slowly helped her to her feet. "Are you ready for this?"

"Do I have a choice?"

He chuckled, softly at her. "I called Martha she's going to meet us at the hospital."

She allowed her soon to be father in law and son to help her out to the car, and even though she had a feeling that she would be doing this alone just like she had done all of those years ago she still held a sliver of hope that he would be there with her, hopefully on his own terms not because her cousin enjoyed meddling a little more than any other sane person.

* * *

A little over thirty minutes later, Chloe was standing, quite anxiously, in the headquarters of Watchtower waiting for the one person that could make everything feel more right about this situation—that could make her cousin' unspoken hopes and dreams to come true.

Kara.

When she had realized that her cousin was in labor, also realizing that her best friend was too far away to contact herself she knew exactly what she needed to do.

One week ago, her best friend, husband and friend had all left to help the citizens of China with the massive earthquakes they were experiencing, and at the time she had figured that it would be an easy mission, but as it turns out things were even more complicated there then they were here.

There was no way she could contact them, but there was a way she could get her best friend a message, and hopefully her friend would be more than willing to take over for him, so he could be here for the birth of his child.

It had to work.

She had been there when Kaleb was born, and even though she had seen how happy her cousin was in that moment she had also seen how depressed she had been over the mere fact that Clark couldn't be there.

She'd be damned if she allowed that to happen again.

Kara, who had been on the other side of the world completing a mission of her own in Africa, super sped into Watchtower, and stopped directly in front of her friend with a confused expression plastered across her face. "Chloe? What's going on?"

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her, and took several steps towards her. "I need you to go retrieve your cousin."

Her face remained neutral. "What? Did you seriously call me all the way back here for this? Do I need to remind you that my cousin is busy saving the world with our husbands?"

She rolled her eyes at her sarcastic words. "Kara, you know that I wouldn't have called unless it was important, but you know better than anyone that when he's out there doing what he does best he doesn't exactly stay connected to everyone here, and our lovely husbands have also been off the grid—"

"Because they are busy."

"I know that, but I need him here and I need him here now."

A frown took over her features. "What's going on? I haven't seen you like this in almost one year…" She trailed off as a particular thought occurred to her, and her eyes widened, slightly. "Is it Steve?"

"No, it's something much worse." When her frown deepened she continued, "It's Lois. She's in labor."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers at that bit of news. "What? Are you serious? I need to be with her."

When she started to turn away from her, intending to get to her best friend as soon as possible she quickly grabbed her arm, and spun her back around towards her. "No. I need you to get Clark. He missed this once before, and even though she won't admit it to anyone she wants him there more than anyone else."

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. "He won't leave that easily."

She grinned from ear to ear. "Which is why you're going to take his place, and I suggest that you bring a few of our friends with you. You shouldn't have to miss this too. I just know my best friend and I know that he would live in guilt for the rest of his life if he missed the birth of his child."

She nodded and super sped away.

As soon as she was gone she rushed out of the building towards her cousin, knowing that she was probably going to be angry at her for meddling, but she wanted him, and she knew that her cousin wanted him here too.

* * *

Miles and miles away from the small town of Kansas, Clark was flying as fast as he possibly could to a potentially dangerous building, which was on the verge of collapsing due to the massive earthquakes China was experiencing, and as soon as Bruce and Oliver managed to get all the civilians out of the way he could hopefully stop the impact from destroying anything else.

He quickly caught the building, as it started tilting, and attempted to keep it upright, while everyone got out safe. He had been so preoccupied with doing his job that he didn't notice a familiar person appear right next to him until she opened her mouth.

"Need a hand?"

His head snapped towards her, and he glanced at her with a confused expression plastered across his face. "Kara? What are you doing here?"

She grinned at him. "Oh, you know, I thought that I'd give my dear cousin a hand, and I missed my husband more than anything."

"I thought you were dealing with that smuggling ordeal in Africa?"

"I took care of it. I was actually headed here to help my favorite boys out when I received a call from your best friend. She needs you to get back to Smallville as soon as possible. It's about Lois."

A feeling stirred deeply inside of him—a feeling he didn't appreciate very much. Ever since Lex and Murphy had been dealt with almost one year ago he always felt like something was going to jeopardize the happiness he felt when he was with her and their son.

It had had always been that way between them.

They had been torn apart from each other on three different occasions, and he had almost lost her once. It was a fear he never, ever wanted to feel again, but a fear that he felt every single time she was in danger, which was almost every single day since she purposefully chose to put herself in dangerous situations, especially when attempting to get to the bottom of the greatest stories in Metropolis.

Kara immediately noticed the expression slowly spreading out across his face. "She's not in danger, Clark, she's in labor."

His deep aquamarine eyes widened in complete and utter shock before he momentarily lost all the strength in his arms, causing his hold on the building to falter, slightly, but Kara quickly pressed her hands against the slowly crumbling building. "You need to focus, Clark, I need you to get back home and be there for the woman you love. She might not say it out loud, but she needs you more than these people do."

He quickly shook away his shock and surprise. "No, I can't just leave these people—"

"Yes, you can. She might understand your reasons for not being there for the birth of your daughter, but you will never forgive yourself if you miss this." When she noticed that he was going to argue with her about this she pressed further. "Look, I can take it from here, besides I brought some reinforcements."

He frowned, slightly at her words before he glanced down towards the ground, and noticed that the rest of The Justice League was scattered everywhere helping everyone on the ground.

"I don't plan on missing the birth of my niece either. Now, go, I'll be there as soon as I can."

He quickly nodded before flying away from the large continent, feeling emotion after emotion consume every fiber within his being.

Happiness from the mere thought of seeing his baby girl after waiting all these months for her to arrive.

Fear from the idea of this actually happening.

Nervousness from the mere fact that he would be experiencing all the things he had missed out on all those years ago.

Even though he was feeling all of these contradicting emotions it didn't stop him from focusing on the one and only thing that mattered…getting to the love of his life and son as soon as possible.

It was time that he met his daughter.

* * *

"Ahhh!" Lois screamed out, as she was laying down on the hospital bed with the two people she saw as her parents, her son, cousin, her two closest friends, her father and sister standing close to her, attempting to be supportive, but in all honesty, they were beginning to crowd and overwhelm her, and it was only making this situation ten times worse.

Of course, she knew that they wanted—needed to be here, but she wanted him here and he wasn't.

When her cousin had informed her that Kara had taken over in China, also informing her that he would be here for the birth of their child she had been angry at her for meddling, but now the man she loved was all she wanted, and he wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Where is he?"

Chloe sighed, heavily, as she sat down next to her. "He'll be here, Lo."

She was about to respond, but was rendered speechless when another surge of pain surged throughout her entire body, wishing and hoping that the pain would just stop not only because she didn't want to feel it anymore, but also because it would mean that her baby girl was here.

Jonathon quickly stood up from one of the many chairs scattered across the room. "I'm going to find Emil."

Sam nodded. "I'm coming with you."

Pete quickly grabbed his nephew before he followed them outside of the room not because they needed help finding the friendly doctor, but because he honestly couldn't stand seeing his best friend in pain any longer.

As soon as the men were gone Martha walked closer to her daughter, and engulfed her hands in hers, squeezing, softly. "It's going to be alright, Lois."

She shook her head from side to side, vehemently. "No. No, it's not going to be okay. I want him. I want Clark. Where is he?"

Clark, who had head the love of his screaming in pain from down the hall and rushed to her room as fast as humanly possible, slowly walked into the room smiling, softly at her, but that smile quickly fell when he could see the way her face was scrunched up in pain. "I'm right here, Lo."

Her eyes landed on him, and she smiled, widely at him. "Clark."

Clark quickly rushed over to her side. "Hello there, beautiful. You were supposed to wait a little bit longer."

A strained chuckle escaped past her lips. "Well, you can take that up with your daughter when she gets here."

All of a sudden, another painful contraction hit her like a freight train, causing her to scream out in pain, which caused Clark to quickly crawl next to her on the bed, holding her close to his chest, and whispered in her ear, "It's okay, baby, it's going to be okay."

As soon as the pain was gone she smiled, faintly up at him. "You're really here?"

He smiled down at her, and brushed the damp hair away from her face. "Of course, I'm here. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Emil Hamilton slowly walked into the room, and grinned, widely at the man laying down next to his patient. "I'm glad you could make it, Clark." He locked eyes with Lois. "How are you feeling?"

She glared at him. "How do you think I'm feeling?"

Right, he thought to himself, as memories of the last time they had been in this situation, and mentally berated himself for uttering such a stupid question, especially to this woman in particular. "How far apart are the contractions?"

Lana quickly stepped forward, knowing that her best friend was just going to have a smart remark. "Less than one minute."

"Good. It's time, Lois. I need everyone except Clark to leave the room."

Chloe glared daggers at him. "Why? We were with her last time."

He sighed, heavily. "Against hospital rules, but I allowed it because of particular circumstances that we do not speak of anymore. Those circumstances don't apply anymore, but I believe that Clark has been waiting quite a long time for this moment, and I think it's better if it's just the two of them."

Lois smiled at each and every one of her friends and family. "It's okay. I just need Clark right now. He missed this before. I'm not going to allow him to miss one single second of this."

Lucy slowly walked over to her sister, and gently kissed the top of her head. "We'll be right outside those doors. I love you, Lo."

"I love you too, Luce."

As soon as everyone left the room Emil glanced between the two of them. "Are you ready?"

Lois glanced up at her soon to be husband. "Are you ready for this?"

He grinned from ear to ear. "Let's meet our daughter."

Several hours later, Clark watched as his beautiful woman slept peacefully next to him just like he has been doing ever since she fell asleep a little over one hour ago, and he couldn't help feeling incredibly happy at the sight of her right now.

She had been in so much pain during labor, and as soon as their baby girl had been born she had been extremely happy—happier than he's ever seen her before, but he could tell that she was more than a little exhausted, which is why he had told everyone to go home, knowing that they would all be back first thing in the morning.

Technically, he wasn't supposed to be here either, but Emil had given him a pass since he had missed all of this last time, and there was no way in hell he was going to miss a second of her precious life.

Speaking of, he thought to himself, when he heard his daughter make a cute little noise in the crib a few feet away from him, and slowly made his way over to her, his eyes landing on her beautiful face.

She had thick, dark black hair, and was the most beautiful baby girl he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Hello there, little one, I know your sleeping and even if you were awake you wouldn't understand what I'm saying, but I just cant stop myself from talking to you every chance I get. I want you to know my voice. Now that I'm thinking about it you probably already do since I talked to you almost every single night."

He brushed his fingers lightly against her soft skin. "You might not believe this, but your big brother was just as small as you are right now. I wasn't there for him until recently, but I promise you that I'm going to be here for you through everything. When you take your first step. When you utter your first word. When you start developing abilities. When you make friends. When you get your first boyfriend…"

He trailed off at his own words, frowning, slightly at the implication behind them. "Scratch that you're never getting a boyfriend."

Lois, who had been listening to his entire conversation with their daughter, couldn't stop herself from chuckling at his final words. "I wouldn't be to sure about that. If she's anything like her mother than she'll have all the boys scrambling to even get the slightest bit of attention from her."

A low sounding groan escaped past his throat, as he slowly walked back towards her. "Well, then let's hope that she's more like me."

She shook her head from side to side. "Nuh-huh mister. Kaleb is already a spitting image of you. I don't need two of you running around."

He chuckled at her. "With any luck, she'll look just like you, and her personality will be just like mine."

"With any luck." She slowly moved over, so he could climb into the small bed next to her, and as soon as they were both comfortable enough she rested her head on his chest, while he wrapped both of his arms around her body just like they did every single time they laid like this. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world. You, Kaleb and that little girl mean the world to me."

"Krislyn Joanne Lane-Kent has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

He hummed at her. "Maybe we shouldn't have our next child's name start with the letter K…"

His words caused her heart to jump, violently inside of her chest. "Next one? Do you realize that that is the last thing on my mind right now? I literally just gave birth to that daughter of ours we won't be having another one for a very long time."

A soft chuckle escaped past his lips. "You never know, Lo."

"Cl-ark!"

"Okay. Okay. I'll stop. Honestly, just having you, Kaleb and Krislyn is perfect enough for me. I never thought that I would have this, and that's all because of you. I don't think I ever thanked you for everything you've given to me."

A large, contagious smile spread out across her face before she slowly pushed herself up, and stared down at the handsome man beneath her. "I love you, Clark Kent."

"And I love you, Lois Lane."

They shared a sweet and passionate kiss, both of them feeling extremely happy that they were together, and even though they had been through a lot over the years they had persevered through all of it, and they always would.

 _ **PRESENT…**_

Her memories from that day were interrupted when she heard her baby girl babbling complete nonsense in her crib, and quickly picked her up as soon as she outstretched her little arms towards her, obviously wanting to be held.

She slowly starting walking around the room, rocking her daughter back and forth in her arms. "You are one happy and excited little girl this morning. I need you to be really, really good for me and your daddy today. You might not understand what is going on and you might be a little confused by all the ruckus, but I'll be marrying your daddy very soon.

I think he's more nervous than I am, but by the end of the day one of our nerves wouldn't have mattered because we were always supposed to end up here. Don't tell anyone, but I've thought about this day more times than I've admitted. When we were younger I thought about it too, but don't tell him I told you that. He'd hold it over my head for the rest of my life."

Martha, who had overheard the last part of her one-sided conversation, slowly walked into the room, and grinned from ear to ear at the perfect picture that those two painted. "You'll have to swear me to secrecy too."

Lois quickly turned around, completely surprised to find her soon to be mother in law standing in the doorway. "Martha? What are you doing here?"

She quirked a brow at her. "Did you really think I wouldn't find a few minutes to talk to my beautiful daughter before she married my handsome son?"

A soft chuckle escaped past her lips before she gently settled Krislyn back in her crib. "How is he doing?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. He's been with Kaleb for quite some time now. I'm pretty sure that he's just distracting himself for the time being." She roamed her eyes up and down her entire attire. "You look absolutely beautiful."

A light blush tinted her cheeks. "Really? I think they might have went a little too far."

"That's the point, sweetheart, it's your wedding day. Every second of this day is supposed to be special, even your dress, hair and makeup. I remember my wedding day. I was feeling like it was too much too."

She rose her brows at that. "You had a big wedding?"

"Don't be so surprised those Kent men can be very romantic when they want to be."

"Don't I know it."

"It was a lot like this, except it was in a barn and not in a five star hotel, but I was feeling the exact same way you are right now."

She feigned innocence, not wanting her to know just how nervous she was actually feeling right now. "You were happy, excited, enthralled—"

"Nervous, Lois, I was nervous just like you are right now, and don't you dare try to deny it. I know you better than anyone, even better than that handsome man outside."

If she was planning on denying it any further she couldn't now, she thought to herself, before slowly collapsing down onto the chair. "I don't want to be nervous, but I just can't help feeling this way. I'm not worried or concerned about what's going to happen it's the fact that this is actually happening.

When we first met marriage was never something that occurred to me, and even within those three months that we spent together I never thought about it. It wasn't until we were reunited the first time around that I started thinking about this, but of course, things kept getting in the way. I guess I'm just nervous that after this were not going to have anything to look forward to."

Martha frowned, slightly at her words. "What are you talking about?"

She took a deep breath. "Ever since we met we've looked forward to so many things. When I was forced to leave him all those years ago we both looked forward to seeing each other again even though both of us were pretty sure that was never going to happen. When he left for his training we both looked forward to finding our way back to each other again, and this past year we've both looked forward to this day. What do we look forward to after this?"

Martha smiled, softly at her, and grabbed both of her hands, squeezing them. "Everything, Lois, you have everything to look forward to. After today you'll have your honeymoon to look forward to. I know that you're afraid of not wanting anything more after this, but you couldn't be more wrong. Instead of looking forward to monumental things like marriage you'll look forward to all of the little things. All that matters is the memories you two make with each other and with your two beautiful children."

She smiled, widely at her. "Thank you, Martha, you always know the right thing to say."

"I'm always here to help. Now, I should probably help Lana and Chloe make sure that everything is going according to plan for your very special day."

She watched her leave the room with a smile plastered across her face before she slowly stood up and walked back over to the mirror.

Today she was getting married.

Today was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

Today was the day everything changed for them.

And she couldn't wait.

* * *

 _ **Finally I found the time to get this chapter posted, and the final chapter should be posted within the next couple of days. This chapter and the next chapter are pretty simple, fluffy and romantic, but every story should end on some kind of good note. The main point of this chapter was to reveal what the past year has been like for everyone, the birth of little Krislyn, and the start of Clark and Lois' wedding day. I always knew this story would end with their wedding. This story started out with sadness and it will end with happiness.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed chapter fifty-four!**_


	56. Epilogue

_**A Summer in Love**_

 _ **Epilogue**_

 _ **Song used in this chapter: 'From this moment' by Shania Twain and Brian White**_

* * *

Clark and Kaleb were slowly walking side by side down a small, beautiful pathway not too far away from the picturesque green field, the same field that they had watched a wedding happen all those years ago, where every single person he loved and cared about were preparing for their wedding day.

It was finally happening.

They were finally getting married.

Over the past year, they had been planning this day with the help of their loved ones, and now it was finally happening. In all honesty, he was feeling extremely nervous about this, but not because he was going to be marrying the love of his life. He was mainly nervous because ever since they reunited in Smallville all of those years ago he knew that he wanted to marry her—that he wanted to have children with her—that he wanted to build a future with her, and now all his hopes and dreams were becoming a reality.

Kaleb glanced up at his dad, who seemed to be completely lost in thought, and wondered what was going through that head of his. For months, he had waited for this day, and even though he was feeling super excited about witnessing his parents getting married he couldn't help wondering how this was affecting them both.

"Are you nervous?"

Clark glanced down at his little boy with a soft smile. "No, I'm not nervous about marrying your mom."

He quirked his brows. "Are you sure because you look nervous."

"I'm not nervous, Kal, I'm more excited than anything else, but I can tell you that I never expected us to finally become husband and wife in the place we watched a wedding take place."

Of course, his parents had told him a little bit about the time they had spent in this small town, but he had never head that particular story before, and he had heard lots and lots over the past year. "What do you mean you watched a wedding happen here?"

Clark grinned down at his son before spotting a familiar white bench, which overlooked the beautiful field where all his loved ones were scattered about preparing for their special day, and sat down with him. "I've already told you how I met your mother, but we were friends long before we were together. One day she had this brilliant idea that we come to this very hotel. We sat on this same exact bench and watched a wedding take place. It was the first time we talked about marriage."

Kaleb tilted his head to one side, inquisitively. "Was that the first time you thought about marrying her?"

He chuckled, loudly at his words. "That was the furthest thing from my mind. I was only sixteen at the time, and we were both dealing with some things that we weren't comfortable telling each other about at the time. We just talked about our views on the subject. It wasn't until she moved to Smallville that I started thinking along those lines."

"And then she had me."

"Yes, she did."

"Do you think you would have married her if you didn't have to leave for your training?"

He frowned, slightly at his son. "Why are you asking so many questions about this?"

A heavy sigh escaped from him. "I'm just curious…do you think grandpa Jor-El will make me do training too?"

Now it was all starting to make sense, he thought to himself, this had nothing to do with the fact that his parents were getting married it had everything to do with his many questions about his future.

Over the past few months, he had become even more curious about his heritage, what abilities he would develop and what he wanted to do in this world…save people.

One day instead of attempting to explain everything to him he had taken him to the Fortress, where Jor-El met his grandson for the first time. He had explained everything about his heritage to him, also informing him that since he was only half Kryptonian he probably wouldn't develop anymore abilities.

It had upset him, slightly, but it didn't change a single thing for him. He wanted to help his dad, aunt and uncles when he was old enough, and hopefully one day he would become a member of The Justice League.

"We've talked about this before, Kaleb, you will never have to go through the same training as I went through, but when your old enough I'll help you understand your abilities and your responsibilities a little better."

A heavy sigh escaped past his lips, as his shoulders slumped, slightly, and a pout etched onto his features. "But I want to learn now. I want help people like you, Aunt Kara, Uncle Bruce and Uncle Ollie."

"You will, son, but your too young to be worrying about things like that—"

"I'm nine years old…"

"Exactly. I didn't start helping people until I was fourteen. I promise you'll be able to help more, but right now you just need to focus on being a kid."

"But—"

"But nothing. The only thing you need to worry about is helping me get through this day without falling into a million pieces when I see your beautiful mom."

A wide grin spread out across his face. "I knew you were nervous."

"Shut it, brat!"

Kara, who had overheard the last part of their conversation, laughed, loudly at their little argument, causing both of them to turn around towards her with the same exact facial expression. "How did I know that you'd be getting advice about your nerves from your son of all people."

"I'm not nervous."

Kara and Kaleb grinned, victoriously at each other before simultaneously saying, "Yeah right."

He rolled his eyes at both of them, as he stood up, and straightened out his tuxedo. "Are you two done or are you just going to torture me all day long?"

She clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Well, your torture is almost over little cousin because that beautiful bride of yours is almost ready." She glanced down at her nephew. "I think she's waiting for you, mister."

Kaleb grinned from ear to ear at the mere thought of his parents finally getting married before he rushed away from them and towards his mom.

Ten minutes later, Kaleb walked into the room, where his mom was walking around with his little sister wrapped up in her arms, and couldn't believe his little eyes at the sight of her.

She looked absolutely beautiful.

"Wow."

Lois quickly turned around at the sound of her son' voice, and grinned from ear to ear at the expression on his face. It reminded her so much of the man she was minutes away from marrying. "I'll take that look on your face as a good thing."

"You look beautiful, mom."

"Well, thank you." She slowly placed a babbling Krislyn back in her crib before she glanced back over at him. "I'm sure your dad looks as handsome as ever."

He grinned at her. "I'm not saying a word. You'll just have to wait until you see him, but he is a little nervous, of course he denies it."

"I'm not surprised."

Sam walked into the room, and leaned against the door frame, as he listened to his daughter and grandson have a conversation about something he was all too familiar with. "A man never reveals his nerves on the day of his wedding, especially to the woman he's marrying."

She glanced over at him with an annoyed expression. "Let me guess, you were as stoic as ever the day you married mom."

He grinned, widely at her. "On the outside maybe, but on the inside, I was a nervous wreck."

Kaleb frowned at them. "Why were you so nervous? Why are you and dad so nervous? This is what you want, right?"

"Of course, this is what we want, Kal."

Sam chuckled, softly at his grandson before kneeling down in front of him. "You'll understand when you find that special someone you want to spend the rest of your life with."

His nose scrunched up in complete and utter disgust. "Eww! Girls are gross!"

Lois rose her brows at him. "Is that what you think about us?"

His eyes widened, slightly from the implication behind her words. "Not you and Krissy. You're the only special ones."

"Glad you think were the special ones."

Lois glanced at her father, sharing a secretive smile with him, both of them knowing that in a few years all of that would change. He might be disgusted by them right now, but one day he would see them in a completely different way.

Sam took a few more steps towards his daughter. "You look just as beautiful as your mother, you know, when you were just a little girl she used to daydream about your wedding day."

Tears filled her eyes. "She did?"

He nodded. "She always imagined that the man you married would be someone tall, dark and handsome. It turns out that she was right on the mark with that one."

A soft chuckle escaped past her lips. "He is all those things, isn't he?"

"And we shouldn't keep him waiting any longer."

She quickly slipped her arm through his, while Kaleb picked up his little sister, and they walked towards the man she couldn't wait to call her husband.

* * *

Clark was standing at the white, wooden, flower covered altar, anxiously waiting for the moment he saw his beautiful fiancé walk down that aisle towards him—towards their future, as his mind thought about everything his friends had told him just a few minutes ago.

When he had finally made his way here after spending a lot of time overthinking everything that was going to be happening in less than ten minutes his friends had ambushed him, practically forcing him to reveal how nervous he really was feeling about all of this, and had shared their own personal stories about their feelings on their wedding days.

It helped a little bit, but honestly, the only thing that would stop his nerves was going to be his beautiful bride. He just knew that as soon as he saw her all of those nerves he was feeling would vanish in the blink of an eye.

She was all he needed to get through this.

"Nerves eating you alive?"

He glanced over towards his father, who was walking towards him with a knowing smile plastered across his face, and shook his head from side to side. "I'm just anxious. I want to see her. I want to tell her how much I love her. I want to call her my wife."

Jonathon grinned, widely at his son. "You will, Clark, you know, I was feeling this exact same way moments before your mother walked down that aisle."

"You never really told me what your wedding day was like."

He chuckled, softly. "It was nothing as unique as this one, but I was just as nervous as you are right now, and don't try to convince me that your not because every man is nervous on their wedding day. I thought that my nerves would never go away. It was like I was going on my first date with her all over again, but the moment I saw her it all disappeared. I knew in that moment that everything was going to okay."

"I'm not afraid of that. I've waited a very long time for this day."

"You two have come a long way over the years. I remember the first time I met her I knew that you two loved each other very much, hell, I watched you mourn the loss of her for over one year before you two were finally reunited. I always knew that this was your future—your future with her, but things kept pulling you two apart. I'm glad that you two have finally overcame everything that tried tearing you apart."

He smiled, softly at him. "Thanks dad."

All of a sudden, soft music began playing around them, causing every single person to take their seats and turn towards the end of the aisle, where little Kaleb appeared holding his little sister, who was carelessly tossing the flowers around them with the help of her bigger brother.

Clark grinned liked a Cheshire cat at his two beautiful children, and knelt down in front of them when they reached him. "I see that little Krislyn got a little carried away with the flowers."

Kaleb nodded. "That's the whole point. It's your wedding day. It's supposed to be filled with flowers, love and happiness."

"When did you become so wise?"

He smirked at him. "Mom."

"I'll get you for that one later." He slowly stood up, and watched his mother drag them to their seats before he glanced towards the end of the aisle, waiting for the moment his beautiful and mesmerizing woman appeared.

Not even two minutes later, the soft music announcing her presence surrounded him, and he grinned from ear to ear when he watched her appear from the trees with her father directly beside her.

She looked absolutely beautiful.

It wasn't the hair, makeup or even the dress she was wearing that was making his heart skip beats inside of his chest it was the jaw dropping smile she was giving him.

His father was right, he thought to himself, it only took one look at her to know that everything was going to be alright.

As Lois walked towards her man—towards her future with her father her nerves were literally eating her alive, but the moment her hazel eyes met his aquamarine ones everything disappeared from her except for the two of them. It reminded her of all the times this had happened. Whenever they were feeling down, nervous or scared they were each other's rocks and it would always be like that between them.

It was finally happening.

She was finally marrying the love of her life.

As she moved closer and closer towards the man she loved with all of her heart, their eyes never left each other, their hearts beat in synchrony, and their mind melting smiles never left their faces.

When she was mere inches away from him, Sam placed her hand in his, and locked eyes with the young man, who literally meant everything to his oldest daughter. "Love her, protect her, and cherish everything you two share in this new life."

"I will, sir." As soon as everyone was seated, he pulled her a little closer to him, and squeezed both of her hands, his thumbs caressing her soft skin. "Are you ready for this?"

A large grin spread out across her face. "More than ready."

Jonathon, who had become an officiant for this reason and this reason alone, glanced between the two lovebirds, and smiled at the pure happiness that was radiating off of them. "We are gathered here today to celebrate Clark and Lois, as they proclaim their love and commitment to each other."

He paused momentarily before continuing, "Clark and Lois, the relationship you enter into today must be grounded in the strength of your love and the power of your faith in each other. It will take trust, to know in your hearts that you truly want what is best for one another and to learn and grow together. It will take faith, to go forward together without knowing what the future holds. If you both come freely, and understand the responsibility and work involved to make your relationship thrive, and are committed to not only each other but your family, please take each other by the hands and say, 'we do'."

They grinned, widely at each other, and simultaneously said, "We do."

"I do believe that you both wrote your own vows."

Clark nodded at his father before staring deeply into her hazel pools. "Lois Lane, you are the light of my life. You are the reason I keep breathing every single day. I can't imagine a day without you a part of my life. When we met all of those years ago I was a broken person, but you healed me in more ways than you ever could imagine. I've become a better, stronger and livelier person because of you.

I've loved you from the very first moment I laid my eyes on you, and even though life has thrown some obstacles in our way we were always meant to end up here. I've never stopped loving you through it all. We might have been apart for quite some time, but it only made me love you even more. I promise that no matter what fate throws our way I will always love you."

"Those words are kind of hard to compete with."

Every single person chuckled, loudly at her humorous joke, and as soon as it became silent again she smiled at him with tears pooling in her eyes.

"Clark Kent, I know that I'm not that easiest person to love. I'm loud, I'm brash, I talk to too much, and I always say what's on my mind no matter what it is, but for some reason all of those things seem to be your favorite parts of my personality or, so you've told me. It only proves that you are the only man for me.

You've always seen the best in me and you've always believed in me. Before we were even a couple I told you that I never pictured myself getting married or having a family, and even though you knew all of that you still loved me—you still wanted a future with me. You've always loved me, and I've always loved you.

Fate and destiny have tried to tear us apart many times over the years, but we made it here today because we were always meant to meet, fall in love, and have those two beautiful children of ours. You love has always lifted me up and it always will. My heart and soul belongs to you and to only you. I will love you for always and forever."

Clark smiled, widely at her, and mouthed 'I love you' to her, which she happily mouthed back.

"Clark and Lois, prior to this moment you each walked a separate path. Now, you embark together on a shared path. Yet the journey is not yours alone, for you have already been blessed with beautiful children. It is the strength of your love that shall nourish you all together as a family."

Jonathon couldn't contain the smile spreading out across his face, but pushed down his own excitement and focused on their happiness instead. "And, so by the power vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife. Clark, you may kiss your bride."

He didn't even hesitate. He wrapped his arms around her body, his lips meeting hers in a sweet and passionate kiss, and as their love—their souls—their hearts mended together he dipped her, romantically, causing every single person surrounding them to laugh at the spectacle of his move.

When they pulled away from each other, she felt completely out of breath from his kiss, and blinked, rapidly, attempting to get her heart to calm back down. "You sure know how to sweep a girl off her feet."

He rested his forehead against hers, and stared deeply into her eyes. "I love you Lois Joanne Lane-Kent."

"And I love you Clark Jerome Kent."

They turned towards their family and friends, who were clapping and shouting out their excitement before they connected their fingers together, and walked down the aisle, both of them feeling extremely happy to finally be married after all of these years.

A few hours later, every single person was gathered in the main ballroom of The Stanley Hotel, enjoying the presence of everyone surrounding them, and each of them were grateful that this day was finally happening.

For one long year each and every single one of them had helped plan every second of this day, and it was turning out ten times better than any of them could have imagined.

Chloe quickly pushed her way through the crowds, and made her way up to the main stage with a microphone in hand. "Hello, everyone, I know that we are all having an exceptionally great time this evening and I know that I already bored you all with my long maid of honor speech, but it is now time to commence the first dance between husband and wife."

Clark and Lois, who were on opposite sides of the room talking to their friends and family, made their way towards each other with embarrassed smiles plastered across their faces, and met in the dead center of the dancefloor, as every single person they loved and cared about watched them.

 _ **I just swear**_

 _ **That I'll always be there**_

 _ **I give anything**_

 _ **And everything**_

 _ **And I will always care**_

 _ **Through weakness and strength**_

 _ **Happiness and sorrow**_

 _ **For better, for worse**_

 _ **I will love you**_

 _ **With every beat of my heart**_

They began swaying side to side, as the music echoed around them and the words melted into their hearts, and both of them felt like this really was the first step of their happy lives together.

It was their beginning.

 _ **From this moment life has begun**_

 _ **From this moment you are the one**_

 _ **Right beside you is where I belong**_

 _ **From this moment on**_

She leaned closer to him, and whispered in his ear, "I don't see why everyone wants to see us dance. It's not like they've never seen it before. Don't you feel a little weird or uncomfortable having everyone staring at us?"

He chuckled softly in her ear, and whispered, "Well, then let's put on our best show."

He quickly twisted her away from him before pulling her back into his arms, their chests colliding together, tightly.

Her eyes widened, slightly. "Where did you learn that move from?"

"I might have taken a few lessons."

She rolled her eyes at him, knowing exactly what that really meant. "You mean you forced your father and mother to teach you."

"Just shut up and dance with me."

 _ **From this moment, I have been blessed**_

 _ **I live only, for your happiness**_

 _ **And for your love, I give my last breath**_

 _ **From this moment on**_

They slowly wrapped their arms around each other, and swayed from side to side, the music ringing in their ears like a great symphony.

 _ **I give my hand to you with all my heart**_

 _ **I can't wait to live my life with you I can't wait to start**_

 _ **You and I will never be apart**_

 _ **My dreams came true because of you**_

As they swirled and twirled across the dancefloor with all of their loved ones watching them they felt nothing but complete and utter happiness.

 _ **From this moment, as long as I live**_

 _ **I will love you, I promise you this**_

 _ **There is nothing, I wouldn't give**_

 _ **From this moment on**_

Later that night, Clark and Lois were sitting in the back of a limousine their parents had revealed was the last of their many wedding presents they had received with their arms wrapped around each other, and neither of them could think of a time that they were more content than they felt right at this moment.

Lois glanced up at him. "So? Mr. Kent, where are you taking me?"

He looked down at her with a knowing expression lingering on his face. "If I told you it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?"

A heavy sigh escaped from her lips. "You know, we're married now, so, there is no reason for you to keep surprising me."

"In your dreams, Mrs. Lane-Kent, I will keep surprising you for the rest of our lives."

Her eyes squinted, impatiently at him before she shook her head from side to side at him, knowing that that was one thing that would never change about him, and honestly it was one of his best qualities. "You're lucky I love you."

"I love you too."

They moved their heads closer together, their lips meeting in a sweet, romantic kiss, as their bodies molded together, perfectly.

Today has literally been the best day of their lives, and even though they were heading off to some unknown location for their honeymoon they both knew without a doubt that this was just the beginning for them.

A little over eleven years ago one broken soul met a lost one in the most unbelievable and unexpected away, and they found solace in each other, their hearts connecting almost immediately.

Over the years fate and destiny tore them apart in more ways than one, but they always managed to find their way back to each other no matter what or who got in their way.

Their love was written in the stars.

Their love was meant to be.

Their love would last for lifetimes.

Their love was for always and forever.

And it all started with a summer in love…

 _ **THE END.**_

* * *

 _ **It took me almost one year to publish this story, and I've enjoyed every single second it took to share this with all of you. When I first decided to post my work online I never thought I would make it this far, but alas this story is officially complete**_

 _ **I would like to thank everyone who stuck with me through this very long journey. It was sad. It was happy. It was exciting. Every single person that reviewed this story helped build my confidence in more ways than one. Even if you didn't review I want to thank you**_

 _ **Even though this story is over, I'll be posting chapters more frequently to my new story, A Second Chance, and I'm pretty sure I'll post more and more stories after that one. I hope everyone enjoyed this long winding journey as much as I enjoyed sharing it with all of you**_


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